It’s that time of the week again where we round up the hottest news from the UC industry for your perusal.
This week saw Microsoft become the second biggest UCaaS provider in the world, Google make Workspace available to all users with a Google account and Avaya announce a host of new features for Cloud Office.
Microsoft Climbs to #2 in Global UCaaS Ranks
Synergy Research Group reported that the tech titan is now the second-largest UCaaS provider in the world.
The analyst house claimed that rapid growth throughout 2020 and in the first quarter of this year has seen Microsoft propel itself past rivals to now have a greater share of worldwide revenue than Mitel, 8×8, Vonage and LogMeIn, However, RingCentral still remains top dog by a large margin.
“While RingCentral remains in a field of its own, there is a battle going on among the chasing pack of UCaaS providers,” said Jeremy Duke, Synergy Research Group’s founder and Chief Analyst.
“Microsoft was late to the party but is now growing strongly and is doubling its UCaaS subscriber base every six months”
What’s New in Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral?
Avaya Cloud Office revealed a host of new features this week.
Avaya recently updated its “visual voicemail” solution, making it easier to navigate voice messages on the desk phone screen, listen to messages and view transcripts. There’s also the opportunity to perform a number of operations like forward, delete, call back, and more.
Bridged call appearance has also been implemented, which allows a single number to show on multiple phones so that other team members can hold calls, pickup within the group, join calls, and share lines.
For video, Avaya introduced Cloud Office Rooms, which turns any workspace into a conferencing room, and Avaya Vantage, which is a series of smart devices offering always-on video and audio options for the office.
Avaya Cloud Office is now available in 13 countries and among the new features is a range of new global expansion capabilities, including EU packages in four licence tiers, new default data residency and Global Office markets.
Google Workspace Now Available to All Users
The tech giant has made its Workspace offering available to all users with a Google account, as well as announcing a premium individual subscription.
Workspace includes the likes of Gmail, Meet, Calendar, and Slide and was launched last year as a more integrated platform for the components of G Suite.
In a blog post, Google stated:
“By bringing Google Workspace to everyone, we’re making it easy for people to stay connected, get organised, and achieve more together, whether it’s advancing a cause, planning your family reunion, assigning next steps for the PTA or discussing this month’s book club pick”
The new Workspace Individual subscription will be $9.99 per month and provide “premium capabilities”, such as smart booking services, professional video meetings, and customisable email marketing.
Dialpad Launches Teams Integration
The cloud comms platform provider announced its integration with Microsoft Teams.
Dialpad for Microsoft Teams is a cloud-native direct routing integration that brings Teams together with its own enterprise telephony.
Dialpad said that its direct routing offering will give PSTN connectivity to users in 49 countries.
Craig Walker, CEO at Dialpad, said: “Today’s technology and communications investments need to be in solutions that wholly integrate into how businesses work today, yet are flexible and scalable to evolve with them tomorrow.
“Today, more than 145 million people are using Microsoft Teams as their team collaboration tool, and nobody in the unified communications space does telephony services better than Dialpad”
What Does the Workplace of the Future Look Like?
The events of the past 18 months have accelerated digital transformation by seven years – well beyond anything any of us could have predicted in our most optimistic predictions.
UC Today’s Rob Scott ruminates on how this acceleration has affected the workplace, changes in consumer behaviour, and what it means to be working in the office of 2027 now.
What are your thoughts on this week’s headlines? Let us know on our social media channels!
