Is Your Phone System Holding Back Growth? How to Evaluate a UCaaS Solution That Scales

Your company hit 80 employees two years ago with a phone system that worked fine. Now you’re at 150 across three locations, half your team works hybrid, and that same system is a daily frustration. Calls drop during transfers. Video conferencing lives in a separate app that nobody likes. Your sales team texts clients from personal phones because the desk phone doesn’t have a mobile option. IT spends hours each week troubleshooting issues that shouldn’t exist.

This isn’t a minor inconvenience. Communication friction slows deals, frustrates employees, and creates security gaps you probably haven’t fully mapped. For IT leaders at growing companies in regulated industries, the question isn’t whether to modernize—it’s how to evaluate a UCaaS solution that actually fits your organization without creating a six-month migration nightmare.

This guide provides a framework for that evaluation. Not vendor comparisons. Not feature checklists. A strategic approach to assessing whether a unified communications platform can solve the problems you’re actually facing.

The Scaling Problem Most Phone Systems Weren’t Built to Solve

Traditional PBX systems and early VoIP deployments were designed for a different era—one where everyone worked from the same building, used the same desk phone, and “remote work” meant occasionally checking voicemail from home.

The 100-employee threshold is typically where communication complexity spikes. You’ve added locations. You have remote workers who need the same capabilities as office staff. Compliance requirements have grown alongside your headcount. And the phone system that served you well at 50 employees now creates daily friction.

Signs You’ve Outgrown Your Current System

Warning Sign	What It Actually Means	Business Impact
Employees use personal devices for business calls	Your system lacks mobile capability or the mobile app is unusable	Compliance risk, no call records, professional image concerns
Three or more tools for calls, video, and chat	Communication stack grew organically without integration	Context switching, missed messages, IT support burden
Call transfers fail regularly	Infrastructure can’t handle multi-location routing	Lost customers, frustrated employees, wasted time
No visibility into call patterns or quality	Legacy system lacks analytics	Can’t optimize, can’t troubleshoot, can’t plan capacity
Compliance concerns around call recording	Recording is manual, inconsistent, or non-existent	Audit risk in regulated industries
IT spends 5+ hours weekly on phone issues	System requires constant maintenance	Opportunity cost, reactive vs. strategic IT work

If three or more of these describe your situation, you’re not looking at a phone system problem. You’re looking at a communication infrastructure problem that will only compound as you continue growing.

The Hidden Costs of Fragmented Communication

The line items you see—per-seat licensing, hardware maintenance, support contracts—tell only part of the story. The costs that don’t show up on invoices often matter more.

IT time spent troubleshooting connection issues, resetting voicemail passwords, and explaining workarounds. Sales conversations that go sideways because a prospect couldn’t reach anyone during a transfer. Compliance exposure from employees using personal messaging apps for work discussions. The productivity drain of switching between four different tools to have one conversation.

For companies in healthcare, finance, and logistics—industries where communication failures create real liability—these hidden costs carry even more weight.

What a UCaaS Solution Actually Includes (And What It Doesn’t)

UCaaS—Unified Communications as a Service—consolidates voice, video, messaging, and collaboration into a single cloud-delivered platform. Instead of managing separate systems for each function, you get one environment where everything works together.

That’s the pitch. Here’s what it actually means in practice.

Core UCaaS Capabilities

A mature UCaaS platform typically includes:

• Business phone service with auto-attendants and call routing
• Video conferencing with screen sharing and recording
• Team messaging with channels and direct messages
• Presence indicators showing availability across the organization
• Voicemail-to-email transcription
• Mobile apps that mirror desktop functionality

The key word is “consolidation.” Instead of Zoom for video, a legacy phone system for calls, Slack for chat, and a separate mobile app that half-works, you get one platform where a conversation can start as a chat, escalate to a call, and transition to video without switching tools.

