Communications platforms and integrations
Integrating UC with other business apps and workflows can enhance collaboration and productivity. With offerings like CPaaS, businesses can use APIs and other development tools to connect disparate systems and enable a more seamless communications experience.
Top Stories
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Answer
06 Dec 2024
RCS vs. SMS: What's the difference?
Compared to Short Message Service, Rich Communication Services is a newer form of messaging with advanced features and a better business messaging experience. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Nov 2024
Microsoft Teams monitoring tips for admins
Learn how to use PowerShell to set up an automated way to check for suspicious activity in the Microsoft chat service to avoid security and compliance issues. Continue Reading
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Tip
25 Nov 2024
12 top contact center platforms of 2025
Which came first: the evolution of the contact center or the evolution of its supporting software? It's the old chicken-and-egg debate. Either way, AI is the catalyst. Continue Reading
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Definition
23 Oct 2024
What is Jira?
Jira is an application lifecycle management (ALM) and Agile project management tool from Atlassian. Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Oct 2024
15 best practices for contact center agent training programs
Agents thrive when contact center training programs are built on KSAC profiles, performance analysis and recognition, personal coaching and shadowing, AI integration, and ROI. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 Oct 2024
Contact center monitoring: A step-by-step guide
A well-designed monitoring program identifies customer pain points and gathers valuable intelligence that can improve agent performance and CX, as well as products and services. Continue Reading
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News
16 Sep 2024
New Microsoft Copilot 365 Wave 2 includes agents and Pages
The tools include an agent for building automated business processes and Pages for editing AI-generated material. While the tools provide more context, they present some challenges. Continue Reading
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Tip
06 Sep 2024
7 essential steps to create a contact center RFP
Successful contact center RFPs are built on collaboration, vendor research, countless questions and answers, scorecards, shortlists, trial runs, bakeoffs and the final decision. Continue Reading
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Tip
28 Aug 2024
Stop phishing with help from updated DMARC policy handling
Exchange admins got a boost from Microsoft when it improved how it handles DMARC authentication failures to help organizations fight back from email-based attacks on their users. Continue Reading
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Tip
27 Aug 2024
Contact center outsourcing: What businesses need to know
Businesses use contact center outsourcing to alleviate agent understaffing, expand customer service and reduce costs, but loss of control and service inconsistency are concerns. Continue Reading
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Tip
27 Aug 2024
Why contact centers have high turnover and how to combat it
The alarming rise in contact center turnover rates negatively impacts agent morale, customer interactions and ROI. In many ways, AI is seen as both the cause and the solution. Continue Reading
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Definition
23 Aug 2024
What is podcasting?
Podcasting is the preparation and distribution of digital audio files to the computers of subscribed users using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. Continue Reading
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Tip
21 Aug 2024
How to manage today's remote contact center agents
Technologies like agent analytics, video conferencing, collaboration tools, workforce management applications and cloud software can help manage remote contact centers. Continue Reading
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Tip
21 Aug 2024
The ultimate contact center security checklist
If customers know organizations can keep their data safe in the contact center, they have more positive experiences. This checklist of best practices can help establish that trust. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Aug 2024
10 strategies to improve contact center agent performance
Call monitoring, skills-based routing, positive reinforcement, training resources and coaching can help contact center agents improve their performance and customer interactions. Continue Reading
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Feature
16 Aug 2024
History and evolution of contact centers
Alexander Graham Bell, Steve Jobs and the Baby Bells played notable roles in the contact center's transformation into the front line of communication for businesses and customers. Continue Reading
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Answer
12 Aug 2024
10 must-have contact center skills for agents in 2024
Contact center agents must have a wide range of interpersonal and technological skills to interact with customers and resolve their issues in a timely and empathetic manner. Continue Reading
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Tip
09 Aug 2024
10 best practices for contact center quality assurance
To ensure quality and results in the contact center, businesses must define clear metrics, use real-time analytics, seek customer feedback, upskill agents and automate everywhere. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 Aug 2024
8 contact center metrics to improve agent performance and CX
These metrics measure and report on productivity and effectiveness at the contact center agent level to ensure performance aligns with the overall mission of the organization. Continue Reading
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Feature
31 Jul 2024
7 contact center trends for 2024 and beyond
As contact centers trend toward becoming viable profit centers, AI's influence is at the core of conversational analytics, omnichannel communications and a mobile-first strategy. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 Jul 2024
Contact center compliance checklist for modern workforces
A contact center compliance checklist can serve as a starting point for contact center managers as they seek to comply with internal and external requirements. Continue Reading
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Tip
29 Jul 2024
How to enable and set up Copilot in Microsoft Teams
Microsoft 365 Copilot, an AI assistant, offers several promising features. Find out how to configure Copilot with Teams workflows and its licensing prerequisites. Continue Reading
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Tip
26 Jul 2024
How to improve the contact center experience for customers
Customers want their contact center interactions to be fast, seamless, tailored and personal in the form of mobile apps, self-service, improved IVR and knowledgeable human agents. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Jul 2024
How does Copilot enhance the user experience in Teams?
