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MiVoice Customers: Mitel’s Complete Release 9 Platform Refresh Includes Improved Performance & Security

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TCI and Mitel are pleased to announce the arrival of MiVoice Business Release 9.0 – a suite of upgrades designed to facilitate a simplified process for the deployment of ongoing patches, security updates, and performance improvements. 9.0 also enables a retooled infrastructure ready to evolve your business to next-generation networks.

9.0 Highlights include…

  • A complete software refresh and move to native Linux, providing a common set of tools for software management, while enabling the integration of new services and enhanced security.
  • A new approach to updating individual software components rather than an entire software load. This will reduce maintenance time, allow faster response to potential future security issues, and provide added incentive for IT administrators to promptly implement updates.
  • Significantly enhanced system performance and serviceability.

Pre-Migration Audit

TCI’s local team of Mitel experts will be in touch to arrange time to discuss what a successful implementation can mean to the continued success of your business and answer any questions you may have. Our pre-migration audit has several objectives:

  • Discover any hardware that is unsupported
  • Identify any license changes that may be required
  • Prepare for a successful transition from VxWorks (the previous Operating System) to Linux
  • Review Mitel’s introduction of Server Manager to all platforms

Again, we’ll be in touch with our MiVoice clients to go over everything. If you’re ready to schedule your briefing now, please contact us at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

Mitel Delivers More Advantages with Expanding Google Cloud Partnership

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Our strategic partner, Mitel has broadened its partnership with Google Cloud to provide greater security and reliability for businesses looking to move more of their collaboration tools and communications to the cloud in order to accelerate their Digital Transformation…

  • As part of the expanded partnership, Mitel will now leverage the Google Cloud Platform to support its public and private cloud solutions and deliver more innovative artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and reporting capabilities.
  • Google Cloud Platform supports Mitel customers with some of the highest levels of security and availability with dedicated operational practices and 24/7 data center monitoring.
  • Google Cloud Platform is also certified as meeting Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards and Service Organization Control Type II (SOC 2) compliance, addressing the stringent requirements of heavily regulated industries like healthcare, government, education and finance.
  • Google Cloud Platform will initially support new MiCloud Connect and MiCloud Flex customers. New MiVoice Business customers will also have the option of deploying on the platform.
  • With this latest announcement, Mitel gains further access to Google Cloud’s AI analytics, as well as integration with Google’s popular G Suite productivity and collaboration tools.

Check out this Mitel-Google Contact Center video [7:30]

Mitel’s decision to anchor their public and private solutions with Google Cloud Platform enables its customers to move forward with confidence, knowing their services are virtually bulletproof and that the latest communications and collaboration capabilities will be at their fingertips.

Let’s talk more about how Mitel solutions – coupled with Google’s Cloud Platform – can give your business a competitive edge. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

5 Ways Mitel’s Seamless Teamwork App Enables More Wins and Project Success

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You may think that your team is successful enough with just phone and email. Maybe you think screen sharing’s the ultimate in cool. But true teamwork requires more advanced communications. Specifically, it needs seamless access to robust tools from a single app, one that can be accessed via web, desktop and mobile.

Mitel’s innovative Teamwork App can help you build a more effective and efficient team with the goal of helping you come out a winner on every project and customer engagement. Here’s how…

  • Stay organized with a truly virtual workspace – The Teamwork App’s virtual workspaces allow you to easily send messages and track conversations, keeping your conversations neatly collected by topic or project. Better yet, you can take a conversation from online to conference mode with the click of a button.
  • Roam freely with a mobile-first design – Working from home? Working in the field? Driving from one client’s office to the next? A mobile collaboration app for iOS and Android keeps you fully connected to teammates, no matter where you are or where you’re going. Plus, the app puts your safety first – Siri integration and Bluetooth support allow you to talk hands-free.
  • Stay in one place with an integrated user experience – Teamwork App users can automatically cross-launch features. Have a quick question for a colleague? Get the right answer fast with ad hoc conferencing. Need to switch between devices mid-meeting? Transition seamlessly between desktop and mobile. You’ll have a single experience across multiple devices.
  • Manage projects without interrupting the conversation – With Mitel Teamwork App, you can create and assign tasks, archive data and easily share files. A personal dashboard provides alerts specific to you.
  • Meet colleagues and customers where they need you to be – Whether you’re dealing with team members or customers, being able to respond to an email or answer a phone call is no longer enough. Messaging is easier and faster. In fact, many customers prefer text communication. Teamwork lets you send and receive Business SMS text messages that are linked to your business identity. Your team can respond promptly, using their preferred communications channel, even from a desktop application.

