Mitel Recalibrates Contact Center Strategy
Pivots toward providing options for standalone contact center upgrades and integrated UC-CC solutions.
Today Mitel announced an addition to its contact center portfolio described as, "entirely over-the-top with no software or equipment to deploy." MiCloud Engage Contact Center signals a strategic departure in the company's approach to the contact center market.
At the last industry analyst meeting in October 2016, Mitel CEO Rich McBee very explicitly told analysts that Mitel was interested in the "attach" contact center market -- i.e., attached to unified communications requirements. The stand-alone market--projects where only the contact center software was being replaced--was not something the company was interested in pursuing.
A lot can change in two years.
In a one-on-one briefing about today's announcements with Jon Brinton, senior vice president of customer experience solutions at Mitel, he redefined the "attach" market: "We really focus our investment dollars and are known for building collaborative contact centers that integrate contact center with our unified communications."
The term "collaborative contact center" is not new. It's been used for the past couple of years by analysts and vendors, most notably by RingCentral in its contact center announcement at Enterprise Connect in March. What is new is Mitel's recognition that there's value in an enterprise communications company having a contact-center-as-a-service (CCaaS) offer for both integrated and dedicated use cases. Brinton continued, "We are seeing more and more customers and more market demand for standalone contact center as a service. The benchmarks are Nice inContact, Five9, Genesys PureCloud, and others that are selling CCaaS without the integration."
But Brinton was quick to add that the addition of a CCaaS solution is not just based on a view of the competitive landscape. Mitel is finding more customers are investing in customer experience, Brinton said.
"It's just a fact of the market that in some cases companies are very happy with their PBX and unified communications applications," he said. "It works well enough and accomplishes the goals they have, but when it gets to customers, they are going to put more dollars there."
There is also a recognition by Mitel that the buying decisions for UC and contact center are "disintermediated," not as connected as they were in the past.
The above graphic reinforces Brinton's comments, highlighting that MiCloud Engage Contact Center is available with all of Mitel's unified communications (UC) solutions--premises and cloud--as well as to customers with competitor communications systems wanting to upgrade just the contact center.
The public cloud-delivered (AWS) MiCloud Engage Contact Center is being white-labeled from a prominent provider that has consistently appeared in the Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service, North America. It works with any call control platform and integrates with several of the popular cloud CRM applications. Mitel has been selling the solution in the market for the past few months in a "soft launch," and reports that it has already closed several deals. MiCloud Engage Contact Center is available initially from the North American AWS zone but can support agents globally.
As we design the program for the contact center track at Enterprise Connect 2019, we will explore the issues of standalone versus integrated contact center solutions. The issue is certainly top of mind based on some recent Twitter posts by Cisco Collaboration CTO Jonathan Rosenberg and Five9 CEO Rowan Trollope.
Source: nojitter
Latest Jobs
-
- Information Security Risk Consultant, HMG, Public sector
- Yorkshire
- £55,000
-
A Public Sector Information Security Risk Consultant is needed for a long term project in the Yorkshire area. This is a Security consultancy role so travel to other client site locations across the country will be expected. The Public Sector Information Security Risk Consultant MUST have current security clearance and ideally have a breath of information and technology security experience. Broad knowledge across IT transformation, Cloud is also key. Public Sector Information Security Risk Consultant should be versed in working within the public sector HMG environments and be experienced in conducting security risk assessments on sizable IT systems. Broad experience across GRC, ISO27001, NIST is key. Career progression, personal development and excellent training provided. All details kept in the strictest of confidence Salary: £55,000 Location: Yorkshire Ref: GM7720 (Cyber Security Jobs, Information Security Jobs, IT Security Jobs, Cyber Security Jobs in Yorkshire)
-
- Greenfield opportunity SOC / Threat Hunting Services Lead
- Bracknell
- £85,000+ Base
-
Exclusive Greenfield opportunity to DCL Search & Selection. We are looking for an experienced SOC / Threat Hunting Services Lead to build a NEW Security Operation Centre (SOC) / Threat hunting service within an existing security consultancy. This is a brand new service offering for the client. The successful SOC / Threat Hunting Services Lead must, therefore, have previous experience in building a SOC / Threat hunting (IR) service from the beginning. Everything including, but not limited to; selection of the systems, platforms, kitting out the physical office space. Customisation, setting the policies, playbooks, go to market collateral, recruitment (through DCL obviously) establish processes, management of the team, service delivery, refinement, development etc. Essentially the end to end creation of the capability and then the day to day management and expansion of the service. An in-depth technical background is essential, experience across SOC SIEM/ Threat Hunting (IR) tools, processes, techniques, operational etc The goal is to create, spin up and deliver a SOC/threat hunting (IR) offering to clients ASAP in 2020. Investment and board sign off approved. Apply today for more information or contact me directly on Chris.Holt@dclsearch.com or 07884666351. Candidates must be UK based and commutable to Bracknell. Sponsorship can not be provided to Non-EU Candidates. Ref CH7713 £85,000+ Base
-
- IT Managed Services Account Director
- London
- Up to £80,000 + Double OTE
-
IT Managed Services Account Director We are currently working with a growing multi managed service provider who specialises in Cloud & Connectivity services who are currently looking for an IT Managed Services Account Director in London. The IT Managed Services Account Director will be responsible for selling (Increase revenue, develop pipeline etc.) into our client’s current enterprise customers selling public cloud solutions. The IT Managed Services Account Director should have Current experience selling public cloud solutions (preferably Microsoft Azure) into enterprise customers. Currently working for an IT managed services business Commutable to London, Home working is available (Non-EU candidates are not able to be sponsored). Consistent tenure in current and previous positions. Ref BD7703 Salary: Up to £80,000 + Double OTE (Cloud Jobs, Cloud Computing Jobs, Cloud Sales Jobs, Azure Jobs)
-
- Service Delivery Lead (Data Centre)
- Wiltshire
- Up to £60,000 Base
-
A State of the Art Data Centre business are looking for a Service Delivery Lead-in Wiltshire. The Service Delivery Lead will be responsible for maintaining and improving current services to our client's customers. The Service Delivery Lead will also be responsible for a service desk team (reviews, hiring, training etc.) Other responsibilities include: Acting as a senior point of escalation for any customer incidents making sure these are raised quickly and efficiently Root cause analysis Maintain and improve ITIL disciplines Experience required ITIL v3 Certified Current experience within a Data Centre / Data Center Environment Current experience within a Senior Service Desk role. Candidates must be UK based. Sponsorship is not available for Non-EU candidates. Ref BD7701 Up to £60,000 Base (Data Centre Jobs, Data Center Jobs, Service Delivery Jobs)