With its AI capabilities, Microsoft Copilot provides several enhancements to Microsoft Teams functionality, including meeting summaries and action item follow-up. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Jul 2024
8 contact center challenges in 2024 and how to overcome them
Multifunctional contact centers must meet the expectations of savvy customers, hire and maintain qualified agents, monetize data, safeguard information and modernize operations. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Jul 2024
5 key contact center AI features and their benefits
As multifunctional contact centers evolve in complexity and importance, AI and GenAI integration are advancing self-service chatbots, customer insights and agent monitoring. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Jul 2024
8 benefits of a modern contact center
Contact centers and their multifunctional capabilities can provide businesses with a competitive edge through improved agent performance, customer engagement and brand loyalty. Continue Reading
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Feature
21 Jun 2024
Call center vs. contact center: What's the difference?
Call centers still live and die by the phone, while time and technologies have demanded more complex contact centers that service customers over multiple channels of communication. Continue Reading
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News
11 Jun 2024
RingCentral pushes AI deeper into sales tech, integrates Teams
Among other new features, RingCentral pushes its RingSense conversational intelligence deeper into the sales market with new integrations, where it meets a crowd of tech competitors. Continue Reading
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Answer
30 May 2024
What's the difference between SIP trunking, PRI and BRI?
SIP trunking is preferred over PRI and BRI telecommunications lines because it offers more savings, better flexibility and more integrations with newer technologies. Continue Reading
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Tip
30 May 2024
How CPaaS improves CX operations and efficiency
Organizations have ramped up their use of communications platform as a service and APIs to expand communication channels between customers and contact center agents. Continue Reading
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Definition
23 May 2024
unified communications (UC)
Unified communications (UC) is an umbrella term for the integration of multiple enterprise communication tools -- such as voice calling, video conferencing, instant messaging (IM), presence and content sharing -- into a single, streamlined interface, with the goal of improving user experience (UX) and productivity. Continue Reading
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Tip
02 May 2024
How to use Copilot in Teams meetings, chat and phone calls
Microsoft Copilot, an AI assistant, can summarize Microsoft Teams meetings, create action items and highlight communication gaps that need to be addressed. Continue Reading
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Conference Coverage
26 Apr 2024
Everything Enterprise Connect 2024: News, trends and insights
Check out our news and analysis from Enterprise Connect, one of the largest enterprise communications and collaboration conferences happening in 2024. Continue Reading
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Definition
12 Apr 2024
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is cloud-based team collaboration software that offers core capabilities, including business messaging, calling, video meetings and file sharing. Continue Reading
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News
09 Apr 2024
Google adds generative AI, video creation to Workspace
The tech giant strengthened its workplace productivity and collaboration platform with new artificial intelligence capabilities and the ability to create videos. Continue Reading
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News
19 Mar 2024
Microsoft hires DeepMind co-founder amid Google-Apple news
DeepMind's cofounder will head a new division that focuses on Copilot. The move comes amid talk that Microsoft's rival's LLM might be incorporated into the iPhone. Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Mar 2024
7 AI meeting assistants to consider in 2024
AI meeting assistants are packed with powerful features to improve employee productivity and meeting workflows. So, which AI tool is best for your organization? Continue Reading
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Feature
23 Jan 2024
Top 10 must-have unified communications features in business
Unified communications systems have evolved to reflect changing business processes. As a result, enterprises need to prioritize their must-have UC features. Continue Reading
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Tip
04 Jan 2024