Enable more team wins and project success. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Mitel Study of Business Executives Reveals What’s Driving Cloud Voice Adoption

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Mitel recently issued a study of the perceptions and motivations of executives for migrating to a cloud-based model for their business communications. Key takeaways include…

Innovation is at the heart of cloud migration

Access to innovative features not available with traditional telephony solutions was by far the main driver for migrating to a cloud model. With cloud technology delivering faster and easier access to key productivity tools, companies now view such functionality as indispensable.

Unified communication features, including presence, secure instant messaging, voice and video calls, are top of their “must-have” list. Advanced collaboration functions, such as audio and video conferencing and seamless content sharing were also cited as essential.

Migration costs are critical for measuring ROI

The costs of migrating existing telephony architecture to the cloud are top-of-mind for most businesses, compared with other costs for such things as ongoing management, equipment and maintenance. Companies also reported migration costs as the primary factor to consider when it comes to ROI. The performance improvements they can expect from the cloud are deemed heavily dependent on the quality of underlying IT systems.

Businesses are looking for cloud expertise

Companies are choosing different paths to the cloud, whether their business model aligns to a public, private or hybrid approach. According to the research, most businesses report a need for experienced advisors to help them migrate to the cloud in a manner that makes the most sense for their organization. Cloud deployments are considered a critical part of their long-term communications strategies, and companies are investing in expertise to guarantee future success.

With Mitel as its strategic partner, TCI is well positioned to design and implement the best cloud solution for your needs. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

Mitel & VMware Bring Voice, Data and Cloud Together

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Imagine being able to manage Unified Communications and Collaboration solutions like any other business application in your virtualized data center…

Working closely with VMware, Mitel unites Voice and Data applications on the same shared servers, enabling you to achieve:

  • Faster system deployment
  • A common management platform for voice and data
  • A single business continuity plan

Combining voice and data increases efficiencies and offers significant savings:

  • Minimizes server hardware
  • Lowers real estate needs
  • Reduces power consumption and server provisioning costs

Mitel Virtual Solutions for the data center shrinks IT resource requirements through:

  • Reduced complexity
  • Centralized administration
  • Fewer skill sets, less training

Call TCI for your Cloud and Virtualization solutions…  Our experts will design a cost effective public, hybrid or private communications cloud solution tailored specifically to the needs of your business.  Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or CustomerService@tcicomm.com.

 

Download Your FREE Copy of ‘Team Collaboration for Dummies’ Today

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The biggest investment and competitive advantage in any business is often your employees. Maximizing employee productivity has a significant impact on the bottom line.

Today’s employees use mobile devices and mobile apps in practically every aspect of their lives  ̶  that includes the business world. These devices and apps influence the way your employees collaborate and interact professionally.

Now is the time to embrace the mobile lifestyle and find innovative ways to adapt these productivity enhancing tools to a professional setting for effective team collaboration and communications.

Click here for your FREE ebook

Team Collaboration for Dummies, Mitel Special Edition, explores ways to…

  • Impact your business  ̶  strengthen your collaboration skills
  • Evolve your team dynamics  ̶  improve team productivity, competitiveness, agility, and decision making
  • Become a collaborative enterprise  ̶  find out what it takes
  • Discover the Mitel MiTeam solution  ̶  a work stream communications and collaboration tool that provides a highly collaborative, persistent workspace for team-based meetings, conversations, content collaboration and project management. Reduce organization silos, and increase your speed to market with one converged collaboration application that extends beyond your company walls to mobile employees, partners, and customers.

Start the conversation about Team Collaboration with TCI.  Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Giving Machines a Voice… Overcome Field Service Delays with IoT and Cloud Communications

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Today’s service customers have zero patience for field service delays. They simply won’t tolerate missed or late service calls, or technicians who don’t have the necessary skills to get them back online, or the old standby, “I don’t have the right parts with me. I’ll have to go back to the shop.”

The Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud communications have the potential to minimize such situations. In a recent survey of field service executives, 55% said IoT was the “next big thing” related to technology that they felt would most help with increasing service demands.

In the not too distant past, field techs were limited to voice-only cell phones to communicate with their home office. But with today’s smartphones and web-based solutions, they can message and locate coworkers, conduct video calls, and make voice calls – all from a mobile app.

IoT devices are taking field service to the next level… Multiple sensors on IoT devices provide diagnostic data that help service techs and engineers pinpoint the cause of maintenance issues at customer locations.

