Remote work had already achieved mainstream status before the coronavirus drove millions of us into work-from-home arrangements. Research conducted months before the COVID-19 pandemic found that remote work has increased by more than 150 percent over the past decade, with nearly three-quarters of global professionals reporting they telecommute at least one day a week.
It is quite likely that the elevated levels of remote workers will represent the new normal well into the future. Forward-thinking companies should use this time to make sure they have a long-term plan for ensuring telecommuters have the communication and collaboration tools they need to work efficiently.
Even organizations that have supported remote workers for years were not entirely prepared to for their entire workforce to become remote almost overnight. With dozens or hundreds of workers suddenly self-isolating, many businesses had to scrambled to remain operational with a patchwork of communication and collaboration tools.
Free but Risky
Many organizations are still using free or low-cost video-conferencing from Web-based collaboration platforms such as Zoom, Cisco Webex and Microsoft Teams. All these services have experienced record usage levels. Zoom has been particularly popular, with company officials reporting that use of the platform grew 20 times previous levels in the first few months of the pandemic. However, this surge has revealed some shortcomings.
Zoom’s free version supports up to 100 concurrent users in a conference, but there are some privacy tradeoffs. Zoom conferences have been hijacked by attackers who disrupt meetings with pornographic images and threatening language — a type of attack known as “Zoombombing.”
While Zoom and other free versions of web collaboration platforms have allowed organizations to quickly adapt to their new circumstances, an enterprise-grade solution with stronger privacy and security features will provide better performance for the long term. Our customers are expressing interest in Mitel’s portfolio of team collaboration and communication solutions.
5 Great Mitel Tools
- MiCloud Connect combines telephony, conferencing, instant messaging, video, collaboration and contact center communications in a unified communications solution. A smartphone app allows users to access all these functions from a mobile device with no loss of functionality.
- MiCollab is a collaboration software and tools platform that allows users to access unified communication features through either a desktop client, a softphone app, or supported iOS and Android mobile devices. With MiCollab, users can collaborate anywhere on any device with the same set of tools and a consistent look and feel. It provides advanced conferencing features such as remote desktop control, screen sharing, public and private chats, file transfers, and more.
- CloudLink is an enablement technology that connects premises-based platforms to the cloud, allowing customers to access to cloud communications and collaboration applications without abandoning their existing infrastructure.
- MiTeam is a digital workspace solution that allows users to connect with colleagues, customers and partners from a mobile device. It creates an integrated workstream with messaging, content sharing, white boarding, task assignment, and real-time voice and collaborative meetings.
- MiTeam Meetings is the newest addition to the Mitel portfolio. Launched in March, it leverages the Amazon Web Services global cloud infrastructure to integrate video, chat and voice with the MiCollab application to provide a real-time, virtual meeting and workspace.
The way we work was already undergoing rapid changes before the coronavirus pandemic. Organizations were actively investigating and deploying technologies that would allow them to support an increasingly dispersed and remote workforce. However, the pandemic may have accelerated the timeline for many businesses.
While free or near-free consumer-grade tools provide effective transitional capabilities, Mitel’s portfolio of communication and collaboration offer more feature-rich and reliable solutions for the long run. Contact Verteks for more information or a demo.