How to evaluate top UCaaS providers and vendors of 2024
Organizations have many considerations to make when adopting UCaaS. Learn how to evaluate key capabilities from top UCaaS providers, including mobility, security and integrations. Continue Reading
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News
11 Dec 2023
Atlassian releases AI capabilities for Jira and Confluence
The new capabilities show the rising prominence of software development copilots and lay the foundation for better knowledge management in an organization. Continue Reading
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Feature
06 Dec 2023
Stepping into the collaborative workplace in virtual reality
Some see immersive, 3D collaboration spaces as an upgrade from video conferencing because they offer better opportunities for socializing, brainstorming, onboarding and training. Continue Reading
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News
01 Nov 2023
Mural intros Mural AI, integrates with Microsoft 365 Copilot
The integration of Copilot into the visual collaboration platform shows how vendors are working together to bring customers generative AI tools that interoperate between systems. Continue Reading
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Definition
17 Oct 2023
Chromecast
Chromecast is a streaming media adapter from Google that allows users to play online content such as videos and music on a digital television. Continue Reading
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News
03 Oct 2023
Project management vendor Asana brings AI to Work Graph
The project management platform vendor brings 'smart' tools to its work efficiency monitoring tool to unearth specific problems and identify concrete ways teams can solve them. Continue Reading
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News
28 Sep 2023
Everbridge 360 emphasizes communication, preparedness
Everbridge envisions its new 360 critical event management platform as a multiyear release. Features are heavy on the ability to communicate in a disaster. Continue Reading
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News
29 Aug 2023
Google releases Duet AI for Workspace; new Meet, Chat tools
The tech giant released its collaboration suite virtual assistant and unveiled new tools to help users summarize and translate meetings and enable teleprompts for presentations. Continue Reading
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Definition
23 Aug 2023
analog telephone adapter (ATA)
An analog telephone adapter (ATA) is a device used to connect an analog telephone, fax machine or similar equipment to a computer or network to enable communications over the internet. Continue Reading
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News
09 Aug 2023
Slack launches redesign to centralize notifications, tasks
The collaboration vendor is out with a new interface to centralize workspaces for Enterprise Grid customers and display notifications and unify create functions in one view. Continue Reading
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News
02 Aug 2023
Salesforce offers tighter Slack integration with Sales Cloud
The CRM giant released tools that bring customer data and insights to the collaboration platform, such as instant account updates sent directly to channels for review. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Jul 2023
Exchange Online post-migration steps for admins
A move to the hosted email platform is an opportunity to streamline how users work with other Microsoft 365 services. But it requires IT to stay current with the product roadmap. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jul 2023
Hybrid workplaces need accessible, integrable UC platforms
Users want videoconferencing to interoperate with on-site hardware, virtual whiteboards that integrate into workflows and design platforms that are accessible to all contributors. Continue Reading
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Tip
07 Jul 2023
How IT departments structure collaboration management
Today, there are countless apps used to communicate across companies. IT departments are taking two approaches to organize the teams responsible for collaboration deployments. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Jun 2023
Collaboration tool sprawl challenges and how to address them
Using multiple communication and collaboration tools can cause productivity headaches. There are steps IT can take to avoid these issues and manage collaboration tool sprawl. Continue Reading
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Definition
27 Jun 2023
What is UCaaS? Unified communications as a service guide
Unified communications as a service (UCaaS) is a cloud delivery model that offers a variety of communication and collaboration applications and services. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Jun 2023
UCaaS vs. CCaaS vs. CPaaS: What's the difference?
