It’s been a slightly quieter week in the UC space this week after the long weekend in the US. However, we’ve still pulled together the must-read stories from the past seven days.
We parsed through the June updates for Microsoft Teams, RingCentral launched a new AI solution to prevent scam or robocalls, and it was reported that Amazon might be planning to go up against Microsoft in the collaboration space.
What’s New In Teams?
Meetings and Webinars saw the biggest range of updates this month in Microsoft Teams, including an Attendance Dashboard which allows organisers to track engagements in their meetings or webinars. Also included is a new Dynamics 365 marketing solution, inking and laser pointers for Teams PowerPoint, and chat bubbles.
Users can also now access files offline on Android, and in Teams Calling, Microsoft has changed how 1:1 calling is enabled in the PSTN environment. Administrators can now delineate recording configurations for calling and meetings. The new feature is only available via PowerShell.
RingCentral Blocks Scam Calls
The cloud comms provider is leveraging its own AI data to enable companies to block spam calls and robocallers.
RingCentral is also contributing to industry groups in the deployment of the STIR/SHAKEN strategy for successfully stopping unwanted robocalls and spam. The STIR/SHAKEN authentication framework has helped RingCentral to accurately verify and authenticate traffic routed through the platform, reducing unwanted calls and enhancing security.
“We’re all too familiar with receiving robocalls and SPAM calls every single day and we know how disruptive these calls can be, as well as the business risks associated with them,” said Praveen Mamnani, vice president, Product, Enterprise and SMB, RingCentral.
“With our trained datasets and AI-powered solution, we’re continuously striving to protect customers from these unwanted calls. Also, not only have we completed the implementation of the FCC mandate requirements, but we have been active in industry and FCC efforts to effectively deploy STIR/SHAKEN to ensure our customers’ security is not compromised”
Amazon Plotting A Teams Attack?
Business Insider this week reported that the e-commerce giant was plotting a “rebel alliance” to compete against Microsoft in the collaboration space.
Citing people familiar with the situation, Business Insider reported that Amazon has held talks with Dropbox, Slack, Smartsheet, and others about creating a bundle of services to take on Microsoft 365. Microsoft is growing in the infrastructure space with Azure and has taken a chunk out of the collaboration market with Teams. Microsoft was also recently declared the second biggest UCaaS vendor globally.
Amazon already has its own collaboration platforms and tools in the form sof Chime and WorkDocs and recently acquired encrypted messaging platform Wickr.
Mitel and BT Bring new UCaaS Solution to UK
The telecom giant has expanded its partnership with Mitel to bring MiCloud UC and MiCloud CC to its business customers.
MiCloud UC and MiCloud CC allow UK businesses to easily migrate their communications to the cloud and gain the benefits of a complete business phone, collaboration, and contact centre solution in a subscription-based, low maintenance model.
“Businesses are continuing to adopt highly flexible ways of working, and many of our customers are looking further ahead to their longer-term digital transformation goals,” stated Francesca Lee, Commercial Director, BT’s Enterprise unit.
“We’re at the forefront of offering converged digital solutions for business customers to embrace hybrid working and our partnership with Mitel supports our position. Through the MiCloud solutions, we’re expanding our offering to customers with an easy way to use cloud communications and collaboration capabilities to increase productivity and gain access to Mitel’s latest customer experience tools”
How to Manage Collaboration On Video
Poly’s MD of EMEA, Paul Clark, discussed the impact non-stop video calling is having on workers and a company’s overall work culture.
Clark outlines the four biggest obstacles to good team collaboration via video and how to overcome them, including developing a video-on culture, allocating social time before or after meetings to simulate a water cooler break, and circulating post-meeting summaries to stoke further engagement from employees.
“The absence of genuine two-way communication can leave people feeling frustrated, overlooked, or isolated, and many may be struggling to properly engage with people, projects and the ideas discussed on video calls”
“Now that video is ubiquitous in our daily work lives, it’s crucial that all participants are engaged and energised, otherwise, organisations can suffer. Positive social interactions with teammates couldn’t be more important in that regard.”
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