Mitel

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 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …