Unified communications software. It may sound like something reserved for giant organizations with thousands of dispersed personnel, but it’s not. It’s really just software to improve all types of communication in enterprises. And with cloud and microservice models, vendors are turning out approachable, affordable UC technology for everyone.

Diane Smith (pictured), president and chief executive officer of Choice Telecommunications Inc. (ChoiceTel), is educating organizations about how easy and affordable it now is to implement UC and enterprise communication technologies. “You’re thinking there’s going to be a lot of cycles and work planning around it in order to really be able to enjoy it and receive the benefits. But that’s not the case,” Smith said.

There is a growing market of advanced enterprise communications technology. Features like artificial intelligence and machine learning boost productivity and offer insights. It is all easily available through services built on cloud infrastructure. “Before, you had to spend maybe millions to get a whole system set up to be able to do AI and workforce management, but now a small 20-person company can have all of those tools at their hands,” she said.

In fact, most businesses are overwhelmed by all the choices available, she added.

Smith spoke with Lisa Martin (@LisaMartinTV) and Stu Miniman (@stu), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Enterprise Connect event in Kissimmee, Florida. They discussed the new wave of enterprise-communication tech and why diverse companies are adopting it (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Communication SaaS is at tipping point

Even conservative, slow-moving companies — like those in manufacturing — are seeing the benefit of UC and similar tech, according to Smith. They and others are often surprised at how easy new cloud-based offerings are to implement and how greatly they can benefit from them.

The as-a-service communications industry thought this would happen five years ago, Smith pointed out. What’s changed is that there is now readily available infrastructure from providers like Amazon Web Services Inc. and Google Cloud Platform. This is enabling communication-cloud service providers like Five9 Inc. and others to build reliable, secure products with advanced features like AI.

“I really believe that the next 19 months are really going to be the tipping point for as-a-service communications, whether it be contact center or regular UC or all the components … that tack onto that,” Smith concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Enterprise Connect event. (* Disclosure: Five9 Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Five9 nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE