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Within the global market it's difficult to wrap our heads around what's happening now, let alone plan for what comes next. These are truly unprecedented times. Yet, while we're in the midst of a pandemic that's keeping us individually apart, we've never been more united globally. Whether country to country, region to region or sector to sector, we are living through a shared experience―and that's a strength I see us building on.
Over the past few weeks we have spent time engaging with our customers and listening to the challenges they face. Many of those companies are on the front lines or providing services deemed vital while others have been seriously sidelined by quarantine lockdowns. The overwhelming feedback I hear from the 100 countries where Mitel does business is the importance of communications technology during this time and the growing criticality of providing quality, secure and accessible solutions.
With the rise of these needs in our own customer base, Mitel has been focusing on ways we can help. As we march on through the impact of COVID-19, I'll be sharing in this series of blogs what we're witnessing in the marketplace, how we're responding and what areas of technology are offering the best opportunities for aid.
To start, let's take a look at the impacts Mitel saw across the major US verticals. Those companies deemed the"essential services" of COVID-19 were very quickly faced with the immediate need to mobilize people, define remote workplaces and provide mobile and home workers with access to multimedia communications and collaboration. These included government, financial, education and healthcare. And the trend Mitel saw is matched by the comparison of the March US Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment data, which showed these as the least impacted verticals.
The fifth sector, Information, includes telecommunications, broadcasting and Internet services. In the US, we also see sub-sectors like domestic trucking and grocery standing apart from their typical industry statistics. People need food and PPE supplies, and the demand is certainly great here too.
We have seen entire sectors of our customers being overwhelmed with much greater demand on their communications technology. This had an immediate impact on their ability to respond to a whole set of new challenges. There were countless examples of companies who needed immediate help including:
- Cities and governments in the US and abroad, including 8,000 of a country's workers, and a state healthcare department's contact center―all are now working from the safety of their homes
- Hospitals and clinics in numerous countries―now equipped with phones and softphone licenses to support remote workers and handle increased call volumes
- Insurance companies and banks―employees are now set up remotely so they can keep working
As a company, one of Mitel's first responses was to set up a COVID-19 task force. The focus of this team was to listen and engage with our partners and customers to understand their most pressing needs. There were two immediate requests which we reacted to:
- Provision of a video conferencing and collaboration solution to enable remote working and collaboration. To address this the team launched MiTeam meetings, a video and collaboration solution that operates on any platform. And we provided this for free on a 6-month trial.
- Support customers who need to set up a quality cloud-based and secure business communications solution. The team offered new customers or existing customers wanting to move to the cloud our MiCloud Connect communication, collaboration and contact center product for free until 2021.
The demand we are seeing today in certain verticals is offset by the challenges faced by sectors like construction, retail, tourism, mining and entertainment, which are suffering from a severe halt to business as they know it. Although we can't anticipate what "back to normal" will look like in the coming months, what we have been seeing is many Mitel customers seeking ways to use our technology to resume or even reinvent their business for the current times. The new normal has already redefined our way of work and it will be our job at Mitel to listen to and engage with our customers as they redefine their businesses in a new economy.
As we continue to study the global economic impact of COVID-19 and connect each day with the people, companies and industries in need, I'll be keeping you in the loop about what's working―so check back each week for a new blog from me.
During the crisis our mission remains the same as it's always been: to power connections. And never before has that been as important as it is now.