It can be difficult to make sense of popular cloud communications service models. Compare UCaaS vs. CCaaS vs. CPaaS to understand their differences and how they can be used together. Continue Reading
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Feature
07 Jun 2023
Sport teams drive sales leads with an AI digital assistant
American soccer club Louisville City and the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks use Conversica to target the most promising leads for their sales teams and drive profit for their organizations. Continue Reading
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Definition
30 May 2023
incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC)
An incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) is a type of U.S. telephone company that provided local service when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was enacted. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 May 2023
CPaaS brings cloud contact center features to on premises
Organizations with on-premises contact centers don't need to make a full cloud migration to modernize their systems. CPaaS can enable cloud features and drive key business metrics. Continue Reading
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News
17 May 2023
Zoom takes on Anthropic's AI assistant for Contact Center
The video and collaboration platform vendor has allied with OpenAI spinoff Anthropic and is integrating Anthropic's chatbot, Claude, for a decentralized approach to training AI. Continue Reading
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Tip
11 May 2023
Follow these steps to decommission Exchange Server
An Exchange Server migration includes a lot of moving parts but it's important to cover the training aspect to make sure your users aren't left behind. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2023
20-year evolution of Everbridge critical event management
Everbridge critical event management has reached Ukraine and work-from-anywhere users. CEO David Wagner explains how he's guided the company through difficult times. Continue Reading
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News
04 May 2023
Slack GPT quickly summarizes channels and creates canvases
The CRM giant unveiled a generative AI assistant for its Slack collaboration platform to let users quickly summarize channels, draft messages and create whiteboard-like canvases. Continue Reading
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News
02 May 2023
Microsoft releases Teams Payments app for small businesses
The tech giant brings transaction capabilities to its Teams platform, expanding digital commerce options for small businesses that offer online services through Teams. Continue Reading
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Feature
26 Apr 2023
Microsoft and Cisco certification deepens interoperability
These UC blogs review Microsoft's and Cisco's latest integrations and the business strategy driving them, as well as how to ensure collaboration security in the workplace. Continue Reading
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Definition
24 Apr 2023
collision in networking
In a half-duplex Ethernet network, a collision is the result of two devices on the same Ethernet network attempting to transmit data at the same time. Continue Reading
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News
24 Apr 2023
Slack releases updated API platform for developers
The instant messaging collaboration vendor released its updated API platform for developers to create functions that interact with APIs. Continue Reading
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Definition
21 Apr 2023
baseband
Baseband in the transmission of communications signals means only one path is available to send and receive digital signals between devices. Continue Reading
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Definition
20 Apr 2023
broadband
Broadband refers to telecommunications in which a wide band of frequencies is available to transmit information. Continue Reading
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News
19 Apr 2023
Atlassian unveils generative AI-backed tools for Confluence
The collaboration software vendor incorporated a virtual assistant supported by OpenAI technology to summarize meetings and draft tweets in Confluence, its collaboration space. Continue Reading
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Tip
19 Apr 2023
Tap collaboration devices for employee experience data
Collaboration devices play a key role in supporting employee experience, from extracting engagement data to improving hybrid meeting parity. Continue Reading
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Tip
18 Apr 2023
How generative AI for business enhances collaboration
Generative AI has become a leading technology topic. Digital assistants and idea generation are two ways the technology could increase employee productivity. Continue Reading
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News
12 Apr 2023
Cisco provides extra-secure Webex for U.S. government
Cisco will provide a higher-security cloud-based unified communications platform for U.S. national security and defense personnel to monitor classified data, starting in 2024. Continue Reading
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Tip
11 Apr 2023
3 common video conferencing problems and how to solve them
Employees have grown more skilled with video over the last few years. But video problems still plague meetings today. Learn how to address the most common challenges. Continue Reading
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Video
10 Apr 2023
Recap Enterprise Connect hybrid work trends, generative AI
Analysts discuss the top trends from Enterprise Connect 2023, including generative AI and how to make hybrid work more inclusive. Continue Reading
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Feature
10 Apr 2023
Extend collaboration tools with 'Google Workspace User Guide'
Collaboration tools are key as businesses shift to hybrid work. Google Workspace supports productivity with Google Classroom, Marketplace apps and Google Assistant. Continue Reading
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Definition
10 Apr 2023
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface)
HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a proprietary specification designed to ensure compatibility between video and audio devices over a single digital interface. Continue Reading
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News
30 Mar 2023
IT pros face hybrid work technology challenges
Enterprises need specialized video conferencing equipment for office spaces that are usually empty to accommodate both in-office and remote participants during meetings. Continue Reading
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News
28 Mar 2023
Microsoft updates Teams for faster online collaboration