UCaaS vs. CCaaS vs. VoIP: Clarifying the Confusion

These terms get used interchangeably, but they solve different problems:

Solution	Primary Purpose	Who It’s For	What It Includes
VoIP	Voice calls over internet	Anyone replacing traditional phone lines	Basic calling, voicemail, caller ID
UCaaS	Internal team communication	Organizations needing unified collaboration	Voice + video + messaging + presence + mobile
CCaaS	Customer-facing contact center	Companies with dedicated support/sales teams	Queue management, IVR, omnichannel routing, agent analytics

The critical distinction: UCaaS handles how your team communicates internally. CCaaS handles how your customer-facing teams manage inbound and outbound interactions. Many mid-sized companies need both—and the integration between them matters significantly.

The Microsoft Question

If your organization runs on Microsoft 365, you’ve probably asked whether Teams can serve as your UCaaS platform. The answer is nuanced.

Teams with Microsoft’s calling plans or direct routing through a certified provider can absolutely function as a UCaaS solution. For companies already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, the integration advantages are real—presence syncs across Outlook and Teams, meetings schedule directly from calendar, and there’s no additional app for employees to adopt.

However, Teams-as-UCaaS has limitations compared to dedicated platforms. Advanced call routing, detailed analytics, and sophisticated contact center functionality typically require additional licensing or third-party integrations. Many mid-sized companies find that Teams works well for collaboration while a specialized UCaaS/CCaaS provider handles voice and customer communication.

The right answer depends on your specific requirements—which is why evaluation frameworks matter more than vendor recommendations.

Evaluation Criteria for Mid-Sized Companies

Every UCaaS vendor will tell you they check every box. Your job is to determine which boxes actually matter for your organization and how to verify claims during the evaluation process.

UCaaS Evaluation Framework

Criteria	What to Assess	Questions to Ask	Red Flags
Scalability	Adding users, locations, and capacity	What’s the process to add 50 users? Can we scale down if needed?	Long provisioning times, rigid contracts, per-location fees
Integration Depth	Connection to existing tools	How does this work with our Microsoft 365/CRM/ERP? API documentation available?	“We integrate with everything” without specifics, no API, limited connector library
Reliability	Uptime and redundancy	What’s your SLA? Where are data centers? What happens during regional outages?	No published SLA, single data center, vague disaster recovery answers
Security & Compliance	Protection and certifications	Show us your SOC 2 report. How do you handle call recording for HIPAA? Encryption standards?	Can’t produce certifications, unclear encryption details, no compliance documentation
Support Model	Responsiveness and expertise	Where is support located? What’s guaranteed response time? Do we get dedicated account management?	Offshore-only support, no SLA for response, different support tiers for different issues
Migration Complexity	Implementation reality	What’s the realistic timeline for 150 users? Can we run parallel systems? Who handles number porting?	“It’s quick and easy” without specifics, no pilot option, all responsibility on your team
Total Cost	Beyond per-seat pricing	What’s included vs. add-on? Training costs? Integration fees? What happens to pricing at renewal?	Low initial price with expensive add-ons, unclear renewal terms, hidden implementation fees

Questions That Reveal More Than Feature Lists

The questions you ask during vendor demos often reveal more than the demo itself.

“Walk me through what happens when our Denver office loses internet connectivity.” This tests redundancy, failover, and whether they’ve thought about real-world scenarios.

“Show me how a call gets routed when someone calls our main number and the first person doesn’t answer.” This exposes routing sophistication and ease of administration.

“If we need to add 20 users next month and remove 10 the following month, what does that process look like?” This reveals contract flexibility and provisioning reality.

“Can I talk to a reference customer in our industry with similar size and complexity?” Reluctance here is telling.

Industry Considerations: Healthcare, Finance, and Logistics

Generic UCaaS content rarely addresses the specific requirements of regulated industries. If you’re evaluating solutions for a company in healthcare, financial services, or logistics, these considerations should shape your assessment.

Healthcare

HIPAA compliance isn’t a checkbox—it’s a framework that touches everything. Call recording must be automatic and tamper-proof. Messaging between care teams needs encryption at rest and in transit. Integration with EHR systems requires careful data handling. Multi-facility communication needs reliable connectivity even when patient care depends on it.

