Mitel

WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER A CLOUD PHONE SYSTEM

(Republished with permission from Mitel)

Your phone system plays a critical role in your business operations and in your company’s success. But with more employees working from home and on the go, increasingly global markets and ever-changing customer demands, today’s workforce requires decision makers to think beyond the traditional phone systems of days past. The modern workplace requires a complete communications and collaboration system that not only lets employees interact with ease, but also empowers IT teams to easily manage and adapt to an evolving business environment.

 
Why Cloud Communications?
Chances are, you’re already using cloud technology in other aspects of your business. G Suite by Google Cloud®, Microsoft Office 365® and Dropbox® are just some examples of cloud-based applications. The cloud simply refers to software and services that are hosted by the provider and run on the Internet instead of equipment housed in your building. Since the documents, emails, photos and other software that live in the cloud are available from any device with a secure Internet connection, users can access the information and services from anywhere.

 
Cloud vs. Onsite: Considerations and Benefits
When it comes to communications, a cloud-based phone service offers unique benefits a traditional on-site phone system cannot. Let’s take a quick look at how these two deployment models differ:

On-Site Phone System

You fully own and operate the solution
You are responsible for overall maintenance, upgrades, reliability and security
Typically acquired as an upfront purchase and accounted for as …

7 REASONS CIOS AND CTOS ARE INTERESTED IN UCAAS

What’s next for CIOs and CTOs? A move beyond the “information” and “technology” responsibilities of their roles, it seems. According to analyst firm Gartner, driving business growth is now a top priority, even as these executives remain focused on the digital transformations of their organizations.

Business growth, though, is dependent upon the ability to innovate and pivot in a fast-moving competitive landscape. As CIOs and CTOs evaluate how to manage disruption and change, they’re turning to Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). Here’s why…

 
How UCaaS Helps Organizations Innovate and Pivot

Business Model Change – A key challenge for CIOs and CTOs in delivering growth is supporting business model change. According to Gartner’s annual CIO Agenda survey, 49% say their organizations have already experienced a change in their business model. This trend appears likely to continue. In Gartner’s CEO Perspective survey, 63 percent of respondents said they plan to shift their business model by 2020. To support this vision, CIOs and CTOs must identify and guide specific initiatives that “change business models and drive consumer engagement, product management, and technology,” Gartner says.
Return on innovation – While support for digital transformation is high, CTOs still must show a return on investment. Cloud communications lowers the total cost of ownership, of course, but it also facilitates innovation, which in turn leads to growth. For example, UCaaS allows dispersed teams to assemble and collaborate with ease, thus breaking down internal silos. Meanwhile, …

What are the Advantages – and Potential Risks of UCaaS?

What is Unified Communications As A Service?
UCaaS stands for Unified Communications as a Service.  The service boasts many cloud-based services that are beneficial to businesses.  You can learn of some of its advantages and create a strategy for unified communication.
What are the Advantages of UCaaS?
When UCaaS technologies were first introduced, small businesses were the first adopters. This makes sense since smaller companies typically have less staff and limited resources to maintain and support on-premises communications. Over time, larger companies have begun to see the advantages of streamlining their UC services and supporting multiple locations, including global communications. However, avoiding the capital expenditures and operational costs of on-premises UC remains the primary advantage of UCaaS. Shared cloud call centers cost less than installing the infrastructure for a full PBX service.

Additionally, you don’t have to worry about outdated equipment as your business grows since the UCaaS provider is responsible for replacing a feature. You save on hiring IT specialists because maintenance issues are also handled by the vendor.  UCaaS can be customized for your business needs, allowing you to choose the amount of service that fits your company, scaling up or down as things change.
In addition to lower costs, other benefits include:

Better disaster recovery – Disaster recovery capabilities are one of the most persuasive reasons to consider UCaaS. Think about the importance of uninterrupted communications to your business. While large companies can build redundancy into their systems, this can be …

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN UC AND UCAAS?

UCaaS is a delivery model in which a variety of communication and collaboration applications and services—all of the regular integrated apps associated with UC—are outsourced to a third-party vendor and delivered over an IP network, most often the Internet. So, the main difference between standard UC and UCaaS is that the latter offers UC as a hosted service, which usually provides higher levels of availability, flexibility and scalability and greater cost savings (most UCaaS users invest to avoid the capital and operational expenditures of deploying UC on their own).

