From 2025, Openreach will switch off its analogue public switched telephone network (PSTN) infrastructure, with every phone line in the UK migrating to the digital successor. Organisations of all sizes across the UK will need to prepare for this migration and ensure they’ve upgraded their communications systems to Internet Protocol (IP), or voice over IP (VoIP), technologies as part of a comprehensive digitisation initiative.

Although 2025 might seem a fair distance away, businesses won’t be able to purchase traditional landline contracts nor PSTN-enabled devices – like legacy phones or fax machines – from September 2023. Making such significant changes on a short timescale might seem daunting, but the UK is just one of many countries making the switch. In some pockets around the world, the migration has already been completed. Indeed, there’s a lot UK businesses can learn from their neighbours to ensure the digital switchover goes without a hitch.

The countries ahead of the curve

The digital switchover is happening across the world at a rapid pace. This is because the analogue network is losing relevance, and the demands of modern businesses require state-of-the-art infrastructure. Switching over to an IP communications system can, for example, give businesses the flexibility to issue devices to hybrid workers, and allow businesses to connect applications with collaboration and videoconferencing facilities, with the cloud reinforcing everything. This is why countries in all corners of the globe have embarked on this transition.

The Netherlands has already completed the switchover, as has Estonia, which is known for staying ahead of the technological curve. In 2017, Estonia’s incumbent infrastructure company Telia switched off its copper-based network following a three-year process, with 300 phone stations replaced with VoIP phone stations, and 130 smaller stations closed permanently. The Netherlands, which began the process in 2006, finally completed its migration in 2021.

A host of other European countries have also started this process. Spain had switched over 80% of its copper networks to the digital successor by 2020, with Portugal completing 60%, according to Wik Consult. This is in addition to the likes of France, Poland and Sweden, which are well on their way to making the switch. In Asia, Singapore’s infrastructure company, Singtel, completely switched off its copper network in 2020, while Japan aims to do so by 2024. Openreach in the UK, by contrast, only began terminating copper wire-based PSTN in 2020, with 2% switched over at the time.

Learning the lessons of PSTN switchover

Telenor, in Norway, learned during its copper network switch-off that constant engagement with stakeholders was crucial, according to management consultancy Arthur Little. While some businesses questioned the value of the change, this enforced digital transformation, strong communications ultimately sold the manifold benefits of IP systems. This won’t be a problem in the UK, at least, with BT already putting a comprehensive range of IP products and services in place that aim to make the migration frictionless, while letting organisations unlock the full capabilities of digital systems.

Italy’s Telecom Italia, meanwhile, has learned that cooperation with its main competitor was paramount. Liaising with investors, too, helped to carve up the market in such a way that its failing migration programme, first announced in 2017, was able to restart with a new framework and impetus in 2021.

Jersey Telecom was also among the first operators to switch off its copper networks, starting its radical transformation project in 2012 and completing the migration away from the final elements of copper lines by the end of 2019. Its key learnings include the importance of giving plenty of notice and regular communication to organisations everywhere. The copper switchover was also handled in conjunction with migration to full-fibre broadband, which gave businesses a boost and a reason to attract investment and staff.

How UK organisations can set an example

Despite progress moving at different rates globally, there are parallels that can be drawn between different countries. To begin with, the PSTN switchover usually coincides with the rollout of full-fibre broadband, as was the case in Jersey. Regions that have completed the switch early have therefore been able to offer superior services. The UK, by contrast, has been lagging behind on both fronts. Early buy-in to the PSTN switch, however, means more time to plan for how to make the most of not just IP communications, but the inevitable step up to full-fibre broadband, and how this can fuel wider digital transformation efforts.

Once these countries have overcome the respective regulatory hurdles, which vary between regulatory regimes, there are a number of common painpoints that need addressing. First, there are the migration constraints, with significant levels of planning, communication and logistics to overcome in any large-scale project such as this. For businesses, close coordination is required between IT teams and stakeholders – ranging from employees to external suppliers – to ensure upgrading devices and workflows take into account the implications for all parties.

Ramping up communications around the switch to IP-based systems both internally and among suppliers and customers, can help businesses gain a competitive advantage, too. Just as some countries have been able to benefit reputationally from making the switch early, so organisations in the UK can earn a reputational boost for doing the same. Businesses actively exploring their options also have a plethora of options to choose from that are already on the market, including BT’s range of IP-compatible hardware as well as platforms like BT Cloud Work. Organisations in the UK are spoilt for choice and can begin selling the benefits of the technology to staff as well as partners once their plans are set in motion. This not only lets organisations set an example within their own circles but among competitors and investors too.

The UK hasn’t been as quick to the punch as neighbouring countries in leading the migration away from PSTN and towards modern digital infrastructure. But the advantage has been the option to follow international counterparts and take into account their successes and challenges. By examining these examples, the business landscape as a whole can come to learn the full implications of the PSTN switch-off, so UK PLC can successfully see off any hurdles and maximise the benefits of digital infrastructure in 2025 and beyond.

For over a century, phone calls in the UK have been handled by the public switched telephone network (PSTN). This is the umbrella term for the complex infrastructure of telephone lines, satellite links, and switching centres which connect one caller to another when a specific phone number is entered.

But internet calls, video conferencing, and online collaborative tools have far exceeded the capabilities of PSTN, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

By the end of 2025 PSTN will be switched off across the United Kingdom, ushering in a new era of telecoms. Digital services will take its place, namely internet protocol (IP) or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phone systems through which users can make calls via broadband or mobile data.

Network operators such as BT are already helping businesses to make the switch, migrating customers onto modern IP phone systems that run on fibre in place of the outdated copper wires that PSTN uses.

Most businesses pay for both phone service and internet access - switching to IP calling brings both under the same roof for lower overall cost, as well as a host of other benefits including high-quality video conferencing and improved accessibility.

Openreach is dedicated to this hard and fast deadline, and has been preparing for the switch off since 2016. In the public sector, a great deal of systems including rail and motorway infrastructure will need to be updated to function after the PSTN switch off and this work is underway. But the private sector needs to take the initiative to adopt IP services now instead of down the line.

2025 may feel like it’s a way off in the future, but in reality it’s under two years away. This is why it’s absolutely crucial that businesses that have not already switched to IP telephony or VoIP make a start on it now; the sooner you adopt the new technology, the sooner your business can benefit from IP calls.

How can my business prepare?

Businesses that don’t adopt cloud phone systems before the PSTN switch off will face more problems than just not being able to make calls. Many alarm systems are also connected to a company’s phone lines, and if these are still operating on legacy hardware by the time the switch off comes they will be rendered inoperable.

Additionally, lift alarms and other points of contact in an emergency often run on PSTN, and will need to be upgraded before 2025.

Communication providers are aware of how many organisations use PSTN lines, but control over the hardware that will need to be swapped out or updated before the deadline is in the hands of those customers. So, the better stock a company takes in advance, the easier its IP transformation will be.

For some small businesses, this may mean buying new dedicated handsets and IT personnel familiarising themselves with their phone service dashboard.

Larger businesses, on the other hand, may need to retire large amounts of outdated equipment, and draw up strategies for new opportunities offered by IP including call analytics and customisable hold messages. This will require extensive planning, so should be completed sooner rather than later to prevent a stressful and costly transformation closer to the deadline. With BT’s Professional Services, they will plan and implement the full migration from the discovery phase to final on-site testing.

How can I adopt these services by 2025?

BT is ready right now to help firms make the transition as smoothly as possible, whether it involves swapping old handsets for new ones all at once, or through a phased approach that sees critical systems retired and upgraded one by one.

It can handle the installation of new hardware such as IP phones, as well as ongoing maintenance to ensure that the transformation is as simple as plug and play for your company. Swapping in IP phone services needn’t be a long or painful process, and businesses don’t even need to change their phone number or existing settings, such as hold recordings.

Once a business has adopted IP telephony, it only pays for what it needs and can easily scale its systems up or down at any time. Between now and 2025, a company may rapidly expand, move location, or enter a new market and seek stats on how its new customers respond to its calls. On a legacy phone system, this would mean added hardware and maintenance costs, limitations on where it can move, and complicated oversight to draw statistical insight from calls.

But through services like BT Cloud Work, all this and more would be at the business’ disposal at no added cost. PSTN isn’t just an outdated standard that will be retired – it’s holding firms back from their full, flexible potential.

Adopting IP calling is very much part of the wider digital transformation that businesses around the country are undergoing. Just like the most intense period of the pandemic saw widespread digital transformation in the adoption of hybrid work suites and cloud collaboration software by many businesses, the time between now and 31 December 2025 will be a crucial proving ground for the continued operations of all companies.

Another reason businesses might choose to move to IP telephony as soon as possible is to give their employees more time to familiarise themselves with the new systems.

BT can also help here, with its comprehensive range of courses that cover all the features of its Cloud Work service. These include basics such as answering calls on the go and call forwarding through cloud routing, to core features and admin portals, call analytics, and integration with third-party APIs.

In time between now and 31 December 2025, companies need to take a firm grasp of IP telephony as a part of their digital transformation. By accepting the help available from BT your business can move away from PSTN without disrupting their systems, but this journey must be embarked on as soon as possible to ensure you make the most of it.

It’s close to just three months since Elon Musk took the helm at Twitter, and his tenure has been rocky, to say the least. His first month in charge saw mass layoffs, a new revenue stream that led to widespread impersonation, and the CEO at one point even locking the doors of the company’s San Francisco headquarters.

Twitter, as a result, is being sued by former workers amid complaints about the quality of the service rising, reporting cash flow issues, and brands weighing up whether or not to be active on the platform at all. An impersonation of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, for example, caused its stock price to tumble, after a fake account with a paid-for blue tick said it would provide free insulin. The rocky start has also thrown advertising spend – Twitter’s main source of income – into doubt, with large companies withholding cash due to the rising instability.

The rise of social media was once seen as a new dawn for communications and marketing, giving brands the tools and channels to reach customers directly. Turbulence at Twitter, alongside ups and downs at platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, though, means brands might need to examine how to evolve beyond social media for good.

Economic chaos and an unpredictable future

The shake-up of Twitter and its policies, particularly around content moderation and free speech has caused brands to reconsider their position on advertising through the platform, says Madeleine Sampson, telecommunications, media and technology analyst at Fitch Solutions.

“Companies such as General Motors, Audi, VW, and Pfizer have all paused advertising on the platform and have adopted a 'wait and see' approach,” she says. “Apple has reportedly cut its advertising spending on Twitter, receiving considerable public criticism from Elon Musk, and brands risk criticism for ending their association with 'free speech' or pursuing a ‘woke agenda’.

“All of this comes at a time when brands are already reining back their marketing spending due to inflation and the rise in operating expenses. Therefore, big tech is suffering significantly from the fall in advertising demand over the course of the year.”

Economic conditions don’t help the advertising business Twitter relies on, and neither does Musk’s erratic management style, nor the deteriorating quality of the platform. Users have reported the platform might crash completely, and anyone that says they can predict what will happen in the future is – as Rebecca Wettemann, CEO of industry analyst firm Valoir says – “full of it".

“I think a lot of CMOs have been pulling their hair out over the past month as they try to figure out what's happening next,” she says. “We are seeing a number of challenges for brands and marketers as they think about how to reach customers. Twitter is one piece of that, and concerns about Twitter are part of it.

“But we also have to think about what's happening with cookie deprecation, and the other challenges marketers have trying to reach this goal of being able to create one-on-one, personalised experiences for customers.

“In the short term, certainly we're seeing budgets be pulled back for Twitter, but we're also seeing companies surveying the other tools and technologies out there to help them understand what value they may get from Twitter versus other sources.”

Brands are falling out of love with social media

The question for brands could reasonably shift from debating how much of a presence to have on platforms like Twitter – to them asking whether it’s worth having a presence at all on popular social media platforms, given the risks. It’s especially true given the old adage of businesses craving long-term certainty.

One of the many roles Twitter plays is to serve as a contact point for frustrated customers. When all else fails, after being driven around in circles by chatbots or spending half an hour on the phone, calling out brands on Twitter is a regular occurrence.

Add to this the problem of the Twitter pile-on, in which swathes of users rally against a brand or person, and businesses might feel they’re between a rock and a hard place. However, Chris Bignell, founder of XL Communications, says a coherent communications strategy could avoid this, and that businesses are called out because people feel like they have nowhere else to go.

“It's very easy for brands to get called out on Twitter, and I think that's why the public has kind of jumped on it because it's a way of publicly shaming a company,” he says. “But I think most people turn to Twitter because they get a response. That’s led to corporations moving their call centre staff to Twitter, rather than answering phones, which means that by publicly shaming a company, the customer is probably more likely to get a quicker result.

What comes after social media?

As Bignell alludes to, the challenge with Twitter at the moment is not just down to the way that it’s run, but in maintaining the ways brands rely on it to communicate with customers directly. Wetteman says joining up the channels of communications, whether over email, phone, social media, or through their own website, would help alleviate the reliance they have on Twitter. Many brands have more to learn when it comes to customer interaction, she adds.

“There's a lot of interaction that happens before a ‘one-to-one’ communication, and some of the really interesting and innovative stuff that I'm seeing is around using artificial intelligence (AI) to understand, not just when a customer creates that one on one communication, but what happens way before that,” she continues. “Businesses want to understand what customers search, their activity on community sites, their activity on the website, to get a better understanding of what they need to do to make a customer happy, rather than just what their interaction may be with a chatbot.”

As brands look away from social media, the question of what comes next still looms – whether it’s another dominant social media platform or Twitter alternative, or something entirely different, like a metaverse-based experience.

Things don’t look like they’ll improve for Twitter any time soon. As Sampson points out, a pause on advertising is not good for Twitter’s profitability, on top of a user base that could fall. “Around 90% of Twitter revenues come from advertising, but the introduction of the Twitter Blue subscription service, as an attempt to build new revenue streams, could see advertising take a back seat and become less relevant to advertisers over the long-term,” she says. “Musk stated he wants to create 'the most respected advertising platform in the world', but it’s too early to say what the result of Musk’s overhaul will have on the number of Twitter users, which is one reason why some companies are biding their time before making a final decision.”

TD Synnex Maverick has struck an agreement with Zoom that brings the communications and collaboration platform to its channel partners in Europe.

A specialist business of distribution giant TD Synnex, Maverick provides professional audiovisual, collaboration, and digital signage solutions to sectors such as education, corporate, and retail. The firm says it is focused on enabling partners to address the fast evolving market opportunity for solutions that support smart virtual collaboration and hybrid working models.

In addition to offering Zoom, Maverick said it will also offer partners a comprehensive portfolio of Zoom-enabled hardware and software products from various brands across the industry, as well as access to technical resources accreditations to enable deployment.

Hugo Graça, senior vice president of specialised solutions at TD Synnex, said the Zoom agreement represents an opportunity for European partners to “accelerate their smart collaboration offerings at scale”.

“Our specialist Maverick teams across the region are poised to extend Zoom’s reach across the channel, helping our partners to deliver on the promise of true hybrid work flexibility, simplifying deployment and accelerating go-to-market with comprehensive solutions combining hardware and software to address the demand for hybrid and virtual collaboration solutions,” he said in an announcement.

Through Maverick, partners now have access to the entire Zoom portfolio, including Zoom One, which bundles together a multitude of individual solutions into a single unified communications platform.

There’s also access to the recently-launched Zoom Contact Center, an omnichannel offering designed to help answer end-customers’ questions and solve issues faster. Maverick says the offering works in tandem with the rest of its portfolio to create modern meeting spaces with high quality video and audio.

Partners can also incorporate the likes of Zoom Rooms, Zoom Phone, Zoom Events, Zoom IQ, Zoom Webinars, and Zoom Whiteboard into the solutions they take to market, the firm said.

Dion Smith, Zoom’s head of channels for EMEA, said it was the perfect time for the company to extend the reach of its solutions portfolio to the channel, as the global workforce continues to embrace hybrid working.

“The breadth and reach of TD Synnex across Europe, allied to their operational strength and the deep specialisation of the Maverick team, provide a great launchpad for us to accelerate adoption of the evolving range of Zoom solutions and tools,” he said.

Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, has dramatically shifted the social media landscape in recent three weeks. Indeed, fears cast earlier this year that Musk would mismanage the business are beginning to materialise.

The social network has always been a destination for professionals in the IT industry and the wider tech community. Whether they use Twitter to network, showcase new tools and products, share cyber security research or build their brands, it’s been a reliable vehicle for more than 15 years.

Now, however, with concerns mounting about the rise of ‘verified’ fake accounts, and the growing prospect of unmoderated abuse, not to mention destabilisation sparked by an exodus of engineers, many question Twitter’s long-term viability. With users pontificating about Twitter’s last days, it’s worth asking where IT professionals are looking to replace the various professional use cases Twitter served.

To say there are a plethora of alternatives is an understatement. Mastodon is grabbing most of the headlines – and is the leader amongst professionals IT Pro spoke with. Other competitors, including Hive Social, Post.News, and a soon-to-come offering from Bot Sentinel, mean the landscape is crowded. We should note, Twitter’s widely-forecast demise may never materialise and, despite many alternatives, none may be able to truly replace it.

Mastodon

Website: https://joinmastodon.org/

Initial release: 2016

Number of users: More than 2.5 million

Far and away the current favourite to eat into Twitter’s market share is the decentralised and open source offering, Mastodon. Founded in 2016, the platform has seen a tremendous spike in users, both when Elon announced his expensive takeover in April, and once that transaction was confirmed.

Attempting to nail down its number of users is a nightmare, given this count keeps rising, but, at the time of publication, the organisation had announced it could boast more than 2.5 million.

The transition hasn't been smooth, though. Joey D’Antoni, principal consultant at Denny Cherry & Associates Consulting, says Mastodon is unlikely to scale in the way Twitter has. This is despite the possibility that he finds many of his colleagues have decided to transition away from the silicon valley behemoth.

“Twitter had a viable business model. They were making some money before they inherited, you know, $13 billion in debt,” he says. “If you try to start a platform like Twitter now and you can monetize it early, you could have something that would be successful. It wouldn't be a juggernaut or anything. I don't know that I see that with Mastodon; I could see maybe somebody trying to monetise that open source code and build their own system.”

Mastodon also comes with security risks. Direct messages are readable by the owner of each server or instance. Each server also has its own rules, some of which have come under fire for silencing critique of the platform itself. Malek Karim, a New Jersey-based IT professional, says it’s almost impossible to be critical on the platform, and that’s part of why he has spread out where he’s spending his time.

“A huge problem with Mastodon is you can't complain about Mastodon on Mastodon for fear of people calling you toxic or fear of having your account disabled.”

Karim says he’s also hesitant about adopting the platform more broadly because he sees minimal search functionality and a distinct lack of users of colour. For him, at least for now, he’s building community on business-focused platforms like LinkedIn, while still maintaining a presence on Twitter.

Hive Social

Website: https://www.hivesocial.app/

Initial release: 2019

Number of users: More than one million

Part of the reason Mastodon is currently dominating the conversation is that it’s had time to work out some – though far from all – of its kinks. Hive Social, meanwhile, was founded in 2019 and has also sustained a recent rise in users.

D’Antoni says one of the issues with any of these alternatives is that, at the end of the day, content moderation is going to be a significant bottleneck. “The moderation capability [of any platform] requires humans. You can build some artificial intelligence (AI) around some of that but, at the end of the day, you still need humans there to really do that effectively,” he says.

Hive Social was critiqued by CNN recently for not meeting its policy objectives. Until recently, it was also only available through the Apple App store, with the Android version in beta. Although it's now available through the Google Play Store, those with Android smartphones seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach.

A sample of the conversation about Hive Social on Twitter points to cautious optimism, mixed with trepidation about such a small team. Reportedly as few as three actually run the platform, according to Business Insider, with the team tasked with managing a steadily increasing number of users – only set to grow in the coming days and weeks. Without desktop capabilities, however, and without the experience a host of other platforms can boast, it’s difficult to see IT workers flooding to Hive social en masse.

Post.News

Website: https://post.news/

Initial release: 2022

Number of users: 180,000

One of two platforms not so accessible to the public, Post.news – the brainchild of former Google staffer Noam Bardin – promises a near-Utopian environment. Post is built on the philosophy that “all humans are created equal, endowed with unalienable rights that include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of their gender, religion, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, net worth, or beliefs”.

It’s the type of marketing copy that sounds like it was lifted directly from the American Declaration of Independence. The site is currently in closed beta, and you can sign up for a waiting list that, at its last count, was over 180,000.

Bardin, whose self-styled title on the platform is chief poster, continues to say the mission statement of Post is to prioritise “civil conversation”. This is a term that’s made some outspoken Twitter users uncomfortable, because of its connection to tone policing – where marginalised users are asked to not be their authentic selves so a privileged majority can feel more comfortable. Post seems well aware that its goal of restoring the internet’s “town square” is incredibly ambitious, and it remains to be seen how that effort will go.

Bot Sentinel’s new ‘Twitter-like platform’

Website: https://prebeta.botsentinel.com/

Initial release: TBD

Number of users: 30,000 pre-beta sign-ups

This brings us to another prospective option. While not yet launched, Bot Sentinel, a tool that developer Christopher Bouzy created in 2018 to clean up social media, is mulling over whether to launch an all-new Twitter alternative.

Bot Sentinal is a crowdfunded research company comprising data scientists, machine learning engineers and researchers who specialise in identifying and understanding disinformation and targeted attacks on platforms like Twitter.

Bouzy announce the tentative plan to launch a new social media site in November, with a stated goal to register 100,000 people into the pre-beta to assess its viability to funders and prospective users. Should Bot Sentinal reach this threshold, Bouzy will consider exploring this project further. At the time of writing, the project has registered interest from more than 30,000 Twitter users.

The long-time entrepreneur has been a vocal critic of Musk’s brief Twitter reign, likening the Tesla mogul’s influence to a brand shift towards the likes of Truth Social and 4Chan, on which far-right conspiracy theories are known to proliferate.

BT Wholesale has announced it is making EE connectivity available to partners on a direct, wholesale basis through EE mobile SIM.

Due to be launched in early 2023 upon the completion of trials, members of BT Wholesale’s Partner Plus programme will be able to sell EE SIMs and provide customers with 4G and 5G connectivity.

In an announcement, the firm said the move will boost resellers’ ability to support end users’ evolving all-IP requirements and go-to-market strategies. It also supports the move away from legacy voice setups and helps prepare businesses for the upcoming PSTN switch-off coming in 2025.

“We are constantly striving to make ourselves easier to do business with, and critical to that is ensuring we are delivering what partners want,” said Gavin Jones, channel partners director at BT Wholesale. “For many, that was EE mobile. Enabling resellers to sell EE mobile SIMs is the latest proof point demonstrating our commitment to helping our partners thrive.”

The upcoming PSTN switch-off has accelerated the need for businesses and individuals to move away from legacy setups. Scheduled for 2025, the event will see the UK’s traditional telephone network shut down, with traditional telephony products removed from shelves. Every phone line in the country, whether personal or business setups, will then be IP-based.

As businesses move away from these legacy voice services, Jones said the company’s aim is to provide partners with “complete convergence” across fibre, cloud voice, and mobile.

“The EE mobile SIM is another way to deliver unparalleled access however partners need it,” he continued. “Ultimately, this backs resellers to maximise relationships as customers take more control of their digital destiny.”

EE was the first network provider to launch 5G in the UK and now claims that over 50% of the UK population can use its 5G services. The company said it is now aiming to expand coverage to 90% of the UK landmass with 5G by 2028, complete with requestable, on-demand solutions.

“Making EE SIMs available via a wholesale model means partners can offer customers the might of the UK’s best mobile and biggest fixed broadband networks,” said Jones.

“The pandemic taught the channel that we need to be more flexible in our approach, and that’s reflected in our launches. We provide our partners with flexibility and choice so they can pass that through to their customers as they accelerate their own digital journeys.”

The move is the latest in a string of channel developments for BT Wholesale. Last year, the company launched WHC Express, a cloud-based telephony system for businesses with ten or fewer employees to help them make and receive calls across fixed and mobile devices.

It also unveiled Broadband One, its end-to-end managed service that enables partners to provide small businesses with connections of up to 1Gps across both FTTP and SoGEA.

Back in 2009, Slack was a small team of software engineers, building a massive multiplayer game called Glitch. Today, Slack has become bigger than the company ever imagined - and its adoption by Dev teams of all sizes is a major reason. Yes, Slack is used in pretty much every department and discipline these days, but software engineering is where it all started. Engineering is still the source of a lot of the user love that keeps them coming to work smiling.

This eBook is a quick introduction to some of the ways Slack helps developers. It explains why software engineers seem to like Slack so much and how Slack could benefit your own teams.

Cloud communications firm Avaya has announced a new strategic partnership with Wavenet, a UK-based cloud telecoms and technology provider, to deliver its unified communications as a service (UCaaS) offering to the UK channel.

The collaboration combines UCaaS and contact centre as a service (CCaaS) with its own bundled calls and minutes to help businesses deliver enhanced experiences for customers. Wavenet will act as a wholesale service provider and tier 1 value-added reseller (VAR) across the UK.

Partners will be able to benefit from a self-service managed platform that allows customisation, customer control, as well as the ability to bill customers directly.

Announcing the move at the GITEX Global conference, the pair said the collaboration will enable UK-based organisations to deliver “effortless, best-in-class experiences” for both customers and employees during every interaction.

“Our partners are serving customers in a business environment that has changed significantly over the past couple of years, and against that backdrop, it’s no surprise that demand for cloud-based communications experience technology has increased,” said Antony Black, director of wholesale at Wavenet.

“By offering the combination of the Avaya market-leading UCaaS and CCaaS experience technology with Wavenet’s bundled voice plans, we are able to provide the wholesale partners with a fully self-service managed platform allowing them to control their customers and more importantly bill directly.”

Expected to be available to Wavenet customers and its network of UK wholesale channel partners in Q1 2023, the combined offering can be rolled out to customers within hours, while customisations for more complex infrastructures can be made “quickly and easily”, the pair said.

Fadi Moubarak, Avaya’s vice president of channels, added that the agreement with Wavenet will enable joint partners to “position an enterprise-class solution without the enterprise-class pricing”.

“Being natively cloud-based, the platform will keep customers at the cutting edge in terms of feature sets, and can be flexibly tailored and deployed in diverse ways to match the requirements of any business,” he said.

Phone systems are essential for the operation of small- and medium-sized businesses, and there are many options to choose from. But what if you’re a really small business? What should start-ups be looking for in their phone systems?

That’s where a new product called 3CX StartUP comes in. Its foundation is the 3CX Phone System, but rather than expect small business owners to configure everything themselves, StartUP does the heavy lifting for you. You don’t need to worry about choosing the right settings or even investigating the opaque world of SIP trunks.

You’ll be up and running within minutes, and you can manage your setup from within the web client – the same place where calls and messages come through.

First steps

3CX prides itself on having a “free forever” option. If you have ten or fewer members in your team and don’t need to take advantage of advanced features, StartUP is available and doesn’t even require credit card details.

For existing 3CX customers, it’s easy to add a StartUP system directly from the customer portal (click the “Add Systems” button, then choose “Hosted > Up to 10 users” and follow the steps). It’s just as easy if you’re a new user. Register for a new account at www.3cx.com/startup by entering your email address – or sign up via Google – and then following the four easy steps in the setup wizard.

With this complete, a welcome email lands in your inbox. Follow the link, log in, and then click the Office Settings button on the left-hand side. At this point, you can start adding members of your team, choosing whether they’re a Manager (who will be able to add users themselves) or a User. That’s it.

Make the right call

Now you’re set up, members of your team can call each other directly via the web client or one of the free 3CX apps for iOS, iPadOS and Android. On top of that, anybody can now call them, for free, directly over the internet. Each user is assigned a “talk link” that they can share directly, put on social media or via their email signature. No special app is required as it works from a browser using the WebRTC protocol.

You can create video-conferencing meetings via the equally simple 3CX “meet link”. To avoid spam calls, you can request name and email first and accept or reject the call on that basis.

To connect with the wider phone network – that is, mobiles and landlines – you will need to create an account with a SIP trunk provider. Making your own account means you will have full control over your phone numbers, and most of the time it also means lower-cost calling. 3CX StartUP still removes much of the hassle by supporting SIP trunk providers based on ease of configuration, ease of account setup and pricing.

In the UK, that currently means Brightstar and T4Com. You can read more details at www.3cx.com/partners/sip-trunks/uk, but again no technical knowledge is required as 3CX provides clear step-by-step documentation.

Explore your options

You’ve now covered all the basics. But what about creating announcements and setting up auto-responses for holidays, weekends and anti-social times? After all, who wants to answer a call at midnight? Those features are all included in 3CX StartUP, and once again 3CX will guide you through the process with simple step-by-step guides.

For example, you may want to customise your automatic call handling so that it doesn’t simply route calls based on time (the default) but via different call queues or “ring groups”.

Let’s say you create a shared link for the sales team. Using the ring group function, you can then choose whether incoming calls will “ring all” (where all group members can pick up the call) or switch to a “prioritised hunt”, where it goes to the top group member – as defined by you – and then proceeds down the list. You can even configure a WhatsApp number on your StartUP account that allows you to reply to messages directly from the web client. (You will need a WhatsApp Business account, with a phone number added.)

Then there’s the powerful Live Chat feature. This integrates with sites based on WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix, allowing you to take incoming chats and calls directly from visitors to your site.

Time to go PRO?

Everything we’ve covered so far is free. However, there are good reasons to go PRO. If you have up to ten users, the cost is a flat fee of £175 per year. Up to 20 users costs £275 per year. That isn’t per user, or per month, but a flat annual fee. No strings attached.

There are some juicy extras attached, however. Go PRO and you can use multiple call queues rather than rely on one. You can set up a far more advanced digital receptionist who can route calls with multiple options (for example, “press one to reach the sales department, press two to call support, etc”).

It also provides advanced call centre features, plus call reports and call recording. Finally, you can choose your own SIP trunk and use 3CX’s plug’n’play IP phone provisioning.

Learn more about 3CX StartUP Free

Most businesses know they must meet customers on the messaging apps they love. But what comes next? Not all conversations are created equal, and a low-quality messaging conversation can do more harm than good.

As a Customer Service leader you need a messaging strategy that offers the right help, in the right way, at the right time.

Download this guide to discover three key components to drive high-value conversations on the WhatsApp Business Platform.

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Across the globe, people love using messaging apps to stay in touch with friends and family. And they increasingly expect the same, effortless communication with businesses. Phoning a call centre no longer appeals.

WhatsApp connects businesses to more than 2 billion monthly users. With analytics, automation and more, it’s the platform that turns messaging into a powerful business tool.

Download this guide now to learn how to bring your customers closer with easy, responsive support.

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Messaging is a new medium that requires a new model of interaction. To make the most of the messaging opportunity, businesses must move beyond impersonal broadcasts and embrace truly personalised conversations.

WhatsApp lets businesses deliver expected, timely and relevant messages to build long lasting relationships with high value customers.

Download this step by step article to learn how to champion a deep, human connection between your audience and your brand.

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Technology has transformed consumer expectations. Now, businesses must transform too:

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• And by meeting customers where they are: with mobile friendly solutions on the messaging platforms they love. Platforms like WhatsApp.

Learn how to create deeper, more meaningful connections with your audience are within reach in this guide.

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Many organisations are adopting varying forms of hybrid working post-pandemic, with one of the main considerations being how to keep distributed workforces connected, and continue successful collaboration.

This study looks at the increase in the digital delivery of services across industries, and how this is benefiting businesses - not only from a productivity perspective, but also for employee wellbeing. It also discusses how those organisations that don’t embrace a hybrid working future could miss out on attracting the best talent.

Download now for tips and guidance on how to plan for a hybrid workplace, how to empower distributed staff, and how to keep them productive and secure.

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The dynamic between frontline workers and their employers has changed. Frontline workers now have a fundamental sense of what they want from a workplace - to be seen, heard and valued - and if they don’t get it? Companies have been put on notice.

It's been demonstrated that frontline workers are more productive when they’re connected. But how much more productive? Meta commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a Total Economic Impact study to help us find out.

In this guide, you’ll learn how organisations with frontline workers used Workplace to:

• Deliver an ROI of over 200%
• Increase productivity by 1 hour/week
• Reduce operating costs by 80%
• Improve overall employee experience
• Reduce the use of shadow IT

Read the guide to learn how Workplace does this.

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Work management platform Wrike has unveiled its new Custom Item Types capability, designed to help users create their own work item types tailored to their team’s specific requirements.

Wrike, which is part of Citrix, said its platform is now able to define different work types to support team workflows and keep cross-functional work connected with a “single source of truth”.

In an announcement, the firm said several use cases, including ‘Service Management’, ‘Strategic Planning’, and ‘Team Agile’, will also be released to get teams started.

“Wrike users can now mirror team business processes and daily scenarios in the virtual workspace with their own terminology, behaviour, and work manners,” explained Alexey Korotich, VP of Product at Wrike.

“This feature exponentially increases the versatility, power, and simplicity of our product, enabling any team and department across the organisation to not only work as one but also work the way they want — in a single digital space.”

With this new capability, Wrike said it is allowing teams to switch from common project management building blocks - such as folders, projects, tasks, and requests – to work items tailored to specific industries, job roles, or work domains.

Power users and administrators can customise work items with relevant sets of fields, layouts, relations, and automations to suit their teams. Additionally, they can build their own no-code business workflows and design libraries of ready-to-use item types for teams within their workspace.

Ultimately, Custom Item Types aims to make it easier to create a centralised digital collaborative office by providing users with a workspace that uses intuitive technology, easy-to-implement business logic, relevant data, and workflows that are already present within teams, Wrike said.

Should something change, users can easily adjust and redesign processes, including updates to layouts, fields, workflows, relations and no-code automation rules, as well as Request Forms, Space structure, and Views.

Upon release, Wrike has announced three initial use case templates for Custom Item Types. The first, called ‘Service Management’, allows users to request the services of a team and create incidents for a team to resolve. ‘Strategic Planning’ enables users to leverage a pre-built structure to help keep track of organisational goals, while ‘Team Agile’ provides teams with an easy starting point to set up agile workflows.

Custom Item Types will be available this week in Wrike’s Business, Enterprise, and Pinnacle plans, with new use cases available in August, the firm added.

“The introduction of Custom Item Types is our way of acknowledging and nurturing the diversity of teamwork because we know that not every team works in projects and tasks,” said Andrew Filev, Senior Vice President and Wrike General Manager, Citrix.

“That’s why we are expanding the generic building blocks of work and empowering users to form their own work item types and get teams excited about doing their best work together.”

Business communications platform Slack is hiking up its monthly price and changing the way its free tier works.

The changes, which the company announced via its blog, will go into effect on 1 September 2022.

Current customers can lock in their existing payment plans for an additional year, according to the blog, provided they renew before September. However, if they fail to act, users on the 'Pro' plan will see the price increase from $8 per month to $8.75 (£7). For the yearly 'Pro' subscription, users will see an increase from $6.67 per month to $7.25 per year (£5.75).

The reasoning behind the increase has been put down to new features; Slack has pivoted slightly since the pandemic, now advertising itself as a 'digital HQ' for hybrid workers. This has seen a host of new features and improvements, such as Slack Connect and more investment in Slack Huddles. This is the first time the cost of Slack has increased since its inception in 2014, which has coincided with a global cost of living crisis.

"To reflect all of that added value and ensure that we can keep investing in innovation, today we are announcing our first price increase since we launched in 2014," Slack said in its blog. "This increase will only affect users on our Pro subscription. In addition, we're updating our Free subscription to make it easier than ever for users to try out new features."

For those that are on free Slack plans, there will be changes to the way messages are saved. Previously Slack would show the last 10,000 messages and 5GB worth of uploads. However, this will change to a time basis rather than an amount with Slack showing 90 days' worth of messages or uploads, regardless of how much or how little is sent.

Free users will also have access to some of the newer Slack features, such as Clips, which allows anyone to send audio, video or screen-share messages in direct messages or channels. This is mainly used to provide updates and important info when a recipient(s) is ready, rather than having extra meetings. This will also include a 'retention' period for messages and files.

Financial giant Morgan Stanley has been fined $200 million for "use of unapproved personal devices" and 'inadequate' record keeping, both of which were revealed in the bank's quarterly earnings.

The fine has been issued by US regulators which said that managing directors and senior supervisors had evaded regulatory scrutiny by using WhatsApp or personal email addresses for business communications, according to The Stack.

"As technology changes, it's even more important that registrants ensure that their communications are appropriately recorded and are not conducted outside of official channels in order to avoid market oversight," said SEC chair Gary Gensler.

A similar fine was also issued to JP Morgan which was also found to have used services like WhatsApp for business communications. One of the biggest concerns here is that these messages can be easily deleted which makes it difficult to keep accurate records and ultimately hampers accountability.

This was a key point recently made by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) with regard to its investigation of the Department of Health a Social Care. The department received a reprimand under UK data protection law from the ICO due to its use of personal email and WhatsApp during the pandemic. The regulators report also suggested this was more practice used widely throughout the government, however, there have been no legal fines issued as yet.

Transparency campaigners have launched legal action against ministers via the UK's third-highest court. Again, the main point of concern is the fact messages can be deleted - campaigners suggest this is "unlawful" and "undemocratic".

"Vast sums of public money pass hands following deals cooked up, in whole or in part, through these untraceable channels," the Good Law Project, which brought the case, said. "They make it difficult or impossible for civil servants to act as proper stewards of public money. They pose a profound risk to national security - only last week it was revealed that private channels used in Number 10 had been hacked. And their use guts the clear public interest... in good record-keeping."

I was today years old when I learned 👀 means you're looking at something. As in, if someone posts a document into a channel, you send 👀 to clarify that you are, indeed, looking at the thing.

I’m not 100% convinced this is correct, admittedly, but it's true according to a survey presented by the workplace collaboration platform Slack and language app Duolingo – released today for Word Emoji Day. I know, there’s literally a day for everything 🙄.

Nevertheless, 9,400 people took part in the poll, representing mobile workers across the US, Asia and Europe. Their interpretations of emoji use in the workplace, and how it contributes to office culture, however, just add more confusion – for me, at least.

For example, the survey found an example of unusual emoji in which an unnamed group of workers deploys a racoon (🦝) when someone’s posted in the wrong channel. I don’t think I’ve ever used the racoon myself, but I’ve definitely posted something in the wrong channel by mistake many, many times. If one of my colleagues replied with '🦝' I’d be confused. I don’t even know what I'd use it for; replying to a racoon picture? Purchasing a racoon? I literally don’t know, but, if I worked at this mystery workplace, I’m sure I'd pick it up quick enough.

This is because emojis are a type of unofficial style guide, tailored and deployed in ways that are specific to the team and the individuals that make it up. ‘Unofficial’ because it's largely unimportant to leadership – they won’t care what you use unless you’re being inappropriate; 🍆, for example, is a potential HR issue, although the survey suggests 56% of Chinese respondents claimed to not know its dual use 🤨.

Within an organisation, the people that make it up will have their favourites, and the more creative types in the team will even create custom ones. Over time, a unique language will evolve. At IT Pro we tend to use the traditional 👍, 🙌 and 👋 mostly. But our idiosyncrasies have given birth to many variations of the party parrot; including ‘beer parrot’, ‘sassy parrot’ and, my favourite, ‘partycage’, which is party parrot melded with the face of Nicolas Cage.

We once had a collection of custom emojis that poked fun at one of our loveable old editors. They depicted him as an ogre and a dinosaur – lovingly – I’m led to believe. What’s more, our newest team member has already added a dancing Ewok– created and added to the database on his first day. In doing so, he’s signalled himself as both a Star Wars nerd and a fun guy – a very welcome addition to the team.

It’s safe to say that emojis are now fundamental and universal communication tool that help us navigate a sea of workplace platforms, and this is largely driven by the use of platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams and WhatsApp. The survey suggests 53% of respondents use emojis for workplace messages, with 67% saying it makes them feel closer to their colleagues, although 30% say they'd never send an emoji to their boss.

The platform does also appear to be an important aspect, because emoji use isn’t the same through the medium of email. In fact, it could hinder a career path, according to research from Tel Aviv University. Emojis suggest a lack of “power” and may lead to colleagues and bosses thinking less of you, apparently. The first thing to point out here is you probably don’t need to send your colleagues an email, especially if you have instant messaging services. After all, if you only have access to a Gmail account, there’s an instant chat function within that, so stick to it and let the emojis fly.

The UK's data regulator has called for a government review into the use of private correspondence channels, such as WhatsApp and personal email, for state business.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) reprimanded the Department of Health and Social Care (DHCS) for sharing official information via WhatsApp, texts and private email accounts, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The watchdog said that extensive use of such channels within the department represents risks to accountability and transparency within the government and that the DHCS lacked the "appropriate organisational or technical controls" to ensure risks were properly managed.

"Evidence more widely available in the public domain also suggests this practice is commonly seen across much of the rest of government and predates the pandemic," said the ICO.

The reprimand issued to DHSC has been made under the UK's general data protection regulation and requires the department to improve its process and procedures around the handling of personal information via private communication channels.

Former Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, launched an investigation in July last year amid concerns that the then health secretary, Matt Hancock, and his deputy, James Bethell had extensively used private methods of communication for government business. The ICO's report found that official information had been shared via 29 WhatsApp accounts, 17 private text accounts, eight private email accounts and one LinkedIn messaging service.

"I understand the value of instant communication that something like WhatsApp can bring, particularly during the pandemic where officials were forced to make quick decisions and work to meet varying demands," the current information commissioner, John Edwards said.

"However, the price of using these methods, although not against the law, must not result in a lack of transparency and inadequate data security."

In response, a government spokesperson said the ICO report would be considered carefully, however, they also pointed out that the report "makes clear that the correspondence channels used by ministers and the department were lawful".

Huddles, town halls, company-wide meetings – whatever you choose to call them, these events serve several vital purposes in the functioning of a successful business. A huddle is the opportunity for business leaders to speak directly to their employees, for teams and individuals throughout the organisation to explain their part in the overall working of the company and to share their successes, and to make your workforce feel like a united entity pulling towards a common goal.

That final point is of particular importance in the face of our new hybrid working models. The shift to a mix of remote and in-office working has brought many benefits to business, allowing some of the gains of lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 to be retained, as well as opening up recruitment pools beyond the local area, so that talent can be employed from anywhere in the world. But at the same time, remote working can risk leaving employees feeling cut off from their colleagues and less a part of the company than they would if they were visiting a physical office every day as most of us did in the pre-COVID era.

Another challenge posed by hybrid working is that it is much harder – and in some circumstances almost impossible – to gather your workforce together in one physical space for a company-wide meeting. This results in something of a paradox – huddles are a powerful tool in fostering a sense of collaboration and inclusion among employees, but remote workers who need this the most are the ones that cannot be physically present to benefit from it.

Of course, as hybrid working has taught us, being physically present in a space is not the be all and end all of a rewarding and successful job. There are technologies that can be used to make sure that employees get the most out of company huddles so that they feel part of the event, and that they are being spoken to and heard just as much as the rest of their colleagues.

A level playing field

The challenge of hybrid huddles is that you need to optimise for both in-person and remote attendees so that one group isn’t prioritised over the other. Remote workers shouldn’t be made to feel that they are simply detached observers watching from afar but not truly being engaged with. On the other hand, you don’t want your technological setup to create a stilted and static experience that puts a barrier between the speaker and the audience in the room.

Speakers need to be able to move freely and be expressive while still being heard by remote attendees. There are various options to consider. Hand-held microphones can be passed between speakers and attendees who have questions, or static arrays can be installed on walls and ceilings to pick up everything the speaker says while remaining unobtrusive in the space itself. Mixing devices and programmes can filter out background noise and control levels so that those listening in remotely receive clear sound and aren’t left scratching their heads.

A quality image is just as important as sound in making sure that remote attendees can see what is happening and feel part of the event. Cameras should be set up to view the speaker, and you might also want to consider having a separate webcam so that remote workers can also see when someone is asking a question.

But it isn’t as simple as pointing a webcam in one direction. Set a standard camera too close, and the speaker is apt to wander in and out of view. But set it too far away, and they will look indistinct and viewers attending remotely will struggle to tell who they are and what is going on.

Smart PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) cameras can make all the difference, automatically following the speaker and zooming in so that they remain centred and visible at all times without having to be viewed from too far away. For instance, the OBSBOT Tiny 4K includes AI-tracking with auto-framing, combining a two axis gimbal with a deep learning neural network algorithm to accurately and fluently track and centre the target. It includes customised tracking modes to make sure that the webcam is set up correctly for the particular space. Just plug the Tiny 4K into a computer and it’s ready to use.

Of course, picture quality is of high importance too. The Tiny 4K features a 1⁄2.8’’ Sony Sensor with a 4K lens for a crystal-clear image that helps remote attendees to feel like they’re in the room, and HDR to even out light levels so that the image isn’t overexposed or obscured by low light.

In larger spaces cameras and microphones may be just as essential for in-person attendees, as well as projectors and speakers so that those sitting further back can see and hear what is going on. This setup can also allow remote participants to be heard and seen when they come to ask questions, reinforcing their inclusion in the huddle.

With the right technology and a carefully considered setup, you can create huddles that work for everyone in your hybrid workforce, and achieve their goal of uniting your business.

To learn more about OBSBOT Tiny 4K AI-Powered PTZ 4K Webcam, click here

From 7 to 17 July, you can receive up to 30% off the entire OBSBOT product line, including the Tiny 4K, on Amazon

Xerox has announced the acquisition of UK-based print and digital marketing services provider Go Inspire as it looks to increase its global digital services presence.

The move is expected to improve the transformation of Xerox’s transactions and direct mail services into multi-channel communications, as well as accelerate the company’s growth across the EMEA region.

In an announcement, Xerox said it is focused on “widening the scope” of its Digital Services and Customer Engagement Services.

"Go Inspire's capabilities will support the transformation of our transactional and direct mail services into multi-channel communications, accelerate growth in EMEA and create new avenues for us to help current and new clients," said Darren Cassidy, UK & Ireland Managing Director and senior vice president of EMEA Global Document Services at Xerox.

Based in Leicester, Go Inspire is a service marketing agency that combines strategic marketing consultancy with data science and analytics, digital transformation, customer loyalty programme design, creative marketing services and print and mail services.

The firm services customers across the EMEA region, delivering loyalty schemes and marketing solutions to household names such as Sky, BT, Tesco, Waitrose, and Lakeland.

Go Inspire positions itself as “large enough to be secure and credible, but not too big to lose the ability to provide bespoke services for clients.”

Xerox said the takeover will help boost its aim of bringing innovative solutions to the workplace. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“We are thrilled to join the Xerox team and eager to contribute to the growth of Xerox Digital Services,” commented Patrick Headley, chief executive officer at Go Inspire.

“Together with Xerox, we will expand the portfolio of high value services for our expanding client base throughout the UK and beyond.”

Toshiba is considering up to eight buyout proposals, and a further two capital alliance options, it has been reported.

Although the firm has declined to confirm any details at time of writing, insiders have indicated to Reuters that potential prices of up to 7000 yen per share would value the business at 3 trillion yen, or $22 billion dollars.

However, those aware of the details have stressed that the offers greatly vary in price, and that this figure represents the upper limit of what is on offer.

As the conglomerate prepares to finalise a shortlist of proposals by the end of June, Toshiba shares rose by up to 6.5% on Thursday.

The same sources claim that KKR & Co Inc (KKR.N), Baring Private Equity Asia, Blackstone Inc (BX.N), Bain Capital, Brookfield Asset Management (BAMa.TO), MBK Partners, Apollo Global Management and CVC Capital Partners have all made offers.

Late last year, the ailing multinational giant had announced plans to split into three separate companies, with a completion date of March 2024. But in February, unexpected opposition from shareholders had the company propose a new restructuring plan to split their devices business and infrastructure business down the middle, again to no success.

The potential deal is being played out against the backdrop of a waning Japanese market, with the yen at a 24-year low of 136.71 on Wednesday morning.

The Bank of Japan has faced criticism for its policy of keeping interest rates low even as the United States Federal Reserve is set to raise interest by another 0.75 points in July.

Slack has added new 'co-working' tools to its Huddles service which includes video and multi-person screen sharing functions.

The new capabilities revealed at Slack Frontiers on Wednesday are part of the comms platform's "digital HQ" strategy which aims to make Slack a virtual replacement for the office.

Slack Huddles isn't meant to replace video conferencing services like Zoom or Google Hangouts as it caters more toward quick sessions or off-the-cuff meetings of around 10 minutes or so. Specifically, Slack Huddles was developed to re-create the informal discussions colleagues have in offices.

Pushing that further, users will soon be able to see each other as Huddles will have 'lightweight' video which will be accessible with just one click. This will include multi-person screen sharing and capabilities to react to others with drawings and emojis and share documents, links and comments in a thread. What's more, the thread will automatically be saved to the channel so it can be accessed later on.

All Huddles will start as audio-only by default, in a small, minimised screen. One click will launch the video and users can also select blurred or stylised backgrounds.

The screen-sharing features will differ from traditional models as each user on the call can share their screen, simultaneously. This may sound slightly confusing, but as a use case, Slack describes a design session where different participants can pull up their own images at the same time for the rest of the call to view. These can then be worked upon with a live cursor which can be used to emphasise and highlight certain bits of a shared screen, so if something on a design needs to be tweaked, users can draw on the part they want to fix.

All new coworking features will be available to Slack customers - regardless of subscription level - in the autumn and will be available to use with Slack Connect.

The instant messaging platform Telegram has amassed over 700 million monthly active users and will soon be rolling out a 'premium' tier as it looks to monetise a portion of its user base.

Exclusive new features will be added to the paid version, though no pricing has been disclosed for the monthly subscription.

Telegram, which was founded in 2013 by Russian brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, famously states that its end goal is not to "bring profit" and even has a non-profit organisation structure. This is largely down to its resistance to deploying targeted in-message advertising, though that stance has softened a little with the company testing non-targeted advertising in public channels.

As such, the premium tier appears to be a way for the company to monetise users that it is comfortable with, in that it keeps it user-driven, rather than based on targetted advertising. The premium tier will include the ability to send large files (4GM up from 2GB) and will support faster downloads as well as capacity for up to 1,000 channels - standard users can only have 500.

Telegram also appears to be the first of the large messaging platforms to roll out a premium tier with none of Signal, Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp having any kind of higher paid-for offering, though, there are unconfirmed reports that WhatsApp is working on a premium tier.

Founder and chief executive, Pavel Durov, had previously said that the premium tier was in response to user demand for additional storage and bandwidth.

​​"After giving it some thought, we realised that the only way to let our most demanding fans get more while keeping our existing features free is to make those raised limits a paid option," he said.

While pricing hasn't been specified for the US and Europe, a premium version in India is available for $6 (US dollars) on iPhone, so the tier could likely be between £4 and £5.

Cyber security company Tenable Security said it found two bugs in Microsoft Azure analytics software and complained the tech giant didn’t follow industry standards in declaring the patch to other users.

Tenable claimed that Microsoft patched one bug in its Synapse Analytics platform without telling users, and left the other unpatched, according to the company’s blog. Synapse Analytics is a machine learning and data aggregation platform that runs on Apache Spark with limited permissions.

The security company found a privilege escalation flaw that allowed a user to escalate privileges to that of the root user within the context of a Spark VM. The other flaw allowed a user to poison the hosts file on all nodes in their Spark pool which allows a user to redirect subsets of traffic and snoop on services users generally don’t have access to. The full privilege escalation flaw has been addressed, said Tenable, but the hosts file poisoning flaw remained unpatched when the blog post was published.

Tenable underlined that many of the keys, secrets, and services accessible via these attacks have traditionally allowed further lateral movement and potential compromise of Microsoft-owned infrastructure. This could lead to a compromise of other customers’ data, it added. However, for Synapse Analytics, root user access is limited to their own Spark pool so access to resources outside of this would require additional vulnerabilities to be chained and exploited.