With better data, there is faster analysis and identification of the best solution. A cloud-based management system can even allow your techs to correct many problems remotely. By giving machines a voice, you can head off service problems before your techs need to hit the road.

Download: A Better Customer Experience Through Giving Machines A Voice

Does your business depend on Field Service? Keep your business focused on delivering the best possible Customer Experience. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Mitel Integrates with Google Cloud Contact Center AI to Deliver More Insightful Customer Experiences

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Mitel has announced an integration with Google Cloud’s new Contact Center AI that will improve your company’s customer service experience, as well as the productivity of your contact center.

Contact Center AI is a simple, secure, and flexible solution that allows enterprises with limited machine learning expertise to deploy AI in their contact centers.

Key features of Mitel’s integration with Contact Center AI include new capabilities you can use to offer smarter, more personalized agent/customer interactions.

  • AI-Powered Virtual Agent – Enables your customers to self-serve with the help of an intelligent chatbot equipped with product and service information.
  • AI-Powered Agent Assist – Enables a customer inquiry to be easily transferred to a live agent with full context of the virtual agent conversation and continuous AI support to provide the agent with real-time research and coaching.
  • AI-Powered Analytics – Provides another layer of intelligence and insight to enhance your offerings and further elevate your Customer Experience.

Let’s talk about upgrading your Mitel contact center with AI. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

3 Best Practices for Data-Driven Decision-Making with Voice & Network Performance Analytics

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Today’s business communications technology produces a lot of valuable data. With access to it, you’ll be able to monitor and refine your voice network and deliver better performance to users. Without data, you’ll be left playing a game of trial and error.

Mitel offers 3 best practices for data-driven decision-making with performance analytics:

  • Detect Problems Sooner with Synthetic Call Tests – By testing VoIP and network performance with synthetic calls, you can pinpoint the most important problems before users are impacted. For instance, you can schedule a SIP call test to occur at 4 am each day between your N. Virginia office and your branch office in Baltimore. If the test identifies poor scores on jitter, packet loss, delay or voice quality, you’ll have time to troubleshoot and correct the problem before it impacts users.
  • Choose Solutions that Adapt to Your Workflow – Monitoring tools are only helpful when they alert you to the problems that matter. Performance analytics ensures you see the problems that matter most based on your workflow and operations. For example, you can customize your alert emails using HTML templates, emphasizing important content and removing extraneous details. You can also customize alarm filters by severity, content or device type.
  • Let Capacity Analytics Guide You – Finding cost-saving opportunities and preventing network problems is easier when you have analytics telling you when your trunks are close to overcapacity or not operating at full capacity. Reports provide easily understood analytics and recommended actions, allowing you to downsize to save money or scale up to prevent performance problems.

When it comes to the reliable performance of your voice network, better data makes for better decisions and outcomes for your business. Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Mitel Partners with Google AI to Develop the Intelligent Customer Experience

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By 2020 Customer Experience is expected to overtake price and product as the key differentiator used by customers to influence their brand, product and service decisions.

Responding to this reality, Mitel has partnered with Google to deliver new AI-driven customer experience capabilities across all Mitel core contact center solutions, including its cloud-based MiContact Center.

Download: The Impending Contact Center Disruption

Accelerating customization

With a traditional chatbot, a contact center team is responsible for predicting what their customers are going to ask, and painstakingly scripting each interaction. With Mitel/Google’s AI solution, the customer is connected directly to your company’s knowledge base, shifting chatbot implementation time from months to days.

Using NLP – natural language processing – Mitel’s intelligent customer experience solution understands what your customers are saying, chatting or texting – without requiring specific phrasing – and a virtual agent responds in real-time whether a human agent is available or not.

Whenever the virtual agent reaches a question or situation it cannot handle alone, it can involve a human agent in the conversation, feeding its conversation details directly to that agent.

Leveraging machine learning, the AI solution will continue to observe the customer-agent interaction, suggesting relevant options or content to the agent and monitoring which responses come to a successful conclusion. This real-time coaching from AI Agent Assist enables more accurate, more responsive follow ups and an improved customer experience.

The Video Demo: How it Works

This Mitel video explains how the technology…

  • Uses the virtual agent chatbot and AI analytics to respond to common customer needs
  • Stays with each call, SMS or chat to find the best information for each customer
  • Learns what works and what doesn’t to improve future interactions
  • Simplifies agent workflows with smart virtual agent assist

Ready to improve the experience of your customers with AI? Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.