You’ve probably heard the phrase “everything is going to the cloud,” which refers to a global trend towards cloud-based services, also known as digital transformation. Well, UCaaS is part of this transformation. UCaaS is not a single service, but rather a variety of communication applications and services using cloud-based software services to store and transmit information. The “UC” refers to the communications channels we use every day, while the “aaS” simply refers to “as a service,” such as “software as a service (SaaS).”

 
Why is Now the Best Time to Invest?
According to research firm MarketsandMarkets’ comprehensive 2013-2018 UCaaS report, 2018 represented the beginning of the technology’s widespread adoption. The report describes UCaaS as “a rapidly growing market” that is generating a lot of interest, and “one of the key enabling factors that will drive the market for unified communication.” All in all, the UCaaS market was projected to grow from its current …

10 REASONS COMPANIES ARE MOVING COMMUNICATIONS TO THE CLOUD

There’s a lot of buzz around the cloud these days and cloud communications is no exception. But buzz isn’t always an indicator of a business case for technology purchases. Smart businesses are asking what’s driving the rush to the cloud—and they’re getting solid answers. So why are so many businesses moving communications to the cloud today? Here are 10 real-world reasons:

Cost

Predictable monthly costs. This may seem like old news, but many companies don’t realize just how much they can save by moving their communications to the cloud. By hosting a phone system over the Internet, businesses are charged on an “as needed” basis, paying only for what they use. That makes cloud-based communication systems especially cost-effective for small businesses—eliminating the need to pay for the installation and maintenance of a traditional phone system.

 

Management

Outsource IT support to the provider. The management of an on-site solution can be very expensive. Because of the complexity of today’s communications systems, it can often take an entire IT department to manage. Cloud-based communications can help alleviate the burden by eliminating maintenance, IT work load and some of the more costly internal infrastructure, including servers and storage systems.

 

Scalability

Scale up or down based on users. Anyone who has moved or expanded an on-site phone system knows just how difficult it can be. Whether a business is growing, moving or sizing down, the cloud provides the flexibility and scalability the business needs now and in the …

ANSWERS TO YOUR TOP 7 QUESTIONS ABOUT MIGRATING FROM SHORETEL TO MITEL CONNECT

When you tell me that ShoreTel has reached the end-of-life, what does that really mean?

Mitel acquired ShoreTel in 2017. The Connect platform changed in brand name only. With ShoreTel technology underpinning the Mitel Connect platform, it is now called Mitel MiVoice Connect. Mitel announced the end-of-life of the ShoreTel 14.2 software and all previous software releases.  All future bug fixes will be rolled into Connect release, while ShoreTel 14.2 continues to be supported through December 2019. Support for software updates/bug fixes will no longer be provided for ShoreTel 14.2 beginning 2020.

 

What are the requirements for us to upgrade to Connect?

While there are not many “requirements” for upgrading to Connect, there are some infrastructure requirements that should be noted:

Must be on ShoreTel version 14.x
If you are using Enterprise Contact Center, you will need the 8.x or 9.x versions to upgrade to Connect Contact Center
Mobility needs to be on 8.x
64bit Windows is required
VMWare ESXi 6 or 6.5 is needed if you are looking to utilize any of the virtual switches and appliances
30 GB HDD available is a minimum

 

Will we be able to use the same desktop handsets?

Connect Premise will continue to support all handsets.  On the other hand, the Connect Cloud supports only the 400 series handset. With Connect, the EdgeGateway will replace the VPN Concentrator. The phones from the VPN concentrator will not work with the EdgeGateway.  Also, only the …

ENSURING YOUR PHONE SYSTEM IS A BUSINESS ENABLER

Many have taken to cloud-based UC platforms as a way to achieve this higher level of connectivity. UC systems work by integrating applications into a single, seamless interface, which make it ideal for unifying communication efforts. Not to mention, they have also been recognized for their ability to ability to boost business productivity and growth opportunities.
Your business communications system needs to ensure you have the best tools that will help you do a better job with your customer…today and tomorrow. Below are two ways an onsite phone system can improve the customer experience by improving flexibility and enhancing reachability.

