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How to Choose Between UCaaS vs. CCaaS

ucaas vs ccaas

Digital transformations continue to drive many companies to transition to cloud-based services. UCaaS vs. CCaaS has become a hot topic for groups of all kinds. For businesses whose goal is increased productivity, these platforms facilitate faster, more straightforward exchanges between distributed internal teams that serve customers.

While adopting UCaaS and CCaaS improves efficiencies and workflows, they have different functions. Improving internal communication requires UCaaS. CCaaS supports customer interactions. Read on to understand how UCaaS and CCaaS work, their similarities, and what makes them different.

As we compare UCaaS vs. CCaaS, find out their use cases and how MetTel, your partner in communications and digital transformations, will help you bridge the gap between the two and provide a win for your business.

What is UCaaS and CCaas?

Chances are you’re familiar with UCaaS/CCaaS. However, we all have our own experiences with UCaaS and CCaaS, meaning how we view them can vary from business to business based on use cases, challenges, and more. Let’s quickly revisit their general definitions.

Both cloud-based communications platforms provide unified communication and collaboration tools to improve internal workflows while optimizing external customer experiences. Both UCaaS and CCaaS rely on the scalability and flexibility of the cloud to support communication and customer service needs, the lifeblood of modern business operations.

UCaaS lets team members work smart, not hard, by combining different applications into one easy-to-use platform. Instead of having separate apps and phones for calling, messaging, and video meetings, UCaaS allows team members to collaborate from a unified platform.

CCaaS is an essential aspect of contact center infrastructure, as it allows employees to reach out to customers through multiple channels in order to provide exceptional customer service.

UCaas vs. CCaaS: Which is Right for Your Business?

It’s easy to confuse CCaaS vs UCaaS cloud communication platforms because both aggregate different communication channels into a centralized interface for ease of use. But for those of us who know the general differences,  what is the difference between UCaaS and CCaaS on a deeper level?

Here’s a breakdown of how these platforms differ so you can make the right choice for your organization. 

UCaaS: Unified Communications as a Service

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a cloud-based platform that integrates various communication channels into a single interface to improve communication and collaboration among employees. These channels can include:

  • Voice
  • Video
  • Messaging
  • Collaboration tools
  • File sharing

UCaaS offers reliable connectivity across devices, regardless of location. Businesses using UCaaS allow employees who aren’t physically at the office to share the workspace and access updates and communication in real-time. This connectivity means more productive team meetings thanks to video calling, screen sharing, and live project updates.

CCaaS: Contact Center as a Service

Contact center as a service (CCaaS) improves external communications. CCaaS features are designed to improve call center operations, no matter where a company’s agents are. Some of these features include:

  • Omnichannel support
  • Intelligent routing
  • Analytics
  • Reporting

CCaaS unifies customer information and makes it easier for employees to engage with customers through voice, chat, email, and social media.

Focus

The key difference between UCaaS and CCaaS lies in their primary focus — internal collaboration for UCaaS vs. external customer engagement for CCaaS. UCaaS aims to improve workflows and productivity among employees by bringing together various communication tools on a single platform.

In contrast, CCaaS targets external customer communications and prioritizes optimizing customer experience. It supports the needs of help desks, call centers, and customer service teams that receive large volumes of daily client contacts through phone calls, emails, chats, texts, and social media messages.

Features

Both UCaaS and CCaaS provide tailored features to meet distinct needs, such as improving internal teamwork via UCaaS versus handling external contacts through CCaaS.

UCaaS enhances communication and collaboration between dispersed teams through features like video conferencing, team chat, screen and file sharing, and VoIP calling. These features help connect in-office team members with those working remotely.

CCaaS prioritizes features that help contact centers manage high volumes of customer inquiries via different channels. These features include omnichannel routing, AI integration, engagement tools, advanced analytics, and self-service capabilities. CCaaS also allows for CRM integrations and tracking of comprehensive customer interaction histories.

Cost

For any savvy organization, cost is always top of mind. So what is the average cost for CCaaS and UCaaS platforms? While UCaaS/CCaaS are subscription-based, cloud-hosted platforms with minimal upfront infrastructure costs, their pricing structures differ based on usage models.

UCaaS typically charges per individual user seat monthly and is generally less expensive than CCaaS.

CCaaS pricing is usually aligned directly with fluctuating contact center workload volumes.

Overall lifecycle costs are also lower for UCaaS because CCaaS demands more frequent upgrades to keep pace with rising contact volumes.

Use Cases

UCaaS supports a distributed or remote workforce by providing unified communications tools that employees can access anywhere. For instance, an IT firm with multiple offices can use UCaaS as a unified communication platform for employees and partners. By integrating VoIP calls, video conferencing, and messaging, a UCaaS platform lets IT team members collaborate through online meetings and file sharing.

CCaaS enables businesses to provide support via multiple channels, such as voice, chat, email, and social media, from a single platform. A retail shop would benefit from CCaaS integration with features that help customers find answers to common questions via multiple channels without needing to talk to an agent. CCaaS can help retail customers check order status and estimated delivery date and track shipments via phone IVR or online self-service tools.

Bridge the Gap Between UCaaS and CCaaS With MetTel

Every organization aims to improve customer experiences and collaboration among team members. At MetTel, we help you achieve these goals with our cloud-based platforms that create a unified experience for your employees.

Enhance collaboration and simplify communication among your team with MetTel’s TrueUC. It’s a cloud-based mobile, tablet, or desktop unified communications app that lets users make and receive calls, messages, chat, and videos. This unique solution also intelligently filters messages so you can see what’s most relevant.

Our award-winning managed SD-WAN service reinforces UCaaS and CCaaS and lowers risks through its optimized and centralized management of hybrid networks. Improve customer services with SD-WAN’s fast speed and high-quality performance.

Being offline is an expense you can’t afford while in business. Our Single SIM helps remote workers maintain IoT connectivity with the strongest mobile signal available, regardless of carrier or location. With more than 20 years of experience assisting businesses with cloud-based management, we can help you connect smarter with customized communications solutions. Get started with MetTel today!

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