The cyber security company rated the issue as critical severity, although said that Microsoft considered the issue a low severity defence-in-depth improvement.

Tenable complained that there was some kind of disconnect between the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) and the development team behind Synapse Analytics. The company had to reach out via Twitter to get a response despite requesting status updates via emails and the researcher portal.

“During the disclosure process, Microsoft representatives initially seemed to agree that these were critical issues,” detailed Tenable’s blog post. “A patch for the privilege escalation issue was developed and implemented without further information or clarification being required from Tenable Research. This patch was also made silently and no notification was provided to Tenable. We had to discover this information for ourselves.”

The cyber security company added that MSRC began attempting to downplay the issue and classified it as a best practice recommendation instead of a security issue. It wasn’t until Tenable notified MSRC of its intent to publish its findings that the Microsoft teams acknowledged that issues were security related.

“It was only after being told that we were going to go public, that their story changed…89 days after the initial vulnerability notification…when they privately acknowledged the severity of the security issue,” said Amit Yoran, chairman and CEO of Tenable, in a LinkedIn post. “To date, Microsoft customers have not been notified.”

Yoran called it a repeated pattern of behaviour, pointing to how other security companies have written about their vulnerability notification interactions with Microsoft, and the tech giant’s dismissive attitude about the risk that vulnerabilities present to their customers. He highlighted how Orca Security, Wiz, Positive Security and Fortinet published prime examples, with the latter covering the security disaster known as “Follina”.

“For an IT infrastructure provider or a cloud service provider that is not being transparent, the stakes are raised exponentially,” said Yoran. “Without timely and detailed disclosures, customers have no idea if they were, or are, vulnerable to attack…or if they fell victim to attack prior to a vulnerability being patched. And not notifying customers denies them the opportunity to look for evidence that they were or were not compromised, a grossly irresponsible policy.”

“We addressed the issues that Tenable reported to us and no customer action is required,” a Microsoft spokesperson told IT Pro.

BT Wholesale has announced the launch of WHC Teams Direct Connect, which will give businesses the ability to access external calling for Microsoft Teams using the firm’s cloud-based phone solution, Wholesale Hosted Communications (WHC).

Built for the channel market, BT says the solution is quick and easy to deploy and doesn’t require specialist IT support.

Demand for collaboration software has rocketed in recent years, fuelled by the widespread boom in hybrid working. Microsoft Teams has the biggest share of this market currently, with approximately 6.75 million users in the UK – and that figure has been predicted to rise to 10 million by 2023.

With WHC Teams Direct Connect, users can now leverage hosted PBX or hosted SIP Trunking directly from within Teams, enabling high-quality digital phone calls across all devices, as well as the usual benefits of WHC such as call recording and analytics, BT said.

“Bringing Microsoft Teams into our WHC portfolio was a natural next step for our partners and their customers,” explained BT Wholesale channel director Gavin Jones. “At BT Wholesale we want to ensure our propositions are adding the best value.”

With WHC Teams Direct Connect, partners can mix and match hosted PBX, SIP trunking, and Teams to build solutions that fit their customers needs, with ordering and deployment that doesn’t require specialist IT support or long wait times.

Additionally, BT says the solution offers competitive pricing without requiring end customers to invest in IT development or training.

Ultimately, that means customers can take advantage of improved collaboration in this era of hybrid working. Users can have the same number anywhere, on any device, alongside quick service set-up.

The solution is also natively connected to BT’s WHC automated ordering journey, allowing end users to be added in real time and making calls in a matter of minutes, the company added.

“Microsoft Teams is a great platform that many businesses rely on, but we wanted to take our support further by adding the extra functionality of allowing phone calls,” Jones continued.

“This is a simple and cost-effective way to get calls in Teams so that we can deliver the greatest benefits to our partners and their customers.”

NTT has teamed with Albemarle to help the speciality chemicals firm deploy a pilot private LTE/5G and Wi-Fi network at its Lithium mine in North Carolina.

Albemarle has mining and manufacturing sites across three continents. As an aftermath of globally-imposed COVID-19 restrictions, visiting the facilities ‌became‌ ‌increasingly difficult, which‌ ‌impacted decision-making and timing substantially.

The firm is now working with NTT to build a network that would link its global engineers with technicians for remote site surveys and assistance. The use of private LTE/5G will allow Albemarle to streamline its hybrid working process, in addition to reducing ‌global travel requirements and expenses.

NTT’s global connectivity services will also support wireless networking at Albemarle’s manufacturing sites.

“To enable collaboration and digital applications at our mining and processing sites, we require widespread, high-speed connectivity,” said Chuck Holley, global manager of IT network infrastructure at Albemarle.

“A private LTE/5G network is a great way we can do this cost-effectively, and NTT was our first choice to pilot a design, prove the technology and show the value. With a private LTE/5G network, we’re able to continue to seek out innovative solutions to some of our most pressing challenges,” added Holley.

Albemarle plans to expand the private 5G network beyond Kings Mountain following the pilot.

“We’re incredibly proud to be partnering and consulting with Albemarle on this innovative pilot,” commented Parm Sandhu, VP of enterprise 5G products and services at NTT.

“A private LTE/5G network will continue to transform business outcomes in mission-critical environments for Albemarle, and this is just the start of their journey. We look forward to working closely with the manufacturer as it continues to digitally transform its business for the future.”

Microsoft’s unreleased web-based Outlook client has been leaked for the second time, providing new clues on what Windows 10 and 11 users can expect.

Since rumours about its development first began swirling in 2020, One Outlook, known internally as Project Monarch, has been mostly kept under wraps by Microsoft – until the email client was first leaked in January 2021.

However, the download link was only accessible to Microsoft employees and “brave dog fooders” – a tech term used to describe developers building products for their own consumption.

On 6 March, One Outlook finally became available to download for business and education accounts as "preview" or "beta", allowing some users to get a peek at what the new email client has to offer.

Expected to ultimately replace the built-in Mail and Calendar apps on Windows 10 and Windows 11, One Outlook closely resembles Microsoft’s in-browser Outlook Web email client.

Similarly to Outlook Web, One Outlook is fully hosted online and is expected to be a simplified update to the traditional version of Outlook for Windows, which has been repeatedly criticised for numerous outages and exploitable flaws.

Apart from a refreshed UX, including softer edges, One Outlook will be more web-centric than the original Outlook, drawing comparisons to Google’s Gmail platform. Microsoft is also rumoured to equip the new email client with Teams-like collaboration apps,

Online Microsoft news platform WindowsCentral was first to spot the latest One Outlook leak on Friday, predicting that the new email client will be officially launched in autumn 2022, eventually replacing other clients by the end of the year.

Microsoft wasn’t immediately available to comment on the leaked One Outlook. However, Scott Stiles, VP of product management for Outlook, told The Verge that more details about the update will be available “in the coming weeks”, likely coinciding with Microsoft’s annual Build developer conference on 24-26 May.

The version available for download is an early unsupported test version of Outlook for Windows and is missing some of the features and enhancements that will be available for our beta testers. We encourage our customers to wait for the beta version to be released,” added Stiles.

In our hybrid working world, meetings have become the primary means of face-to-face communication for many of us. In this environment, badly run and ineffective meetings are more frustrating than ever.

This whitepaper explores the techniques and tools you can use to ensure that you are getting the most out of your meetings, from ensuring that the right people are in attendance to properly incorporating feedback and setting actionable goals.

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For IT decision makers, the case for cloud adoption has been well established, but in a business case they need to clearly and concisely communicate those benefits to their organisation.

This whitepaper explores Amazon Web Services’ Cloud Value Framework, which breaks down the business value of the cloud into four key dimensions: cost savings, staff productivity, operational resilience and business agility.

Download to learn how to improve the ways in which you communicate cloud value to your organisation.

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Create immersive environments for communications, collaboration, and learning.

In this solution brief, you’ll learn why embedded real-time communication makes users become more productive, engaged, and inspired. – and how to incorporate it into your applications. Topics include:

• Designing your technology strategy for a seamless fit into a user workflow
• Ensuring a high-quality communication session for optimal productivity
• Reimagining live events with an engaging interactive platform
• Accelerating time to market for the future of work applications and beyond.

Find out how you streamline ad hoc communication and collaboration to enhance productivity and drive competitive advantage.

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In a world bursting with chatbots, communication platforms and other technology intended to streamline comms and customer service, the telephone still reigns as an efficient, clear and personal method of communication.

That being said, you want to be sure that the phone system you’re operating is fulfilling your business needs and guaranteeing the best communication for your organisation. Does your existing system integrate properly with other apps and communication platforms you rely on? Does it properly support your remote workforce? Are you satisfied with the security it offers, and its backup features (if it has any)?

If you’re not sure that your current system is fit for purpose, it may be time to consider alternative providers to find the one that meets your requirements.

Time for a change

For those looking to sample a new phone system, 3CX is offering new customers (as well as existing customers that upgrade to v18) a year’s free hosting, making this the ideal opportunity to trial its services. 3CX will manage the whole operating system, so all you need to worry about is delivering the perfect communications platform for your business.

Some highlights of v18’s new features include improved apps for mobile workers, integration with Microsoft Teams and world-leading video call technology.

This means you can take advantage of a phone system that’s ideal for remote working. You can connect all employees, eliminating inter-office call charges in the process, and that means free office calls for your workers no matter where they are.

What’s more, you can easily create and manage extensions for remote workers, while apps for Windows, web, iOS and Android means people stay connected to the same high level no matter where they are or what device they’re using.

You’re in charge

So, what does “Hosted by 3CX” mean in practice? In short, it removes the burden of day-to-day OS management.

3CX will deploy your instance to DigitalOcean, a tier one cloud infrastructure provider with a 99.99% service level agreement, and automatically configure firewall rules for you.

It will then manage potential time-drains such as security patches and OS upgrades. That means your 3CX instance will be kept on the latest (non-beta) update, so you can benefit from upgrades as soon as they happen. And you don’t need to worry about the latest security threats, as 3CX’s team will ensure you stay protected.

3CX has even created a dedicated support team for its hosted customers, with 24/5 support (European Standard Time) and on-call support during weekends for emergencies. There’s a forum, live chat and a dedicated email address (hosted@3cx.com).

Backups and your data

3CX will also take nightly backups – at around 2am local time of the instance – which are then encrypted and stored in Google Cloud.

However, it’s crucial to note that 3CX takes pains to protect the privacy of your data. So things like call history and voicemails will always be under your control – this means you should create your own backup plan and save it outside of the instance.

This separation of data and operating system makes it easy for you to migrate your instance to a different hosting provider or even an on-premises system if you prefer. At the end of your free year’s hosting, it’s simple to migrate as you see fit. You’re always in control.

What’s next

After you have enjoyed a year’s free hosting, you can decide whether to stick with Hosted by 3CX or switch to an on-premises solution or your own choice of private cloud provider.

Hosting is offered for free for Standard, Pro and Enterprise licences, of all 3CX editions up to 32 simultaneous calls (SC). That means Hosted by 3CX is often the most cost-effective way of enjoying 3CX, with a 24SC Enterprise licence (for instance) costing £925 exc VAT on its own. Choose Hosted by 3CX and it costs a mere £300 per year.

It also means you don’t need to choose the Standard licence when you really want Pro, as the costs are the same no matter what. Instead, you only need to calculate how many simultaneous calls you need.

If you’re interested, new customers can simply select “Hosted by 3CX” while initiating their 3CX trial. Existing on-premise and private cloud installations can switch to 3CX’s hosted service directly from the customer portal – simply click on “Reinstall” under “My Subscriptions” and follow the steps.

Visit www.3cx.com/pbx/hosted to find out more

Vodafone has added 12 new areas across England and Wales to its 5G network coverage, allowing consumers, businesses, and their employees to benefit from faster mobile data connectivity.

Vodafone’s 5G is now available in Coventry, Dursley, Golborne, Keynsham, Llantwit Major, Lydney, Redditch, Rickmansworth, South Lackenby, Thornbury, Watford, and Wigan.

Businesses in these areas will be able to improve productivity and employee communications by adopting 5G, which is expected to add as much as £6.3 billion annually to the value of the UK manufacturing industry by 2030.

Commenting on the announcement, Vodafone chief network officer Andrea Dona said that 5G will provide extended opportunities to businesses and their employees, while also “supporting the local economy and helping to deliver a greener, more prosperous and digitally connected region”.

5G has been found to be more sustainable than its predecessors, with a 2020 report from O2 estimating that the application of 5G in manufacturing, transport, and healthcare could see the UK save up to 269 megatonnes of CO2 by 2035.

“The arrival of 5G gives our customers some of the fastest mobile data speeds in the UK, and a mobile network they can rely on,” said Dona, before adding that Vodafone is “investing in our network across the UK and look forward to seeing how that investment will benefit local people and businesses”.

Vodafone’s 5G rollout has intensified as businesses are asked to migrate their services to 4G and 5G ahead of the 3G shutdown scheduled for 2023. The repurposing of 3G spectrum will allow Vodafone to switch to more sustainable equipment used in 5G networks, decreasing its environmental footprint in line with the goal of achieving net zero by 2027. The UK is expected to phase out all of its public 2G and 3G mobile networks in the next ten years to facilitate the mass rollout of 5G and 6G, in accordance with a deadline imposed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The latest announcement comes amid intensified rumours of a merger between Three and Vodafone, following a call for “structural change” in the UK’s telecommunications sector from Three CEO Robert Finnegan.

