From the launching of a new product licence to more redundancies in the tech industry, here are some extracts from popular news stories this week.
Microsoft Releases Teams Premium with Features Powered by OpenAI
Microsoft has announced that the Microsoft Teams Premium licence is generally available to all customers following a preview phase.
- What Does ChatGPT Mean for Microsoft Teams?
- Microsoft Teams Round-Up: January 2023
- Appspace Prepares to Launch Microsoft Teams Integration
The newest licence is designed to offer customers familiar meeting solutions as well as webinars, virtual appointments, meeting intelligence, and more, which are often add-on products.
Nicole Herskowitz, Vice President Microsoft Teams, commented: “As we face economic uncertainties and changes to work patterns, organisations are searching for ways to optimise IT investments and re-energize employees to achieve business results.
“Now—more than ever—organisations need solutions to adapt to change, improve productivity, and reduce costs.
“Fortunately, modern tools powered by AI hold the promise to boost individual, team, and organizational-level productivity and fundamentally change how we work.
“This promise is rapidly becoming a reality. At Microsoft, we’re working to incorporate new, AI-powered capabilities across our consumer and enterprise products, including Microsoft Teams.
“As part of this continuous innovation, I’m excited to share that Microsoft Teams Premium is generally available.
“Built on the familiar, all-in-one collaborative experience of Microsoft Teams, Teams Premium brings the latest technologies, including Large Language Models powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5, to make meetings more intelligent, personalised, and protected—whether it’s one-on-one, large meetings, virtual appointments, or webinars.”
‘Opportunities on Stand-Alone UCaaS Products Are Increasingly Rare’ – 8×8 Interim CEO
Opportunities to innovate based on just stand-alone UCaaS products are becoming increasingly rare, according to Samuel Wilson, 8×8’s Interim CEO.
He made the comments during the company’s third-quarter fiscal 2023 earnings call, in which it was revealed that 8×8’s service revenue and total revenue had increased 18 per cent year-over-year.
The company saw its cash flow from operations during Q3 increase 72 per cent year-over-year to $15.5 million.
Wilson commented: “We continued to invest in innovation while reducing our service delivery costs and increasing operational efficiency across the organisation.
“As a result, customer retention was at its highest level in several years. GAAP and non-GAAP operating margins were at multi-year highs, and we generated solid operational cash flow.
“I believe our industry is at an inflection point. With our increased focus and investment in research and development, we can leverage our XCaaS first-mover advantage, accelerate CCaaS innovation, and become a true leader across customer experience communications.”
Using UC to Drive the Contact Centre
Wilson’s comments surrounding opportunities within the UCaaS space further emphasise the company’s XCaaS platform to drive customer-focused products as it looks for areas to innovate.
Describing the contact centre marker as “an inflection”, the interim CEO admitted the company has not taken advantage of its existing UC customer base, stating: “The first and most important thing, and we have not done a great job of this yet, is cross-selling our contact centre into that UC base.”
It appears that 8×8 will use its XCaaS platform to drive its current UC customer base into adopting CCaaS by innovating its features within its portfolio.
Cisco Shows Off Webex Interoperability for Microsoft Teams
Cisco has showcased a new range of collaboration devices for Microsoft Teams and unveiled a new microphone for hybrid working during ISE 2023.
The company has stated that its innovations are to help organisations achieve a ‘seamless’ hybrid work experience.
Cisco’s partnership with Microsoft will see the Teams platform run natively on Cisco collaboration devices, with certification expected in March 2023.
The Cisco Table Microphone Pro introduces spatial audio and noise cancellation, enabling distraction-free sound in hybrid meetings.
Jeetu Patel, EVP and GM of Security and Collaboration Cisco, commented:
“The future of work is now, and it’s hybrid, which requires a truly exceptional and inclusive experience that’s not confined by location, device, or meeting platform.
“Cisco is bringing true audio intelligence to its best-in-class devices and software with interoperability, flexibility, and security.”
Devices Certified for Microsoft Teams
Microsoft first announced that Teams Meetings were being made available on Cisco Meetings Devices during its Ignite 2022 event in October.
According to Cisco, the company has partnered with Microsoft to bring customers more choice, flexibility, and capabilities.
Microsoft Teams Rooms for Cisco devices is currently in a beta phase for enterprise customers and partners.
Cisco says certification is expected in March 2023 for Cisco Broad Pro, Room Bar, and Room Kit Pro.
RingCentral Hits Back at CBI Boss Over Hybrid Working
RingCentral has responded to comments made by Tony Danker, Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), who has claimed most bosses “secretly” want their employees to return to work in the office.
Danker made the comments on BBC Radio 4’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, where he said: “You ask most bosses; everybody secretly wants everyone to come back into the office.
“I just don’t think that’s going to happen overnight. I think we are all coping with this, but we’re going to be talking about this for a few years.”
Since Covid-19 restrictions have eased worldwide, many companies have switched to a hybrid working environment.
RingCentral recently surveyed UK workers to find out how they feel about their working environment, with the majority preferring hybrid work.
Reacting to Danker’s statement, Steve Rafferty, VP International, RingCentral, hit back and highlighted that many workers do prefer hybrid work.
He commented: “The director general of the CBI, Tony Danker, has claimed that most bosses secretly want all staff to return to working in the office.
“Whilst this may be a desired approach for employees in certain sectors, our research, launched last week, revealed 32% of full-time office-based workers would prefer to be in the office just a few days a week.
“Our research has also found that hybrid working has a significant impact on productivity and contributes positively to a work-life balance.
“A fifth (20%) of full-time in-person workers currently feel unmotivated, compared with 17% of hybrid workers, and 58% would change jobs or industries for hybrid or remote work.
“This data is evidence that businesses need to assess how they work, as productivity remains the backbone of the UK economy.”
RingCentral’s research found that almost a quarter (22 per cent) of workers who operate full-time in an office said they feel burned out at work, compared to 15 per cent of hybrid workers.
Tech Redundancies Hit Talkdesk
Talkdesk is the latest tech firm to make a round of layoffs amid challenging economic conditions.
Social media is awash with posts from former employees revealing they’ve been affected, with the majority appearing to be based in the US.
The roles of laid-off staff range from customer success and channel managers to solutions engineering.
One affected employee contacted UC Today, claiming that as much as 20 percent of Talkdesk’s workforce could be impacted, but this figure has not been confirmed. Talkdesk has been contacted for comment.
Many of the posts on LinkedIn paint Talkdesk as a good place to work and praise the company for the way it has handled the layoffs.
Talkdesk has around 2,000 employees in 19 countries, according to its website. The firm was valued at $10bn after its Series D funding round in 2021, which took its total raise to $498m.
In 2021, the firm took its first steps into the unified communications space by launching what it claimed to be “the industry’s first and only business phone system natively built on a cloud contact centre platform”. The launch expanded it out of its native contact space.
In a UC Trends session for UC Summit, Talkdesk CEO Tiago Paiva spoke at length about the efforts Talkdesk made to encourage its staff.