Key questions: Is your platform HIPAA-compliant, and can you provide your BAA? How do you handle PHI in voicemail transcription? What’s your breach notification process?

Financial Services

Audit trail requirements mean every communication might need to be captured and retained. Call archiving for compliance isn’t optional—regulators expect it. Secure client communication needs to balance convenience with protection. Integration with trading platforms and CRM systems must preserve data integrity.

Key questions: How long can call recordings be retained? Do you support FINRA and SEC compliance requirements? What’s the process for producing records during an audit?

Logistics

Mobile-first workforce communication is essential when half your team is in vehicles. Dispatch integration keeps operations coordinated. Reliable coverage across distribution centers—including areas with challenging connectivity—determines whether the system actually works. Seasonal workforce scaling means the platform needs to flex without painful renegotiation.

Key questions: How does the mobile app perform in low-connectivity areas? Can we provision temporary users for seasonal staff? What’s the process for integrating with our dispatch system?

The Common Thread

Regulated industries share one requirement: you need a provider who treats compliance as foundational rather than optional. Claims of compliance should be backed by certifications, documentation, and references from similar customers.

Making the Transition: What a Realistic Migration Looks Like

Fear of migration disruption keeps many organizations on systems they’ve long outgrown. Understanding what a well-planned transition actually involves can separate legitimate concerns from unnecessary anxiety.

Migration Timeline for 100-200 Employee Organizations

Phase	Activities	Your IT Team’s Role
Phase 1: Discovery & Planning (2-4 weeks)	Inventory current numbers, document call flows, identify integration requirements, assess network readiness	Lead internal discovery, provide documentation, participate in planning sessions
Phase 2: Configuration & Testing (2-4 weeks)	Build new system, configure routing, test integrations, port numbers to staging environment	Validate configurations, test key workflows, identify issues early
Phase 3: Pilot Deployment (1-2 weeks)	Roll out to subset of users (typically 10-20%), gather feedback, refine based on real usage	Monitor pilot users, collect feedback, escalate issues
Phase 4: Full Deployment (1-2 weeks)	Complete number porting, train remaining users, decommission old system	Coordinate training, support go-live, handle escalations
Phase 5: Hypercare & Optimization (2-4 weeks)	Intensive support period, address issues quickly, optimize based on actual usage patterns	Report issues, gather user feedback, work with provider on adjustments

Total realistic timeline: 8-14 weeks with proper planning. Vendors who promise significantly faster timelines for complex environments should explain exactly how.

What Reduces Migration Risk

Running parallel systems during transition lets you fall back if critical issues emerge. Phased rollouts by department or location contain problems before they affect everyone. Dedicated implementation resources from the vendor—not just documentation—make a measurable difference. Clear ownership of number porting prevents the most common migration headache.

What Should Concern You

“We can have you up and running in two weeks” for a complex environment suggests either oversimplification or inexperience. Lack of pilot options indicates confidence problems. No dedicated implementation support means you’re bearing more risk than you should.

Next Steps: From Evaluation to Decision

The goal of evaluation isn’t to find the perfect solution—it’s to find the right fit for your specific situation. Here’s how to move from research to decision.

Document your current state before talking to vendors. Map your pain points with specifics: how many users, which locations, what integrations matter, where compliance requirements constrain your options. This preparation makes vendor conversations productive rather than generic.

Build your requirements list first. Weight each criterion by importance to your organization. What’s truly essential versus nice-to-have? This prevents getting distracted by impressive features you’ll never use.

Request references that match your context. A case study from a 5,000-employee enterprise tells you little about how the vendor serves 150-employee companies. Ask for references with similar size, industry, and complexity.

Don’t skip the pilot. Any vendor confident in their solution will support a limited rollout. The pilot reveals more than any demo about how the platform actually works in your environment.

Think long-term. UCaaS is infrastructure, not a tool you’ll swap out easily. You’ll likely live with this decision for 5+ years. Evaluate not just current capabilities but the vendor’s roadmap, financial stability, and track record of supporting customers through their growth.