• With soft skills and effective teamwork in mind, we start by sharing some great tips your teams need to follow when it comes to being ‘considerate collaborators.’ 

• Since adding AI to the collaboration toolbox promises to send productivity through the roof, it’s not surprising many enterprises are planning to incorporate AI into their UC systems. We'll take a deeper dive to understand how AI enhances UC and what you need to do to maintain a secure communications environment. 

• Next, we map out 8 ways that Unified Communications as a Service will make teams even more effective – and your life – easier.

• Finally, Mitel is rolling out more technology innovations with Release 9.0 for its MiVoice platforms. We’ll be contacting you to schedule a briefing on this upgrade. If you’re ready to book your time, feel free to contact me directly today. 

• Break down silos – A considerate collaborator sets up a virtual workspace that’s dedicated to each specific project. Every project contributor should have single-click access, be able to upload relevant documents and share feedback instantly in one place, using web chat.

• Don’t waste team time – Use a virtual workspace to tag relevant team members, alerting them to project updates and basic information. In this way, you will use your meeting time more effectively, focusing instead on only the more complex issues you need to discuss as a group. Share the agenda ahead of time and include the time allotted for each item. Then stick to the schedule.

• Respect the distance – One of the pitfalls of mobility is that collaborators aren’t always aware if a team member is traveling on business or at a resort on vacation. Collaboration tools make it easier for colleagues to check the status or presence of other team members - and know when it’s appropriate to contact them. A considerate collaborator checks presence first, and if their colleague is unavailable, they look for the next person in line who can help.

• Sharing isn’t always caring – While team members always need access to the right information, they don’t need to be bothered with every little detail. Clean up your team’s inboxes by making use of your collaboration tool to engage relevant team members in one-to-one or group chats. Streamline the conversation further within a workspace with @ mentions, which let you tag just the person you need, or with @all for information that affects the whole group. 

• Stay on track with tasks – With task-oriented collaboration software, team leaders assign individual tasks while also getting a bird’s eye view of all assignments within a workspace. The considerate collaborator adjusts workloads when too many tasks overlap. This helps keep the overall project moving forward. 

• Improved collaboration – Integration of AI chatbots into UC apps opens new doors for collaboration by gathering status updates from team members and even alerting members via an app, email, SMS or push notification. When chatbots keep everyone and everything connected, your teams can more easily troubleshoot together, keep track of each other’s progress on projects and share ideas and information.

• Easier access and use of data – AI virtual assistants improve access to documents and other information, automatically gathering and distributing data to your team’s devices — whether it be a PDF or a video. If questions on a prior discussion arise during a meeting, the assistant retrieves pertinent emails, messages or documents. Attendees stay focused and engaged in the conversation, with all information at their fingertips.

• Increased productivity – Chatbots field straightforward calls and online chats with your customers, allowing your customer service team to focus on more complex calls and issues. In meetings, attendees concentrate on the content and discussion rather than on the communications tools. The AI assistant even initiates the conference automatically.

• Better efficiencies – Wouldn’t it be great to have someone else send meeting notes, assign action items and schedule follow-up calls? The AI assistant handles all of it, allowing human attendees to spend their time on more complex and higher value activities. AI also simplifies scheduling by identifying times that work for everyone.

• New standards and protocols will emerge as AI plays a bigger role in communications systems, so you’ll need to remain vigilant to stay compliant with the latest requirements. You’ll also have an obligation to protect the data gathered about your customers.

• In addition, there are likely to be security challenges with BYOD, as your employees’ AI-enhanced personal devices enter the workplace. Some organizations are already disabling voice assistants such as Siri in the workplace. But, as employees bring newer devices like the Amazon Echo to the office, organizations will need to assess emerging AI technologies for security threats and establish clear guidelines in a formal security policy.

• A positive note here is that AI actually enhances data and communications security. It will scan for potential threats and alert IT and security teams when vulnerabilities or possible attacks occur. Security professionals can respond far more quickly with the help of these technologies.

• Never lose your place with one-stop communication. UCaaS makes all your communications available from a single hub on your desktop. Keep an eye on every call and message and never lose sight of important details.

• Be as productive on the road as you are in the office. With a mobile app, employees can take the office everywhere and get the same experience on the road as they do at their desk. Whether in the office or on the road, they can join a meeting with a single click, without the need to enter those cumbersome participant codes.

• Take the conversation smoothly from text to voice with ad-hoc meetings. UCaaS helps you connect with the one person who has the information you need – at the precise moment you need their help. With one click, start a meeting and follow through by assigning tasks.

• Respond to important messages faster with visual voicemail. Nothing ushers in a greater sense of urgency – and stress – than checking your voicemail after a long morning of meetings. With visual voicemail, messages are transcribed and sent to email so you can scan and prioritize who to call back first.

• Get to the right person at the right time. With presence, colleagues make their whereabouts known to everyone in the organization. So, when a customer calls asking the question only a subject matter expert can answer, everyone knows where and how to reach them.

• Stay on-track by setting agendas up front. When you create a meeting invite, you have the option to create a timed agenda. Attendees know up front what will be discussed and how much time will be spent on each item. Your meetings stay on track and are more productive.

• Live in your CRM. When you integrate your phone with your CRM application, salespeople never have to switch between the two. They stay in the CRM to make and receive phone calls. Just by answering their phone, items are automatically added to their to-do lists.

• Or live in Outlook or G Suite. Your UCaaS can also integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook and G Suite, easing adoption of your new phone system throughout the organization.

• A complete software refresh and move to native Linux, providing a common set of tools for software management, while enabling the integration of new services and enhanced security. 

• A new approach to updating individual software components rather than an entire software load. This will reduce maintenance time, allow faster response to potential future security issues, and provide added incentive for IT administrators to promptly implement updates.

• Significantly enhanced system performance and serviceability.

• Discover any hardware that is unsupported

• Identify any license changes that may be required

• Prepare for a successful transition from VxWorks (the previous Operating System) to Linux

• Review Mitel’s introduction of Server Manager to all platforms