3 benefits of BYOC for your UC platform

Bring your own carrier (BYOC is a telecommunications strategy that allows organizations to choose their telephony provider for PSTN calling within their unified communications (UC) platform.

BYOC enables companies to have more control over their voice and messaging communications. It also gives them the option to choose the carrier services that best meet their specific needs regarding cost, coverage, and quality of service.

Some benefits of BYOC include increased flexibility, cost savings, and improved communication reliability.

Why do UC platforms enable BYOC?

You might be wondering why, if “communications” is in the name, a UC platform would allow you to bring your own carrier. The simple answer is that UC platforms know they can’t meet all the telephony needs of modern businesses.

Best case, using built-in calling plans to connect to both customers and employees around the world can be expensive. Worst case, connecting can be impossible for UCs with limited geographic coverage in different countries.

To meet the needs of companies around the world, many UC platforms have created ways for telephony providers to provision public switched telephone network (PSTN) services within their platforms. While BYOC can lead to having two different calling systems—a UC platform and traditional PBX (private branch exchange)—it enables robust, high-quality, cost-effective calling.

3 pain points BYOC can help you solve

If you’ve found some difficulties or disappointments with your UC platform calling experience, BYOC can help you bridge potential service gaps. Below, we’ll discuss some of the pain points you can relieve by using BYOC.

1. Limited global coverage

While remote workforce numbers are down from their pandemic peak, they still sit solidly above pre-pandemic levels (22.4% in 2019 compared to 26% in 2022). As a result, organizations need reliable tools that can connect employees no matter where they are.

More and more frequently, those employees are spread across the globe. The benefits of remote teams—larger talent pools, diverse opinions, and potential cost savings—made organizations nearly 25% more open to hiring people in different countries.

Team members in more places puts different pressures on UC platforms to connect a more globalized workforce, especially in areas with poor internet connections. But UC platforms aren’t telecommunications companies, which means they don’t have direct PSTN access or extensive inventories of numbers in local areas. Often, their native calling plans have limited coverage outside the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe. For connectivity in growing markets like eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, you must partner with a provider for reliable coverage.

Bringing your own carrier with a worldwide number inventory to your UC platform can help connect your employees to each other and to your customers regardless of their location.

2. Expensive calling rates

Even in places where UC platforms can provide coverage, telco companies with direct PSTN access tend to offer more advantageous calling rates. Whether your pricing plan is based on a calling bundle or usage, carriers can often offer better value for domestic and international calling over UC platforms’ native calling plans.

The pay-as-you-go solutions offered by most carriers mean you don’t have to pay by your number of seats or for a pre-paid number of minutes, as you do with many UC platforms. As a result, carriers’ pricing methods often end up being less expensive than native UC calling plans.

3. Fluctuating call quality

Unbundling telephony from your UC platform doesn’t have to mean a decrease in call quality. In fact, it could enhance your calling experience. With direct PSTN connectivity over a wider coverage area, BYOC can mean fewer dropped calls and less frequent freezing up or sound delays.

In addition, businesses can gain more control over their call routing by choosing a carrier that gives them transparency over their Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) connectivity. That way, if issues arise, organizations can identify the problem and take direct steps to correct it rather than waiting on their UC platform to fix it.

Use one provider for calling

Bringing your own carrier to your UC platform can give you more global coverage, save you money, and improve your call quality. With better connections, your employees can leverage the power of teamwork more effectively, regardless of their locations. You can also connect with more customers in more places around the world, expanding your market possibilities and increasing customer satisfaction.

Ultimately, BYOC can be the best choice for organizations looking to grow their teams or customer base—and need reliable coverage to do so. If you use Microsoft Teams or Zoom to connect and collaborate, Telnyx can be that reliable carrier. Telnyx can offer:

• Global connectivity through deep number inventory.
• High-quality voice calling on our private VoIP network.
• Easy migration and management.
• Flexible, direct-to-carrier pricing.
• Dedicated customer support.

Contact our team of experts to learn if Telnyx’s BYOC services are right for your organization.