Last Week in Business Communications is a weekly post where we cover some of the notable articles and happenings in the business communication world from the week before. Check back each Monday for your news fix.
Your PC is simply another mobile device
On Info WorldIT needs to start planning now for the day when PCs are managed and secured like mobile devices, and desktop apps are developed and deployed like mobile apps. Read the article >
To improve IT efficiency, start with the org chart
On Network WorldIT efficiency decisions are rarely made at the data center street address, but rather in the line of business or IT function outside of the purview of the data center. Read the article >
Collaboration a hallmark of industry-leading companies, says report
On UC InsightCollaboration is a hallmark of industry-leading companies, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). Top-performing companies “collaborate more effectively at every level of the organisation – f..

It’s the kind of scenario that keeps IT administrators up at night: the latest in a string of network failures plaguing airlines, Southwest Airlines recently experienced an outage that resulted in costs of five-to-10 million dollars, according to news reports.
The cause? A single malfunctioning router.
Facing a complicated labyrinth of equipment of varying ages, vendors and health, it’s a perennial challenge for those managing today’s business communications networks—identifying potential problems before disaster strikes. Fortunately, there are ways to minimize the risk so network admins can sleep at night.
Best practice #1: Monitor for insight End-to-end network monitoring not only gives you peace of mind, it provides insight into the health of the devices on your network. Seeing increasing CPU or disk usage? There could be bandwidth congestion as a result of a failing device. On a Mitel network, often what presents as a voice quality problem is in fact caused by a failing or misc..

In this video blog, Mitel’s General Manager for Contact Center Brian Spencer explains why we need to stop talking about call centers or contact centers and start looking at the bigger picture: building a customer-driven, best practice-focused center of excellence called the customer experience center.

Video transcript: Contact centers. It’s a term our industry has been using for a very long time. It’s the place where you see loads of people in cubicles, working on their computers, probably with headsets on, presumably taking and making calls to customers. And they’re disparate throughout the organization. Well, that’s the way that the world used to work. Let me talk about the way the world needs to work.
The customer experience center.
Businesses have myriad touchpoints through which they reach out to or are reached by customers. Creating a center of excellence that will drive best practices, the right social acumen, the ability to communicate effectively, with empathy, with emotio..

Last Week in Business Communications is a weekly post where we cover some of the notable articles and happenings in the business communication world from the week before. Check back each Monday for your news fix.
Mobility is about to enter the post-app era, says Gartner
On Computer WeeklyAt an event in South Africa, Gartner analysts look ahead to an era of mobility that goes beyond apps. Read the article >
The Key to Superfast 5G Could Be The Use of Gallium Nitride
On 5GThe arrival of 5G will bring about higher mobile network connection speeds and greater data capacity. In order to power this boosted performance, however, new base station technology is required. Read the article >
6 ways of protecting your IoT operations
On Tech RadarBusinesses are increasingly adopting connected technologies such as wearables and office sensors to streamline operations and boost productivity, and as a result, the Internet of Things (IoT) industry is on the up. Read the article >

Google “business collaboration tools” and you’ll get 58 million results. Suffice it to say, there’s a proliferation of collaboration tools out there, especially over-the-top (OTT) applications to help your business.
Some tools are for chatting, some for conferencing, some for screen sharing, some for file sharing, and so on (to the tune of 58 million results).
Most organizations use a large number of tools for communicating, collaborating, and sharing, so it’s easy to understand how workers can feel overwhelmed by the different collaboration tools used between departments and vendors.
The company might have an official collaboration tool. But your department uses the free version of another tool for convenience. Another department is running an inexpensive version of the latest, flashiest social/mobile group chat platform. Several people use screen share software from a new startup they just heard about while your vendors are using the old standbys, and somewhere, somebody is still ..

Imagine this:
You’re hosting an online company-wide webinar. To prepare, you have several brainstorming sessions, spend hours discussing what you want to cover and stay up to the wee hours creating an awesome presentation. You are ready. You are going to rock.
You open the webinar and attendees start rolling in. Colleagues are excited and ready to see what you have.
The webinar starts. Your introduction is great and the first comment pops up. Sweet! You are already engaging your audience!
Then you read the comment.
“I can’t hear you. The sound keeps going in and out.”
One of the most dreaded comments any webinar presenter can hear. More comments start popping up about bad connections, choppy sound and major delays. Needless to say it’s a rough beginning to your webinar.
You power through it and it was an OK session in the end, but it could have been great.

So what went wrong? The webinar software? Bad luck?
Network reliability redefined Most likely it was your network connecti..

Last Week in Business Communications is a weekly post where we cover some of the notable articles and happenings in the business communication world from the week before. Check back each Monday for your news fix.
Enterprise network access policies must change to account for IoT
On Computer WeeklyWith IoT devices set to outnumber notebooks, smartphones and tablets by more than three times, businesses will need to adjust their network access policies to keep things running smoothly, says Gartner. Read the article >
Commercial 5G services forecast for launch in 2020
On UC InsightCommercial 5G services are expected to launch in 2020, reaching 24 million global subscribers within the first 12 months, according to research house Ovum’s inaugural 5G Subscription Forecasts. Read the article >
Why politics is encouraging the hybrid cloud
On Tech RadarCould multinationals turn to regional data centres to meet compliance regs? Read the article >

Ask around and you’ll probably find that there are more definitions for unified communications than there are unified communications vendors. Some definitions focus on technology, others on access, others on identity, and the list goes on. But what is common through practically every definition of this often-debated term is the idea of making communications easier and more seamless to make life better for companies, their workers, their vendors, their customers and everyone in between.
So instead of trying to offer up our own, singular definition of unified communications, we thought we’d take a different approach. Below, you’ll find a survey of definitions analysts, crowdsourcing, major publishers—and uniquely personal perspectives from individual people that span life-long telecom insiders to the newly initiated.
Have a definition of your own you’d like us to consider including in this post? Email us at blog@mitel.com or tweet us at @Mitel.

Perspectives from the web As one of th..

The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) is one of the busiest emergency departments for children in Canada, caring for half a million kids from across Ontario, Quebec and Northern Canada each year. CHEO is also known for its pediatric research, pioneering breakthrough research in areas like genetics of rare disease, mental health, oncology and emergency medicine. CHEO prides itself on innovation—not just that which improves care at CHEO itself, but innovation that improves pediatric healthcare around the world.
But for CHEO, patient care goes beyond cutting-edge research and equipment. Recognizing the toll illness takes on its patients (from infants to 17-year-olds) and their families, CHEO offers a number of social supports to make life as normal as possible for the children in its care, as well as their parents and siblings. Whether it’s the clown making children laugh, the therapy dogs offering cuddles, or the social workers that offer consultations and financial guidance..

Last Week in Business Communications is a weekly post where we cover some of the notable articles and happenings in the business communication world from the week before. Check back each Monday for your news fix.
Cloud security processes need to mature, says panel
On Computer WeeklyMany organisations still need to adapt their business practices to ensure security in the cloud, according to a panel of IT leaders. Read the article >
A mobile-first strategy improves employee productivity, study finds
On Network WorldOrganizations that are mobile ‘pioneers’ saw a 16% boost in productivity, as well as increases in creativity and loyalty. Read the article >
UC EXPO 2015 – The Future of Unified Communications – Panel Debate
On UC InsightUC EXPO 2015 – The Future of Unified Communications – Panel Debate. Read the article >