Sure, “shadow IT” sounds scary, but what is it really? You can think of it as employees using business applications that aren’t on the corporate menu. For example, using Skype to make business calls when you travel instead of the corporate audioconferencing service. Or storing business documents on your personal Google Drive account instead of Salesforce.
Those examples don’t seem like a big deal, right? Only they’re bigger than you think. In a Cisco study last year, CIOs were asked how many cloud apps their business users were running in the shadows. Their answer: fifty. The real answer? Seven hundred and thirty.
Yes, the average enterprise uses 730 different cloud apps that aren’t part of the corporate infrastructure.
Clearly, shadow IT is a bigger problem than most CIOs realize.
The real costs of shadow IT revealedBut at least these apps aren’t costing the enterprise anything… or are they? Working in the shadows can introduce security risks and lead to data loss. For example, what h..

It’s becoming increasingly challenging for today’s young professionals to stay productive. Workers from Generation X and Generation Y (a.k.a. Millennials) face a unique scenario where the devices and applications used in their personal lives have had a growing impact on their professional lives, and in some cases, have become double-edged swords when it comes to increasing productivity.
Our omnipresent mobile devices and social networks create a mess of noise and notifications that we rarely (if ever) truly turn off. Young professionals know that even if the person they want to reach isn’t available right now, they can still send a text or message through social media with confidence that it will be seen. This creates a sort of 24/7 personal queue in our smartphones. For example, if I’m in a lids-down meeting for an hour, I can typically expect notifications for SMS, Snapchat, Facebook Messenger, email and maybe Instagram when I’m reunited with my smartphone.
This always-on availabil..

What’s your primary device for doing business—laptop, smartphone, tablet, desktop, or something else? What impact would it have on your business if your primary device was out of commission? If the thought of you or your employees losing primary devices fills you with dread as you imagine productivity screeching to a halt, you could be missing a huge opportunity with the latest in cloud-based collaboration tools.
Device down! For me, my primary device is my laptop. As any laptop owner knows, laptops are susceptible to damage, loss, and theft. The specter of malware, spills, and dropping it give gives me nightmares. Smartphones and tablets are even more at risk—so if your primary device is one of the latter, this is an important lesson.
During a recent holiday weekend, my car was burgled. Among the many stolen items was my work laptop—my favorite and primary device to work on. You would have imagined the loss of my laptop made work a little more cumbersome, but I was still able to pic..

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.
Six essential processes for keeping data secure
On Computer WeeklyData security is increasingly vital for organisations as the countdown begins for compliance with new rules imposed by the EU’s general data protection regulation. 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 – from the C-suite to middle managers to line employees”, says the report. Read the article >
Tech firms tackle IoT security with management protocol
On Computer WeeklyA group of tech firms have joined forces to develop a management protoc..

If the future of cloud technology could be summed up in one word, it would be “more.” More business applications and capabilities are moving into the cloud each year. In fact, according to a recent Harvard Business Review study, nearly three out of four businesses expect to have at least half of their IT functions in the cloud by 2017.
While the steady adoption of cloud services is nothing new, the reasons behind its rise are changing. Companies aren’t embracing the cloud simply to save money anymore, nor is speed to market the main driver for cloud adoption.
The number one reason that businesses are moving more into the cloud today (according to the same Harvard study) is to improve collaboration.
If that seems surprising, it shouldn’t be. As more businesses move their communications into the cloud and unify them, more people are able to access those communications with any device, on any platform, from any location. By liberating communications from a host of different applications, ..

Keeping up with rapidly changing technology poses a problem for many businesses. Constantly changing outdated phone systems, considering a move to the cloud, or upgrading servers are all things to keep in mind. Add in BYOD policies and there’s a lot more to consider if you want to keep your business competitive. Yet, everything you’re doing to stay competitive may not matter if you’re not prepared for the changing device habits and the hidden skills of your young professionals. Is your business ready?
More than one-in-three American workers today are Millennials (adults ages 18 to 34 in 2015), and this year they surpassed Generation X to become the largest share of the American workforce, according to new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. (PewResearch)
By turning a blind eye to this wave of incoming workers and changing device habits, businesses are postponing a crucial workplace upgrade. Yet, a surprising number of companies have done just that. According to ..

Do you love PowerPoint presentations? Do you prefer to sit at large tables instead of an individual desk? Do you live for conference bridges and dial-in codes? Then you’re in luck. Mitel is looking for a Professional Meeting Scheduler / Attender.
Qualifications:
Has a strong portfolio of meeting agendas High tolerance for call latency Gets more satisfaction from progress reports than actual progress High tolerance for whiteboard marker fumes Proficiency booking meetings in Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, iCal and Doodle Experience ordering large quantities of bland mini-sandwiches Tendency for scheduling recurring meetings with no end dates is a plus Strong attendance taking skills Aptitude for translating agreed-upon decisions into vague, inactionable action items Enjoys the inherent ritual complexities of screen sharing Preference to “copy all” a must Understands meeting time shift across different time zones Desire to check attendees’ calendars before scheduling me..

It turns out that the cloud aspects of your IT strategy may have more holes than you think. A recent Mitel/Spiceworks survey revealed that two out of three enterprises were unhappy with functions they’ve moved to the cloud. And it’s not just the IT department that’s feeling deflated. The rise of shadow IT shows how widespread cloud cheating has become.
If you want to know why some enterprises are down on the cloud these days, look no further than collaboration. For years, unified communications and collaboration has been touted as an ideal function for the cloud, but most cloud collaboration tools haven’t lived up to the hype. Instead, they’ve struggled to gain traction with employees who find them complex, inconsistent and clunky to use.
Looking back, the road to cloud collaboration has been paved with broken promises:
Promise: “It will be intuitive to use.” Reality: Unfortunately, most collaboration suites aren’t as simple and intuitive to use as the new generation of mobile colla..

The term “contact center” often conjures up an image of large numbers of agents handling incoming and outgoing calls all day, every day. In some cases, this is an accurate interpretation.
However, Gartner predicts that by 2020, customers will manage 85 percent of their relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human
With this in mind, it’s clear that contact center technology is going to increasingly drive digital engagements and organizational workflows. The focus is on removing departmental silos to ensure the full context can be brought to every single customer interaction and engagement.
A busy port tackles complex logistics By way of example, a European sea port had a challenge connecting their large database of lorry drivers to incoming ships full of containers that needed ongoing transportation around the continent. The drivers were typically paid a day-rate, so the company needed a system to ensure that they efficiently allocated jobs, and then accurately a..