As you read this, where are you? In an office? At a coffee shop? At your kitchen table?

And what device are you using? Your phone, tablet, or laptop?

In today’s post-pandemic workplace, many of us have more flexibility and choice regarding where and on what device we do our work. Several studies show that employees appreciate spending less time commuting, they are more productive working from home due to fewer distractions, and they have a better work-life balance, among a long list of other benefits a flexible work environment affords. Most of us appreciate this modern workplace trend so much, in fact, that we don’t want to go back to in-office roles full-time. Some are calling this opposition the Great Resistance.

According to an April 2024 USA Today survey, only 16% of white-collar workers would consider a position that doesn’t offer remote work. As a result of the Great Resistance, Upwork predicts that by 2025, 36.2 million Americans will work remotely. Flex work environments are here to stay.

This Great Resistance is encouraging more employers to listen to the preferences of the American workforce and consider their office space contracts, business growth goals, and infrastructure budgets. Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) negates the need for major infrastructure investments and IT support to maintain business-related phone services, enabling small and medium businesses (SMBs) to harness the efficiencies and insights that were once earmarked only for enterprises.

With UCaaS, SMBs can opt for a subscription-based model, paying only for the services they use, which can result in significant cost savings. According to a Nemertes 2020-21 Cost Business Analysis Workplace Collaboration study, on-premises deployments of phone systems cost 57% more than UCaaS deployments. The study found that organizations that rely on UCaaS spend, on average, $1,153 annually, compared to $1,830 per on-premises license.

In addition to significant cost savings, FluentStream’s advanced UCaaS services seamlessly enable hybrid and remote work, making the transition to a long-term flexible work environment less daunting. We can say with certainty that embracing a fully remote work model in 2020 was the best decision for the FluentStream team. Our UCaaS services power our communication and enable collaboration among our team members, who are distributed across the US.

FluentStream customers gain access to:

• An easy-to-use web portal that gives you the freedom to customize your communications preferences based on the needs of your employees and your business type.
• FluentStream Admin and FluentStream Mobile applications that allow administrators and employees to stay connected from anywhere an internet connection is available and separate business and personal communications.
• Award-winning customer service. FluentStream’s US-based employees are available to help you 24/7, every day of the year.

At the core of our research and development efforts is FluentStream’s unique focus on serving the SMB community while staying ahead of the competition. As a result of our relentless innovation to serve evolving requirements for hybrid workplaces, FluentStream just won two product awards that honor exceptional innovation in unified communications and VoIP. Our UCaaS offering earned the 2024 Internet Telephony Product of the Year Award and the Unified Communications Product of the Year Award.

We invite you to learn more about the benefits of UCaaS and FluentStream’s offerings. Sign up for a demo today, and let us show you how FluentStream can help your organization embrace a more flexible work environment that aligns with your business’s unique needs and employees’ preferences.