 
Improving flexibility through work groups
When a customer or prospect calls your company and the phone rings endlessly without being picked up, or it goes to a general voicemail box, they may question how capable your business is. Since today’s customers have higher expectations than ever before, you want to give the impression to current and potential customers that you can serve them the way they want to be served, regardless of whether your employees are in the office or working remotely.

A Mitel Connect ONSITE phone system allows you to improve your business’s flexibility by routing calls using the power of work groups. Here’s how…

Work groups can be created to respond to what’s happening in your business. For example, you might have a new advertising campaign and you need more people ready to answer the phone. Perhaps there are changing weather conditions and …

3 Ways Unified Communications Maximizes Your Control

With so many phone system options to pick from, it’s difficult to know which one will fully support your business. But you do know one thing: your current phone system no longer meets your company’s changing needs. So you do what any smart business person does – you conduct a thorough assessment of your options. You quickly learn that what you need is a unified communications system that will integrate with your current business applications at a reasonable cost. Most importantly, you want to control how you use, manage and pay for the phone system over the long term while building for the future and enabling an easy migration to the cloud as your business evolves.
If this scenario applies to you, it’s time to consider a unified communications system that gives you total control in three critical ways: 
1. Control Over Custody
Is ownership your preference? If you have a certain comfort level when the assets you buy are sitting under your roof, an onsite phone system will give you complete custody of the equipment. Simply put, you own it. This type of investment creates a future benefit for your business by reducing long-term system costs while increasing the book value of your company. The financial decision of leasing, renting or buying is up to you. A Mitel Connect ONSITE system gives you investment protection while laying the foundation for a later migration to the cloud. You decide how you spend …

Mitel & ShoreTel

As many of you have been made aware, Mitel announced last week that they’ve entered into a definitive agreement to purchase ShoreTel.  This transaction is projected to finalize in the 3rd quarter of 2017.

We’ve had several customers reach out with questions as to how this affects them with their current ShoreTel system along with prospects curious about how this may affect a future or eminent purchase, all great questions.

We’re providing a document from Mitel concerning several of these questions for you to read through. You can access it here.

In short, we feel this is very positive and exciting news.  Between the two companies they will create the 2nd largest Premise/Cloud Manufacturer/Provider in the US giving us a much more robust product set for our customers.  And from everything that’s been disclosed so far, all existing ShoreTel products will remain on the same trajectory.  Any future changes will allow for the best of both products to be merged together in order to create the best possible products for our customers.

As always, we are happy to address any questions you may have so feel free to reach out to us directly at sales@mtvoip.com.

How Mitel Connect Can Make Your Day With Intelligent Voice & Data Solutions

There aren’t enough hours in the day, and sometimes those precious hours are eaten up by, well, life. An important meeting gets hijacked by car trouble, or kids get sick on a day you just can’t be away from the office. Well, with Mitel Connect’s intelligent voice and data solutions, you don’t ever have to be away from the office.

When you can’t afford to halt work when obstacles pop up, you need a communication system that will adapt with you and keep you moving forward. With robust features like conferencing and collaboration and flexible mobility between devices, you can stay connected when it matters most.

Find out all the ways Millennia, as a Midwest Mitel provider can take you through your day, no matter what life throws at you.
Late to work? Don’t miss the meeting.
Don’t let a faulty alarm ruin that early morning meeting. When life throws you behind, stay ahead with Mitel Connect’s conferencing and collaboration tools. The calendar feature will remind you of upcoming meetings and allow you to join a conference right from your mobile phone. Share a presentation by pulling from Dropbox and hit the mark without leaving your bedroom.

 
On the Move? Stay Connected.
Whether you’re bouncing back and forth between your desk and a coworker’s desk, or you’re running kids to school or managing car trouble, with Mitel Connect, you’re not anchored to one spot. With one click, you can transfer a call from your desk phone to your personal mobile …

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Millennia Technologies is a full-service voice and data solutions company for midsize to enterprise customers. Specializing in UCaaS , CCaaS , Cybersecurity , IoT , Voice , Cloud , and more. Our passion is firmly rooted in showing clients how well-designed data solutions can significantly accelerate business operations, and then celebrating their goal-shattering successes.