Welcome back to our round-up of the week’s biggest news emerging from the UC&C space.
This week saw Microsoft hold its annual partner conference Inspire, where it announced it was integrating Teams into Dynamics 365. We also reported on Zoom’s latest updates to Zoom Rooms, as well as Gamma’s vow to make some European acquisitions.hybrid
Team Will Be Integrated with Dynamics 365
One of the biggest stories to come out of this year’s Microsoft Inspire was the news that Teams will be integrated with Microsoft’s cloud-based business applications platform to form one of the vendor’s first “collaboration hero apps”.
The integration will allow users to view and edit Dynamics records in Teams, add a Teams meeting to appointments, and stay up to date on records with automated notifications and connected workflows.
“Together, Teams and Dynamics 365 offer powerful new ways for everyone across an organisation to seamlessly exchange and capture ideas in right in the flow of work,” stated Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President, M365.
“We’re also eliminating the tax that has historically held organisations back from this kind of integration, making these experiences available within Teams to any user, at no additional cost. No other technology vendor offers this kind of integration and accessibility across the organisation without the need to pay for multiple underlying software licenses”
Zoom Rooms Updates
The videoconferencing vendor’s latest updates to Zoom Rooms are ostensibly about improving the hybrid collaboration journey.
The most exciting of the latest enhancements is that of the Smart Gallery, which is now available in public beta. The solution uses AI to take single-camera views of multiple people in a Zoom Room, sending up to three separate streams of video to better showcase the in-room participants to people joining the conversation remotely.
Native Voice Commands also arrives in public beta with this new Zoom Rooms update. The capability empowers organisations to provide effective and safe hands-free meeting experiences.
Elsewhere, users will now have more control over attendees, panelists, and webinars within the service, and Conference Room Connectors have also had an update.
Gamma Eying Up European M&A
The UCaaS specialist revealed in a trading update this week that it was on the lookout for European acquisitions to further its growth ambitions.
“We continue to actively appraise acquisition targets in Europe to gain scale and to strengthen capabilities,” the company added.
Elsewhere in the update, Gamma reported a positive first half of its financial year. The UK, in particular, has seen “robust” trading for the period. Its channel business has reported positive net additions across all its UCaaS products, while its indirect business has performed slightly ahead of expectations.
Andrew Taylor, Chief Executive, stated:
“Despite the ongoing COVID-19 related difficulties across the UK and Europe, I am encouraged by our performance in the first half of 2021.
“I am pleased with the development of our UCaaS strategy both organically and through the acquisition of Mission Labs, and with the release of an exciting range of new UCaaS products, including Phone Line Plus and Horizon Contact”
BlueJeans’ Latest Mobile Updates
BlueJeans has launched a host of new features for its mobile platform across iOS, iPadOS, and Android.
The new functionality is focused on improved video layouts and multitasking, with the vendor claiming that the updates ensure consistency, flexibility, and productivity for its users across all devices.
Eric Spadafora, General Manager at Verizon-owned BlueJeans, stated: “Long gone are the days of expecting all meeting attendees to be in a conference room together. From the boardroom to the datacentre, mobility is driving the way we work.
“With the new BlueJeans Mobile expsrience, we’re providing the full-fledged flexibility mobile workers require today while setting up organizations of all sizes for hybrid workplace success in the future”
Who Made the UC Awards 2021 Short List?
This year’s UC Awards look set to be the most exciting yet!
For 2021, we had more categories, more competition, and even tougher decisions to make. With the assistance of a wonderful panel of judges, we’ve produced the shortlist for these awards.
Join us on the 29th of July 2021 at 15:00 GMT to celebrate with us and find out who has won which category.
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