Ericsson has announced the departure of senior vice president Peter Laurin, just a week after a shareholder revolt against the company's alleged involvement in payments to the Islamic State group.

Laurin, who has been with Ericsson since 2001 and part of its executive team since 2017, was the head of its business area managed services division where he oversaw network operations around the world. He will leave in August to head up automation startup Piab.

"Peter has been instrumental in turning around and transforming our Managed Services business and successfully led Ericsson's digitalisation and IT journey. He is a valued member of the Ericsson leadership team and I wish Peter all the very best in this new role as CEO of Piab," said Ericsson's president and CEO Börje Ekholm.

At an Ericsson AGM meeting last week, shareholders, led by activist Cevian Capital, voted against granting a discharge to the company's board members and Ekholm, which would have released them of liability.

Cevian, which is also unhappy with the way the company has been run, is principally concerned with an ongoing investigation by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over "unusual expense claims in Iraq", which date back to 2018. The revolt means that Ericsson's top executives can be held personally liable under Swedish law if the DoJ finds any evidence of wrongdoing.

Laurin was in charge of Ericsson's Business Area Managed Services in 2018 and his role involved managing network operations in other countries. In 2019, the telecoms giant agreed on a settlement with the DoJ over international bribery claims. The company was accused of illegally paying officials in certain territories so that it could continue to operate in the region.

However, Ekholm has confirmed that the DoJ has informed Ericsson that it failed to disclose "sufficient information" about possible misconduct in Iraq prior to the settlement.

The accusation is that Ericsson sought permission from ISIS affiliates or representatives to work in an ISIS-controlled city. It claims that the company made multi-million dollar payments over a decade to sustain its business in the country which could have inadvertently financed terrorist operations.

AI capability is becoming mainstream as customers make use of bots in their homes, at work, and on the go, but with the amount of bots in the market, businesses looking to purchase a virtual agent solution may find the market confusing.

IBM's chatbot, Watson Assistant, offers a robust conversational platform that has the ability to interact between business systems and users with natural human language. And in this study by Forrester Consulting, four long-time Watson Assistant clients share the benefits, costs, risks and flexibility they've experienced using the chatbot technology for various aspects of the customer experience.

Download this whitepaper to better understand the specific ROI and cost savings clients can expect with Watson Assistant.

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Slack has discontinued its services in Russia, following in the footsteps of Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon, Slack has discontinued its services in Russia.

The Salesforce-owned messaging app is excluding Russian users from its platform in accordance with international sanctions levied upon Russia and policies enacted by its parent company following the invasion of Ukraine.

“We do not have a material business in Russia. Through resellers and other channels we have a very small number of Russia-based customers, and we began exiting those relationships last week. Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine, their loved ones, and all of those affected,” Salesforce announced last week.

Per reports, several Russian organizations lost access to their Slack accounts without warning, rendering any data available for download impossible. That said, the lockout only impacts companies directly sanctioned under the law.

"Slack is required to take action to comply with sanctions regulations in the U.S. and other countries where we operate, including in some circumstances suspending accounts without prior notice, as mandated by law," the company told Axios in a statement.

"We are in contact with affected customers regarding the impact of these actions on their account status, where permitted by law."

Slack won't delete any data belonging to its Russian customers, however, sanctions prevent users from accessing data until after the ban is lifted.

Earlier this month, AMD, Intel, and TSMC blocked chip sales to Russia. Having limited production capacity at home, the move poses a significant threat to Russia’s military computing applications.

5G performance and coverage has increased in US states as carriers continue to invest in communications infrastructure, according to an industry analysis.

The report, from independent carrier evaluation company Opensignal, follows up on a similar analysis last summer. The latest research evaluated 5G performance from November through January and found a significant bump in speed.

Average 5G download speeds rose by an average of 36% across 44 states, representing a 27 Mbits/sec increase, the report found.

Some states saw a bigger bump, with Illinois' maximum speed of 141.4 Mbits/sec representing a 62.2% over summer figures. Others were less impressive, Vermont languishing in last place at 48.7 Mbits/sec – up from 42.2 Mbits/sec.

In general, the states with the largest increases in download speeds were already high performers, suggesting that carriers continue to prioritize these regions for investment in 5G performance.

However, Alaska, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont failed to move the needle, and all still sit in the lower third of the states for download speeds.

Despite the increase in speeds generally, the gap between the fastest and slowest speeds has never been wider. Following the recording of a 71.8 Mbits/sec disparity gap last summer, this has now grown 29% to 92.7 Mbits/sec.

The report also revealed increases to 5G coverage across 47 states, including big gainas in New Jersey, Hawaii, Illinois, Texas, and California. Reach increased 17.1% per state on average.

Increased reach doesn't necessarily mean better availability. Carriers other than T-Mobile still rely on non-stand-alone 5G implementations, which use 4G spectrum to support their 5G offerings. This reduces the time that a 5G-capable smartphone will remain connected to a 5G band while indoors, asserts Opensignal.

There is a marked difference in availability across different cities. At the low end of the spectrum, customers in Jackson, Michigan spent only 10.4% of their time connected to 5G, while users in McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas, enjoyed 5G links for 37.2% of the time.

AT&T and Verizon are deploying C-band spectrum that will further improve 5G performance and availability, but they have suffered a rocky ride. Concerns over the safety implications of C-band 5G for aircraft landings forced an agreement to delay the rollout around key airports.

Adverts for Microsoft Teams, Slack or even Zoom usually follow the same format; people working together from the comfort of their own homes, in corporate jobs. There’s obviously nothing inherently wrong with that, but it does target one specific type of business, rather than demonstrate the full range of use cases different organisations can take advantage of, exemplified by the rise in virtual events since the pandemic.

Away from the living room, quizzes and shows, one effect collaboration platforms have had across the business landscape is taking away some of the emphasis of email, especially from an internal perspective.

The argument for removing email for certain members of staff, and replacing it with a collaboration platform, is particularly compelling for workers in the service industry. Waiters, cleaners, and shop floor assistants have little use for a specific email address tied to their job, although will need to be contacted from time to time by their employer.

Honest Burgers is one such business that’s done away with email addresses for their staff on the restaurant floors, instead opting to use the Workplace platform from Meta. This move has allowed the brand to “streamline” communications for employees, according to the head of employer brand at Honest Burgers, Oli Cavaliero.

“We didn't have a communications platform or a central platform before using Workplace. Instead, we had thousands of emails, WhatsApp groups, and messages, as well as different systems where we would hold documents and learning material,” he says.

“Now, we don't have internal emails and everything is done through Workplace. Our entire library of resources can be found on the platform, and we have other platforms that we use connected to Workplace so everything that we do is driven through Workplace, rather than having multiple logins for different platforms.”

Necessary communications

Much has been said about the death of email, and whether there’s a role for the archaic technology in the modern era, especially one that’s saturated with communication and collaboration platforms. Despite several providers building tools intent on superseding the email inbox, such as Slack Connect and Microsoft Teams connect, no company has yet found a silver bullet in the war against email. Using Workplace, though, Honest Burgers claims it’s found a middle ground between wasting resources on unused email accounts and the necessary communications that need to be sent out.

Co-founders Tom Barton and Philip Eeles (pictured) established Honest Burgers in 2010 as a pop-up tent in Brighton

Employees need to have an understanding of the potential dangers they may encounter throughout a restaurant, from the kitchen to the table, for example. Employees, in previous years, would have had to log in to a portal they barely used, often resetting their passwords along the way, before running through mandated courses in order to simply get back to doing their jobs.

By transitioning to the collaboration platform, Honest Burgers has managed to integrate its staff training resources into chatbots that use multiple choice and free-text answers to provide a simple way to complete the course.

“At Honest, we initially used chatbots to share information to get feedback,” Cavaliero says. “From there, we’ve increased the complexity, and our systems engineer has been able to share his knowledge to the wider team, so we can create our own chatbots in our specialist areas.

“When a new member joins the team, they’re educated through chatbots. Initially, they'll be introduced to Workplace, then the chatbots guide them through the process. There are different areas that employees can train in, but the reason for us doing this is to simplify the process, rather than having a huge system with information we wouldn't necessarily need all the time.”

Boosting engagement

As with all collaboration platforms, adoption is key to its success. Being able to create chatbots, after all, isn’t useful if nobody is using Workplace. Cavaliero, however, says engagement has been high amongst its 600-strong employee base, with uptake well within the 90% range.

“Over 99% of our team are activated on Workplace, and 90% of our team log on at least ten times within a 28 day period,” he says. “That shows that employees are engaged, but we also understand that people might not want to be so engaged so we have to be absolutely fine with that.

“Our employees can just use Workplace for the tools they need. We require them to use a chatbot to fulfil the health and safety course, for example. Some may not want to go on to our culture page and look at some of the pictures from some of the celebrations that have been going on.

“That said, as we've used Workplace more and integrated more initiatives, the engagement has certainly increased. Whether it's health and safety training, a bot platform, or our own HR system called the Brain that we’ve built, it all plugs into Workplace, which allows us to be flexible as well make changes when we want to.”

Google has announced the closure of Currents, its replacement for Google Plus for G Suite customers, just two years after the platform's 2019 launch.

The process of shutting down Currents will begin in early 2023 and will make way for tighter integration of Spaces and Google Chat into Gmail.

It falls into Google's wider attempt to revamp Workspaces to have a more integrated look that mirrors much of what Microsoft has achieved with Outlook.

Before the wind down of Currents, Google will be bringing more features to Spaces to improve business communication and collaboration. This will include support for larger communities and opportunities for communication from leaders, content moderation tools, advanced search capabilities, and a number of as-yet unannounced changes.

Google also said it will be making additional investments in areas such as app development platform capabilities, and enterprise-grade security and compliance tools related to data protection, data loss prevention, and deeper integration with Google Vault.

Google Currents was introduced in 2019 as a replacement for Google Plus, its first and unsuccessful attempt at a Google-integrated social network first launched in 2011. Currents inherited parts of Google Plus but currently is just an enterprise communication platform, rather than a broader social network platform.

Currents users will be gently migrated over to Spaces - an evolved and rebranded version of Google Chat more akin to something like a Slack channel - and Google will start closing down Currents incrementally, starting with features used the least on the platform.

"The accelerating transition to hybrid work has significantly changed the way people collaborate, and Google Workspace customers are using Chat and Spaces to communicate about projects, share organisational updates, and build community," said Google.

"Upgrading Google Currents to Spaces removes a separate, siloed destination for users, and provides organisations with a modern, enterprise-grade experience that reflects how the world is working today. Spaces provide a central place for teams to engage in topic-based discussions, share knowledge and ideas, move projects forward, and build communities and team culture. "

"Killed By Google"

The features to be removed at indeterminate dates in Q1 2022 include post analytics, profile influence, and follower/following counts. Other features to be partially closed include tags, although this only affects the popular tags page and any active tags embedded in the 'all posts' stream, and community insights, which will be removed but data for community insights will still be available in admin reports.

Google will be contacting the primary admins at organisations still using Currents in the coming weeks, sharing more details and a migration guide. IT admins can read more on the planned changes and the timeline in Google's dedicated support page for administrators.

The announcement somewhat subverts a commitment made by Google Cloud in 2021 that it wanted to ditch its reputation of killing off its products that are still used by business customers.

Google garnered the reputation over a number of years and even inspired one software engineer's "Killed By Google" project, which saw the creation of a satirical website and Twitter account that keeps track of all the products and services Google has shut down over the years.

Microsoft has said its Teams app now uses 50% less power when running video calls and meetings, thanks to a range of performance improvements it has implemented since 2020.

Microsoft Teams can be especially demanding for users of low-end devices that lack the adequate hardware processing capabilities of more expensive models, Microsoft said, especially with functions like meetings with multiple video streams or sharing one's screen with a group.

Ongoing optimisations to the collaboration platform have improved the experiences for many business users and have led to reduced energy costs, Microsoft said, as it outlined the timeline of its optimisation releases over the past few years.

"One of the challenges brought on by the ubiquity of Teams is the need to create equitable experiences across an incredibly diverse Windows device ecosystem," said Robert Aichner, principal group program manager at Microsoft.

"We’re committed to ensuring great calling and meeting experiences for users on low-end hardware as well as those on high-end workstations and high-resolution monitors. One of the factors we’ve addressed is the difference in power requirements for different customer profiles by ensuring Teams meetings are as energy-efficient as possible, regardless of setup."

Microsoft measured the improvements by creating a testing framework that accounted for different energy-demanding scenarios, such as video meetings and screen sharing, to evaluate the critical processes associated with them to identify optimisation opportunities. Such processes included content capture, encoding, and rendering.

Over the course of 17 months, Microsoft made changes to these processes, starting with video capture optimisation in October 2020, involving a reduction in CPU load when the camera was enabled. This delivered the most significant performance increase, with a 27% drop in power consumption.

Specifically, Microsoft focused on camera optimisations that targeted reduced CPU load in meetings and reducing code complexity in areas such as auto-exposure, auto-white balance, and auto-aliasing.

