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Small and medium businesses, often called SMBs or SMEs, may have a smaller footprint than their enterprise counterparts, but they have a significant impact. Today, in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, SMBs account for about 99 percent of firms, and 70 percent of all jobs, contributing more than 50 percent of GDP. Looking through a comprehensive, global lens, SMBs account for 90 percent of all businesses. They are vital employers and key to creating jobs — accounting for more than 50 percent of employment worldwide.

Monsoons, volcanoes, wildfires, droughts, hurricanes, and typhoons. Natural disasters have been occurring with more severity and frequency than ever. In 2022, extreme weather events broke records worldwide and are on a dangerous upward trend.

I’ve always noted a disconnect between what’s presented at conferences or written in blogs — and what customer experience (CX) leaders tell me as we advise them or as they participate in research interviews about contact center architecture.

In the first part of my software assurance (SWA) conversation with Melissa Swartz, Founder of Swartz Consulting, and Rick Hathaway, Principal Consultant and Owner of RLH Telecom Solutions, we busted SWA myths and shared best practices for organizations using unified communications.

I had the opportunity to hold eye-opening conversations with Melissa Swartz, Founder of Swartz Consulting, and Rick Hathaway, Principal Consultant and Owner of RLH Telecom Solutions. They are reputed independent consultants who know the business communications industry inside-out and have customers in almost every business area.

One of the most startling statistics to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic had nothing to do with communicable illnesses but rather with communications between businesses. In 2020, from March to June, Microsoft Teams use grew by 894%. That’s more than Zoom, in case you were wondering. And, between 2021 and 2022, the number of Teams users rose from 145 million to 270 million. Microsoft Teams has become the de facto communications platform for over one million organizations in just a few years.

It’s clear that the “now of work” and the “future of work” will be a mix of employees working from home, the office, and places in between.

Organizations are facing a new era that is both exciting and daunting. As many employees have returned to the office in some capacity, some want to keep working remotely.

In Part 2 of our Mitel Software Assurance (SWA) series, we’ll look at how SWA ensures the continuous operability of your Mitel communications solutions.

As more employees work from anywhere, video meetings are often top of mind when we think about collaboration.