From Microsoft Teams adding a Pay-As-You-Go PSTN Calling Plan to Vodafone Germany and RingCentral launching a joint venture, here are extracts from popular news stories this week.
RingCentral Doubles Strategic Partner Seats
RingCentral has seen its business with its strategic partners double, according to COO Mo Katibeh.
The vendor’s senior team spoke on an earnings call with investors after announcing a quarterly sales growth of 28 percent year on year in Q2, up to $487m.
“Seats from our strategic partnerships are up almost 100% year over year,” he said.
“Mitel continues to gain traction as endpoint compatibility remains on track, and we continue to onboard their channel partners. Avaya also continues to consistently add seats to our growing base with another sequential growth quarter.
“We continue to believe that there is a meaningful opportunity for ACO as a destination for Avaya’s customers, which represent the world’s largest installed on-premise base.
“Partners remain part of our differentiated go-to-market strategy and are contributing to our $1 million-plus wins in the enterprise market. Last, international continues to be an area of opportunity.”
RingCentral has partnerships with Avaya, Mitel, Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise and Atos, with Katibeh vowing to continue building with their partners.
Microsoft Teams Adds Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plan
Microsoft Teams has added a Pay-As-You-Go PSTN Calling Plan which now provides customers with a third calling plan option.
Previously, customers had to choose between a Domestic Calling Plan and an International Calling Plan.
The Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plan allows for both domestic and international calling, but outgoing minutes are charged depending on the minutes used and calling credits can be purchased in advance with Communication Credits or after using Post Pay billing.
In an update to its Calling Plans for Microsoft 365 documentation, Microsoft provides a summary definition of the Pay-As-You-Go Calling Plan: “Licensed users can call out to numbers located in the country/region where their Microsoft 365 license is assigned to the user based on the user’s location, and to international numbers in 196 countries/regions.
“Unlimited incoming minutes are included. No outgoing minutes are included. All outgoing calls are charged based on the minutes used, either with Communication Credits or Post Pay billing.”
Communication credits are essentially a pre-payment system which translates to a set number of minutes. These credits can be set to automatically top up when they run out.
Microsoft Teams Fully Optimised for Apple Silicon
Microsoft has announced that the Teams platform has been fully optimised for Apple Mac devices with M1 or M2 chips.
The software giant has developed Teams offering for Apple silicon, meaning it will run natively on the entire Mac lineup.
A Microsoft blog post said: “We are rolling out a production-grade universal binary version of Teams, which means it will run natively on the entire Mac lineup, including those with Apple silicon.
“For Mac users, this means a significant boost in performance, ensuring efficient use of device resources and an optimized Teams experience even when using multiple high-resolution monitors during calls or meetings.
“Microsoft is committed to innovation and committed to the Mac, so we’re excited to bring this to our Mac users.
“All Mac users will be automatically upgraded with their most recent update to Teams.”
According to Microsoft, Mac users will see a significant boost in performance and ensure there is an efficient use of device resources.
Live Human Translation Launches on Microsoft Teams
Microsoft has partnered with the Welsh Government to offer live human translation services.
Designated interpreters will translate during scheduled Teams meetings, and attendees can listen in real-time in a language of their choosing and switch languages during the meeting.
According to Microsoft, the Welsh Government has welcomed the launch of live human translation on Teams calls, and Glyn Jones, the Chief Digital Officer for the Welsh Government, described the new feature as “crucial” for them.
Jones said: “I don’t think you can underestimate the impact this will have on organisations that operate bilingually or multilingually.
“We have had really positive feedback from the people who’ve tested it with us. The interpreters and the people listening think it’s great.
“Wales is bilingual. We speak Welsh and we speak English. This new functionality will help us use our Welsh more than we’ve been able to during COVID-19.
“I’m sure we’ll see more people using Welsh in meetings than was ever the case before the pandemic — that’s my ambition.”
The new feature has been designed to help public bodies and organisations foster inclusivity and understanding when they host meetings in multiple languages.
Where Does Avaya Go From Here?
UC Today’s James Stephen hosts Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research.
In this session we discuss the following:
- Avaya’s financial crisis
- Avaya’s outgoing and incoming CEO
- The outlook for Avaya
If you’re looking for more information on this topic click here.