This was followed by consolidating multiple screen elements for a single render process in February 2021, which brought an additional 14% decrease in power use. Incremental optimisations made over the following year delivered small improvements, slowly building to a peak performance improvement of 52%.

"Similar to our other performance improvement initiatives, these power consumption improvements are subjected to progressive testing to validate the intended benefits across customers and environments," said Aichner. "Additionally, we evaluate each new planned Teams feature to ensure existing processing efficiencies are not compromised.

"So while we continue to launch innovative Teams features to help people connect and collaborate in new ways, we’re also dedicated to making sure these experiences are optimised for all users, regardless of their network and devices."

Google has announced a new Gmail layout that changes how Chat, Meet and Spaces are integrated with the service.

The new 'integrated view' makes it so that the messaging apps are no longer little windows floating alongside emails by giving each one its own screen, accessed via larger buttons on the left-hand side.

All Google Workspace users - except those on Workspace Essentials - will be moved to the new interface. Users can choose to switch to this new look on 8 February, with an option to switch back still available.

However, the new layout will become the default option by April and, eventually, the only option by the end of the second quarter of 2022.

With the application buttons tucked away to the left, the changes give Gmail a similar look to Microsoft's Outlook. The new app position removes the need for users to switch between tabs or windows in order to use Chat or Meets because they can now use them directly in the same browser window.

There will also be notification bubbles for each app and, soon, Google will also offer a 'unified' search function so that it shows results from all integrated applications.

The refreshed interface is a win for those that like data density and having all their work apps in one place. However, it could be a little confusing having multiple app notifications all going off in one window, potentially adding more stress to those looking to focus on one task at a time.

Whether the changes are agreeable or not, users may have suspected they were coming, given the changes Google has made to Workspace (formally G Suite) during the pandemic. The company has sought to make its platform more conducive to hybrid and remote working by tweaking the way various elements work with one another, with the rebrand to Workspace, itself, also a nod to greater integration and ease of use.

Microsoft and Qualcomm are set to collaborate to expand and accelerate the adoption of augmented reality (AR) for the metaverse in both the consumer and enterprise sector, including developing custom AR chips.

The companies stated they were believers in the metaverse and intend to work together across several initiatives to drive the ecosystem. This includes developing custom AR chips to enable a new wave of power-efficient, lightweight AR glasses to deliver rich and immersive experiences.

Microsoft and Qualcomm also plan to integrate software like Microsoft Mesh and Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform. They hope the collaboration will create transformative experiences for the next generation of head-worn AR devices in the metaverse.

“Our goal is to inspire and empower others to collectively work to develop the metaverse future – a future that is grounded in trust and innovation,” said Rubén Caballero, corporate vice president of Mixed Reality at Microsoft.

“With services like Microsoft Mesh, we are committed to delivering the safest and most comprehensive set of capabilities to power metaverses that blend the physical and digital worlds, ultimately delivering a shared sense of presence across devices.”

Hugo Swart, vice president and general manager of extended reality (XR) at Qualcomm added that the collaboration reflects the next step in both companies’ shared commitment to XR and the metaverse. Swart said Qualcomm’s core XR strategy has always been delivering the most cutting-edge technology, purpose-built XR chipsets, and enabling the ecosystem with its software platforms and hardware reference designs.

At the start of November, Microsoft launched Mesh for Microsoft Teams, its pitch for the metaverse. It aims to make remote and hybrid meetings more immersive and is set to roll out in 2022. It is a mixed reality service that allows people in different physical locations to join collaborative and shared holographic environments within Microsoft Teams to allow for chats, virtual meetings, and the sharing of documents and more.

This came after Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s name change and its renewed focus on the metaverse. He said the metaverse would feel like a hybrid of today’s online social experiences, sometimes expanded into three dimensions or projected into the physical world to allow people to share immersive experiences, even when you can’t be together. The CEO added that it will be a more immersive social media experience, where virtual and augmented reality will take centre stage.

Web chats, phone calls, Facebook Messenger, text messages, video: customers have a huge number of options when they need to reach out to a business, and your agents need to be on top of them all. The question is, how? The answer is to have a customer communication system that stretches from start to end, which is exactly what the latest update to 3CX provides.

Live chat is a powerful tool. What began as a handy way for web visitors to communicate with agents has evolved into a potent weapon that makes it easier for customers and your business alike, and with V18 of 3CX it’s become even more powerful.

Facebook feedback

Facebook is one of the main ways that people interact with businesses, but often that Facebook page hurts a firm’s reputation more than it helps – what do you think when you see “usually responds in three days” on the page?

With 3CX Facebook and Live Chat integration you can save time, increase customer satisfaction and boost conversions. Connecting with customers is easy – messages are delivered immediately to both web client and smartphone apps, so agents can answer, transfer and resolve customer queries from the same platform they use for all other communication.

3CX’s Facebook integration means there’s no need to give multiple agents access to your Facebook page. Simply complete the integration with your Facebook account, assign incoming chats to a specific queue, and your agents can respond as they would a live chat, without ever opening the Facebook app or being granted admin permissions.

Business text messages

In his YouTube video announcing what’s new with 3CX V18, CTO and Founder Nick Galea had a simple message. “A clear trend is that customers are reaching out to businesses more and more via text,” he said. “It turns out 89% want to be able to text the business and use different platforms to do so,” citing a Twilio survey, including good old SMS.

However, less than half of businesses have a mechanism to handle text messages. Even if they do, it’s unlikely to be integrated into their existing system. This adds confusion, time delays and costs more as you have to pay for two or more systems running in parallel. Worse still, you can’t move live chat conversations across to the call centre.

Businesses need a single, integrated solution that allows the same teams to handle both messaging and calls – and have just one system to administer and pay for. Most importantly, they can close requests faster by elevating a message to a call if needed. While people want to reach out via text, they frequently need voice communication to describe an issue or have the solution explained.

With the 3CX mobile apps for iOS and Android, users can send and receive instant text messages via a designated business phone number, without giving out their personal mobile number. Incoming text messages can be assigned to queues so there’s no relying on a single agent to respond, so no message goes unanswered.

Response rates will increase as rapidly as your customer service satisfaction: answer incoming messages, send out appointment reminders, and use SMS marketing to boost business and drive customer engagement. It takes just minutes to set up in the 3CX Management Console.

Free WordPress plugin

Let’s not forget website visitors. The 3CX Live Chat plugin for WordPress turns visitors into leads, instantly connecting them with your customer service team.

From the admin console, you can easily add agents, customise your live chat box, and configure the behaviour of the chat function on your website to suit your business needs. You can install and set up the live chat plugin in minutes to offer customers a hassle-free way to get in touch in real time with your team.

What’s more, agents can help customers find what they need, answer questions and upsell products or services – just like they would on the shop floor. With more than 1.9 million downloads worldwide, 3CX Live Chat is the most popular live-chat plugin for WordPress. Plus, the plugin can be fully integrated with 3CX, so you can manage your entire communications suite from one easy-to-manage central platform.

And for those times when customer problems or queries are best resolved via voice, the minimised chat bubble now presents a “call us” option right at the start of the customer journey. This is ideal for website visitors who want to jump right in and talk with an agent. With V18, 3CX is also adding support for its Live Chat bubble for several new content management systems – including Drupal, Joomla, Shopify, Weebly and Wix.

Greater analytics

The final gift in the 3CX V18 Live Chat package is for managers. Using Google Analytics, you can now track and report your website visitors’ interactions, in turn helping to improve conversion rates.

Websites already set up to use Google Analytics can now track how visitors interact with the chat bubble and greeting message, allowing you to hone your message and improve results. You can see all the data you need about chat sessions, and even check on the successful delivery of offline messages. It’s also easier to check what images agents have sent, with a preview of the attachment, while a number of enhancements behind the scenes improve both performance and security.

Updates are coming

Not content with all the live chat improvements that arrived with V18, 3CX has numerous plans to improve the service still further via its frequent feature updates. “First off, we’ll support new Google messaging,” said Galea. “This appears on search on Google Maps and allows customers to reach out to you.”

3CX will also be adding support for Apple iMessage and MMS messaging. And you will soon be able to dispatch a one-way SMS with alphanumeric sender ID – this is popular across Europe for customer notifications, making it easier to track shipments, for example.

And there’s more

The 3CX Live Chat will be upgraded so users can directly state which department they want to speak to, and people will be able to provide instant chat ratings. That leads to better reports to help you evaluate the performance of your agents, wherever they’re working.

3CX can already smoothly integrate with countless CRM systems, from Freshdesk to Zendesk, from Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics, but an update will embed live chats into the CRM software and not only display the conversation as it happens but show you which web page the customer is currently visiting. All of this provides greater insight that will allow your agents to understand exactly who the customer is and what they want. Finally, agents will be able to email the customer a complete transcript, send them a response to their Facebook account or fire over an SMS.

Existing customers benefit from all these upgrades as part of their package, and if you’re new to 3CX you can try it for free for a year – no strings attached. Just visit the address below and pick the right solution for your team.

Try 3CX free for one year

Microsoft has launched a standalone tier of Microsoft Teams specifically aimed at small businesses.

Teams Essentials, which is available now, offers video meetings and chat features for the "lowest price in the market today", according to Microsoft.

The Essentials tier offers unlimited group meetings for up to 30 hours and can support up to 300 participants at a cost of $4 (£3) per user, per month. Each user will also have 10GB of cloud storage. On the free tier of Teams, users are only able to host 100 participants for 60 minutes at a time.

The service also includes "existing and new capabilities", some of which are already available in the free version of Teams, to meet the needs of small businesses, according to Microsoft. This includes a new Google Calendar integration, which Microsoft said will be available "soon", and in-meeting tools like meeting lobby, virtual backgrounds, Together mode, and live reactions.

Essentials will also have a "Small business group chat template", which is a collaboration hub where users can manage projects, assign tasks and create polls.

"We know how difficult the past 20 months have been for small businesses. They've had to demonstrate extreme flexibility to adapt, often with limited access to tools and technology," said Jared Spataro, corporate vice president of Modern Work at Microsoft. "Teams Essentials is built specifically to meet the unique needs of small businesses, enabling them to thrive in this new era of work."

There are small business-focused tiers on other platforms but Microsoft appears to have found a way to undercut rivals by offering better value-for-money than competitor options. The "Pro" version of Zoom, for instance, comes at a monthly cost of £11.99 per user and only accommodates 100 participants per meeting. The video-conferencing giant has also launched an advertising pilot for it's free package as a way to find more revenue streams, rather than reducing the price on its middle-tier. Workplace from Meta (formally Facebook) offers a "Core" tier for the same price as Teams Essentials, but users need to opt for a number of "add-ons" to match the offerings available on the Microsoft service.

There is a free tier for Google Meets, but all participants need an account to join and the next tier is only available as part of a £7.99 monthly Workspace subscription.

Essentials is also being offered as a standalone service, with no need for users to subscribe to an Office 365 bundle. Invites can also be sent to anyone with an email address, so there is no need to sign in or install Teams to participate in meetings.

While ITDMs were largely responsible for their organisations surviving the pandemic, there’s still a lot to be done to enable staff to collaborate and operate effectively in a hybrid world of work.

This eBook looks at:

• How employee needs have changed during the pandemic
• What employees are saying about IT departments
• The benefits of a good communication platform for remote/hybrid work

Download this eBook now to see how you, as an IT leader, can keep supporting your organisation and enabling open communication for the best business results.

Provided by:

This article originally appeared in issue 22 of IT Pro 20/20, available here. To sign up to receive each new issue in your inbox, click here

Often referred to as the 'open internet', the web as we know it today is based on the principle that all traffic should be treated equally, and that every piece of data that passes over a network has the same value.

Digital rights activists have vocally defended net neutrality since the web’s inception, while internet service providers (ISPs), by contrast, have long lobbied for this principle to end. Many, indeed, are fearful that ISPs already manage traffic over their networks, awarding some packets more bandwidth than others.

Rules that block this practice, however, already exist in the form of the EU’s Open Internet Access Regulation 2015, which was enshrined into UK law in 2016, and reinforced by the European Union (Withdrawl) Act 2018. These rules aim to protect users while guaranteeing a level playing field for service providers and innovators, with Ofcom tasked with enforcing these principles. The status quo may soon change, however, with the regulator launching a review into how the UK’s net neutrality framework is working, and whether COVID-19 has spurred any need for change.

The price of access

The head of public affairs with the Internet Service Provider Association (IPSA), Andrew Kernahan, backs Ofcom’s call for evidence, suggesting it’s also a wise move following Brexit. “As well as looking at the changing internet dynamics, such as the concentration of a small number of large platforms or the size of gaming updates,” he tells IT Pro, “it should also look at where the current rules may actually act as a brake on the ability of providers to support customers.”

ISPs have long criticised the way net neutrality limits their capacity to optimise the traffic they carry, with companies like BT and Zen regarding it as needless oversight. In March, for example, the CEO of BT’s consumer brands, Marc Allera, reignited the net neutrality debate by suggesting it imposed restrictions on ISPs’ capacity to service the population during COVID-19 – a period of heavy traffic.