The tech giant's popular collaboration platform gets new features including enabled multi-tenant accounts, QR code sign-in for hot desking and interoperability with Cisco devices. Continue Reading
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Feature
28 Mar 2023
Meeting room hardware supports hybrid employee experience
Meeting room hardware must evolve to support the hybrid employee experience. Meeting Owl 3 and Owl Bar are two devices aiming to create a more equitable meeting experience. Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2023
Zoom to boost Zoom IQ with generative AI-backed capabilities
The videoconferencing platform's new Open AI-backed tool will provide email writing suggestions. More updated tools include a chat composer and meeting summarizer. Continue Reading
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News
27 Mar 2023
Amazon Chime SDK gets new tools for call analytics insights
The communications service's new call analytics tool set enables users to conduct voice tone analysis to track customer sentiment and send the data to their preferred data lake. Continue Reading
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News
21 Mar 2023
Vonage's API tools embed video and add bulk messaging
Vonage drops an embedded video conferencing tool that can live on any platform and a mass communication tool to let enterprises customize messages at scale. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 Mar 2023
How to prepare for the next version of Exchange Server
The Exchange Server roadmap charts several twists and turns that shows Microsoft deviating from its typical course with the server-based email platform. Continue Reading
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News
17 Mar 2023
Microsoft unveils AI-backed Copilot for Teams, Word and more
Microsoft 365 Copilot integrates AI-supported tools into Microsoft's productivity apps to help users write and organize emails, garner insights, and corral disparate data. Continue Reading
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Feature
09 Mar 2023
Cisco hybrid work bundle enhances employee experience
This series of UC blogs examines Cisco's hybrid work bundle, Neat's new Neat Pulse offering and how Zoho Workplace increases work productivity. Continue Reading
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Tip
03 Mar 2023
Why you should plan to migrate to Exchange 2019 soon
An upgrade to the latest Exchange version will bring added functionality for end users and security enhancements. But it will also help ease the transition to Exchange vNext. Continue Reading
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News
02 Mar 2023
Microsoft Teams AI updates for chat, Rooms Pro Management
The tech giant's $10 billion investment in OpenAI brings AI-supported updates to its basic Teams offering, on top of features supported by GPT-3.5 to Microsoft Teams Premium. Continue Reading
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News
28 Feb 2023
ClickUp 3.0 built for scalability with AI, universal search
The new platform moves to the modern cloud infrastructure and offers a streamlined inbox, an AI-supported writing tool and universal search to access files across many apps. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Feb 2023
Slack workflow automation enhances Shipt productivity
After Shipt deployed Slack's workflow automation tools, the company saw greater productivity and communication with its employees and shoppers. Continue Reading
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Answer
14 Feb 2023
Understanding UC interoperability challenges
The growth of remote and hybrid work has driven demand for better interoperability among collaboration tools. But supporting interoperability isn't without its challenges. Continue Reading
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Tip
10 Feb 2023
UC vendors extend mobile telephony capabilities
UC providers like Cisco and Microsoft are expanding mobile voice services in their platforms, enabling employees to use native dialing and more advanced mobile features. Continue Reading
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News
09 Feb 2023
Microsoft boosts Teams Premium tools with OpenAI's GPT-3.5
Microsoft leverages OpenAI's large language model in Teams Premium to draw meaningful information from recorded meetings. More AI features are on the roadmap. Continue Reading
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Answer
07 Feb 2023
Comparing visual collaboration and ideation for productivity
Visual collaboration and ideation each play a specific and significant role in increasing worker productivity, while also working toward growing today's market. Continue Reading
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News
03 Feb 2023
New Teams Rooms features aim to streamline user control
Microsoft's latest changes to Teams Rooms include easier access to its most-used buttons, a scroll-through calendar preview and more ambient theme background display options. Continue Reading
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Tip
01 Feb 2023
What's new with the EXO v3 module for Exchange admins?
Microsoft made several significant improvements in the Exchange Online PowerShell v3 module for added reliability and performance when managing the hosted email platform. Continue Reading
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Feature
31 Jan 2023
Microsoft's OpenAI investment to boost work productivity
This series of UC blogs examines Microsoft's investment in OpenAI, Amazon Chime's advancements that increase productivity and RingCentral DaaS. Continue Reading
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News
31 Jan 2023
Zoom adds chatbot virtual assistant to CCaaS offering
The Zoom chatbot uses conversational language and proprietary AI to assist people calling Zoom's contact center as a service. Zoom launched its CCaaS last year. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 Jan 2023
Compare Microsoft Teams Operator Connect vs. Direct Routing
As more companies migrate their telephony to Microsoft Teams, IT departments have two options to bring their current PSTN provider to the Teams platform. Continue Reading
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Answer
24 Jan 2023
Can Microsoft Teams send text messages?
As more companies move to remote work, IT teams can enable sending text messages through Microsoft Teams for quicker and easier communication among users. Continue Reading
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Feature
11 Jan 2023
Top UC and collaboration news of 2022 highlights 4 key trends
Review the 2022 UC and collaboration news highlights to learn about the trends that drove the market, and discover how these trends will influence the market in 2023. Continue Reading
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Definition
29 Dec 2022
data transfer rate (DTR)
The data transfer rate (DTR) is the amount of digital data that's moved from one place to another in a given time. Continue Reading