He argued that zero-rating, the practice of applying a price of zero to the traffic associated with a particular site, such as educational platforms like BBC Bitesize, was incompatible with net neutrality arrangements. This is because zero-rating attracts much higher traffic to those sites, and drives up costs for ISPs. This practice, Allera added, is unsustainable unless net neutrality rules are adjusted so ISPs can allocate those packets more bandwidth.

COVID-19 highlighted how ISPs came under immense pressure to maintain their services across the UK, with Zen suggesting internet usage surged 78% between March 2020 and March 2021. The shift to mass remote working, too, saw daytime internet access traffic increase by three-quarters, with these figures suggest the playing field for internet access is changing.

Katharine Trendacosta, associate director of policy and activism with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), however, believes maintaining net neutrality is critical as we move into a post-pandemic world. “What the pandemic has shown is that net neutrality is even more important than it was five years ago,” she tells IT Pro. “We not only need network access we also need the ability to access whatever we need without interference from our service providers.

“What if service providers decided to charge extra for high-speed access to Zoom? Or decide to slow down Zoom access in favour of speeding up access to their own video chat service? In the former, you have people with fewer means without the same level of access. Net neutrality goes beyond the classic concerns of blocking, throttling, and paid prioritisation. It includes any choice a service provider makes regarding access that isn't reasonable network management.”

Gatekeepers of the web

The usage landscape is hugely varied. Massive data users, including content streaming services like Netflix or YouTube, have the commercial clout to demand more bandwidth, which they can afford. A technological divide remains, however, with digital exclusion continuing to pose a barrier to access to essential online services. Nesta research suggests a million adults across Wales and Scotland struggle to afford sufficient access to the internet, for instance.

As enterprises embrace technologies like 5G, edge computing, and the Internet of Things (IoT), meanwhile, a fast and reliable internet connection underpinning these services is more important than ever. With businesses and ISPs pushing to ensure their packets of information are given higher priority, it puts the core principle of net neutrality under immense pressure. Preserving net neutrality, however, is also about preserving our way of life, Trendacosta adds.

“Even before the pandemic, we saw that net neutrality was intertwined with public safety,” she says. “For example, during the largest wildfire in California history, a fire department found its internet access being throttled despite having an ‘unlimited’ plan. Santa Clara County stated that this “had everything to do with net neutrality”. During the pandemic, usage has spiked, obviously. But the other part of it was that a whole lot of us suddenly found ourselves forced to use certain online services to work, learn, or talk to our healthcare professionals. ISPs being able to leverage that need by charging more for access to either consumers or services would have been catastrophic.”

Shifting sands

In its review, Ofcom will consider how the rules can best serve users’ interests while promoting access and choice and allowing businesses to innovate. The way in which businesses and consumers access the internet has changed drastically since the EU’s Open Access Regulation came into force, with ISPA’s Kernahan explaining a balance must now be struck to alleviate the pressure placed on network providers.

“The UK broadband market is highly competitive, and scores of providers are investing more than £30 billion to upgrade our broadband infrastructure as data consumption rises each year,” he says. “The market needs to be supported by a regulatory framework that supports investment. Yet, we also have a two-sided market where operators benefit from content platforms, particularly to encourage customers to upgrade to newer gigabit-capable packages.”

The continued expansion of cloud computing and the plethora of hosting services that rely on fast and reliable access to the internet has highlighted the value inherent in each packet of data. With Ofcom’s findings not expected until Spring 2022, it remains to be seen whether the UK’s net neutrality landscape will shift to such an extent that ISPs assume the role of the gatekeepers of the internet.

What does your workstation look like; three monitors powered by a laptop, a desktop surrounded by the latest mic and cameras, or perhaps just a laptop with an external mouse and keyboard? Regardless of how you work, I’ll hedge my bets and say the way you complete your daily tasks has changed somewhat since 2019.

Without leading us down the well-trodden path of how the pandemic has changed the way we work, it’s important to establish how the effects of COVID-19 on the workplace still manifest. The rise of cloud platforms and portals businesses were forced to adopt to continue functioning during lockdowns is arguably the biggest impact we’ve seen. This is exemplified by the fact a quarter of a billion people now use Microsoft Teams on a monthly basis.

Even 250 million active monthly users, however, doesn’t translate into total market domination. In fact, over the past year, businesses have increasingly bought into an emerging trend of choosing different collaboration platforms for different types of workplace communication. Companies such as BT and Vodafone, for example, are using Facebook Workplace to offer employees a pseudo-social media experience. There’s a risk, however, that piling yet more digital systems onto the shoulders of already digitally stretched workers might inadvertently lead to a loss of productivity and disillusionment.

No plan is an island

Using such platforms in this way isn’t a new phenomenon, Meike Escherich, associate research director for the future of work at IDC, points out. Indeed, communicating with a distributed workforce means businesses need to upgrade their communications methods, with emailed newsletters and bulletins often ending up in spam folders too.

“The biggest issue is that staff can be given all they need to do their job in a remote setting, but they’re missing the culture of the company,” Escherich says. “That sense of community, building loyalty, and support from superiors have all gone down the drain over the last year or so because businesses haven’t worked out how they communicate, how often they communicate, and what they communicate. This is a big issue for businesses to tackle.”

Although the intention to supplement workplace culture might be there, introducing yet another digital platform can also take its toll. Depending on their department, employees will have to log into a range of systems at once, which inevitably has a knock-on effect on productivity. In fact, RingCentral found roughly two-thirds of employees are losing over a month of their time per year just switching between different platforms. Its research also found that a large portion of employees found navigating these different platforms more annoying than spam and junk emails (45%), paying bills (52%) and even trying to lose weight (50%).

“Generally, the industry needs to recognise that none of these tools can be an island anymore,” says principal analyst for workplace transformation at CCS Insights, Angela Ashenden. “These platform providers need to look at how they fit within the ecosystem. If you're going to enable productivity and enable people to be effective it has to tie in with all the other processes and happen wherever those processes take place. Therefore, there’s a focus around integration and how to streamline workflows across multiple tools.”

That is where collaboration platforms come in. Microsoft, for example, wants Teams to serve as a user interface window, senior analyst with Cavell Group Patrick Watson, says. Employees will, effectively, use Teams as a window into their applications, with integrations getting much better. If various providers integrate into Teams or Slack, he adds, users won’t feel bombarded by different apps because they’re effectively using one interface.

Dispelling the threat of shadow IT

Although the likes of Vodafone and BT may well have good reasons for investing in Workplace, Escherich says she doesn’t think the trend of using more than one collaboration platform will be picked up by smaller businesses. The priority, for them, is to protect their IT teams, who would be burdened with a greater workload. “When we ask our clients about digital transformation and what is needed in-house to enable a hybrid workplace, the key issue is IT support,” she says. “It’s a big issue for business and even outstrips things like security or employee experience.”

Making such a decision may not be as simple as protecting IT teams, though, with shadow IT highly prevalent in regulated industries such as finance, legal and the public sector. As Watson outlines, establishing places for employees to go for both professional and social interactions is likely an attempt to control the realm of all employee interactions, as they may not currently know what’s being shared, how, and when. According to data Watson shares, 39% of executives in charge of technology know their business is currently using Facebook Messenger, 58% are using WhatsApp, with 10% using Signal and 20% using Telegram.

“As you can see, there’s a large uptake of the consumer applications from employees, but those are just the ones the business owner or the technology executive knows about,” he adds. “These executives won't necessarily have a clue about these sorts of shadow IT issues, such as the warehouse with its own private Whatsapp group. Within those groups, too, employees could be talking about orders and potentially sharing customer data, which is a dangerous area for businesses. That’s why we have seen a ban of applications like WhatsApp and Telegram, particularly compliance industries.”

Although there may be an appetite to phase out messaging platforms in the workplace, according to data from CCS Insights, WhatsApp is the third most popular collaboration platform after Teams and Zoom. Ashenden concludes that, by separating the social and professional aspects of the office, businesses are shepherding their employees away from private messaging platforms towards mobile-friendly solutions.

“Teams, Slack, Workplace all provide a simple chat messaging capability within a managed environment, which is why the likes of Microsoft, Facebook and Google are investing in mobile apps and that lightweight chat. The high-turnover workforce isn’t going to buy into a productivity platform, but they might use an app if it's easy and they can use it on their personal phone. That’s definitely one of the key pieces to this puzzle.”

Slack has doubled down on its 'digital HQ' plans with the launch of new features to help any user customise their workflow, no matter their technical prowess.

At its Frontiers conference this week, Slack said it had "completely rebuilt and re-engineered" its communications platform from the ground up in a bid to empower users to make work life simpler and more productive.

This includes automated and no code functions that enable organisations to tailor their Slack app to suit. The idea of a 'virtual HQ' is to place a common space (a digital one) at the heart of a dispersed workforce, but like a physical office, Slack is implementing ways to change its platform to suit an organisation.

"Just like no two businesses run the same, no two digital HQs are alike," the company said. "Teams need the ability to tailor solutions based on their unique business needs and we're on a mission to make that happen.

"In fact, we've already seen thousands of organisations like Noom use Workflow Builder to automate routine onboarding tasks and offer essential resources to new hires, saving time while achieving 100% new-hire engagement."

The Workflow Builder is a core element of the new Slack platform, which allows users to automate work for themselves and other members of their team - all without the need to write code. The key here is that anyone within the organisation can create a workflow in Slack, simply by dragging and dropping existing apps and customising the way they work to suit. According to Slack, since Workflow Builder launched, more than 400,000 users have built workflows, with 80% of customers building workflows in their digital HQs being non-developers.

The communication platform also revealed 'Sign in with Slack links', which is set to be released next year. This allows users to seamlessly connect their tools using Slack account information. There's also 'Subscribe in Slack', a tool to add notifications from other third-party apps that are integrated into a user's Slack workspace.

Slack-first app deployment will let developers host and store the data that powers their apps in Slack and be able to attach "invisible metadata' to their messages. The benefit here is that other apps will be able to communicate with each other via Slack; for example, the different calendar apps of two people at two different companies can directly talk to each other and schedule a meeting through Slack when they're linked through Slack Connect.

"Everyday Slack users can now build and automate workflows for their teams without leaning on IT or writing any code. For developers, not only are they now free to focus on more interesting work, we've cut their deployment time down from days to minutes," said Steve Wood, Slack's VP of product, developer platform

There are also new additions for Slack Connect, the platform's external communication feature. Coming early next year, users will be able to collaborate with up to 250 organisations in one channel. And, later in the year, customers will have the ability to set up secure work environments for large, complex projects with thousands of partners right in Slack.

"Whether you're planning a large-scale event like Dreamforce with hundreds of vendors or managing a multi-year construction project spanning thousands of vendors, everyone has access to the channels, apps and people needed to get their jobs done," Slack said. "This gives teams a monumental leap forward in collaboration, flexibility and control."

Microsoft and Meta have announced a partnership that will see features from both companies' collaboration platforms integrate into one another to allow for cross-platform capabilities.

Formerly known as Facebook Workplace, Workplace by Meta will soon integrate features from Microsoft Teams into its own platform, such as livestreaming Teams video directly into Workplace groups.

The integration goes both ways and it will see certain Workplace content also becoming available to users on Teams.

Workplace will be integrated into Microsoft's software using an app within Teams which can be pinned to its navigation bar, if a user wishes. Once selected, a Workplace 'pane' will become visible to the side of the UI, which can easily be hidden or re-opened.

The move is a significant step for the two platforms the collaboration software market as a whole. With the launch of Workplace by Facebook in late 2016 being closely followed by Microsoft Teams in March 2017, the two platforms were considered rivals in a contested market that had, up until then, been dominated by the likes of Slack.

Although Workplace is pitched as a much more rounded tool for creating company forums, and Teams is better suited for instant collaboration between smaller teams, the two platforms effectively target the same enterprise audience.

“One thing I learned from the pandemic is that companies don’t just rely on one tool to get their work done, so it is our responsibility as leaders in the space to make sure the tools they use integrate and interoperate with each other,” said Jeff Teper, CVP product and engineering at Microsoft Teams.

Users on both platforms will also be able to interact with meetings hosted on the other, such as commenting and offering emoji-driven reactions, without having to swap apps.

Workplace by Meta said Vodafone, Flight Centre Travel Group, and Lockton - three of its customers - have already been trialling the integration. Flight Centre Travel Group said they use Workplace to foster a cross-company community and use Teams for cross-company collaboration, adding that the integration allows staff to access the information they need quicker.

Ujjwal Singh, head of Workplace at Meta, also said the integration had specifically been requested by Workplace customers Vodafone and Accenture, according to CNBC.

"The way our customers end up using it is customers use the complementary features, not the competing features," he told the broadcaster. "There are customers that are just Workplace shops, and then there are customers that are just Teams shops. This is really for those customers that use both."

The announcement deepens the partnership between the two companies as they vie for market share in the collaboration space. Workplace already supports integration into Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive, and the Office 365 suite.

Workplace can also be integrated into Microsoft Azure AD and was named in the top 15 apps used on the platform in 2020. Additionally, Microsoft Teams will become available on Meta Portal starting in December.

The integration comes as a free update which is available to download now, though customers will have to wait until later in 2022 before they can stream meetings and broadcasts from Teams into Workplace.