News about Microsoft Teams, Cisco, Poly and 8x8

UC news roundup 15th to 22nd of November

It’s been yet another interesting week in the unified communication and collaboration industry, with plenty of exciting updates from market leaders like Microsoft, Cisco, and 8x8.

We’ve seen Microsoft Teams increasing its foothold in the collaboration market with the arrival of 20 million daily active users on the platform. What’s more, Poly, ScanSource, and 8x8 came together to announce a strategic partnership, highlighting the growing demand for consolidation and teamwork in the changing marketplace.

If you didn’t have time to check out all of our breaking stories this week, here’s your regular news roundup to keep you ahead of the curve.

Microsoft Teams Hits 20 Million Users

For months now, Microsoft has been soaring ahead as the number one choice for enterprise collaboration. Offering an easy and accessible way to keep team members connected, Microsoft Teams is a fantastic addition to the Office 365 productivity suite, and it’s also becoming the central hub for communication for a lot of businesses too.

This week, Microsoft announced that the Teams app officially has 20 million daily active users – an increase of 54% since July 2019. According to the Product Marketing Manager at AvePoint, Hunter Willis, it doesn’t seem likely that Microsoft’s growth is going to slow down any time soon. Check out the full story here.

Moving Enterprise Collaboration to Microsoft Teams

Now that Microsoft Teams is bigger, better, and more popular than ever, companies are going to be searching for ways to make moving to the platform as simple and streamlined as possible. According to Avepoint, countless companies are now planning a transition to Teams, and it’s important for them to have the right strategy in place to ensure adoption.

Avepoint's Hunter Willis notes that it is possible to get enterprises up and running on Microsoft Teams quickly, but business leaders will need the right guidelines to help them as they make the migration into the collaboration app. Check out our latest article for Hunter Willis’ insights into how to move successfully into the Teams environment.

Cisco Aims for More Bridges and Fewer Islands

As Microsoft continues to rocket ahead in the world of collaboration, competing company Cisco is also looking for new ways to make its tools as accessible as possible. The Cisco team has been focusing heavily on the importance of interoperability and integration in recent months, even making it possible to join Microsoft Teams Meetings from a Cisco endpoint.

In our latest episode of Out Loud, Jonathan George joins us to discuss the latest news in the world of Cisco collaboration, and how the company’s new strategy is affecting its position in the marketplace. Jonathan also discussed the recent acquisition of Voicea with our own Patrick Watson, and what that new purchase means for the brand.

Poly, 8x8, and ScanSource Announce Partnership

There has clearly been a positive trend towards strategic partnerships in the communication landscape over the last few months. We’ve seen this trend in the new merger between RingCentral and Avaya, as well as in the smaller partnerships in the landscape, like the one between Salesforce and Slack. Now, there’s yet another exciting team joining forces in the marketplace, with the arrival of a new project from 8x8, ScanSource, and Poly.

The partnership between the three brands will mark the first time that a brand-new replacement and cloud migration solution will be offered to the VAR channel. This solution will combine UCaaS and CCaaS functionality from 8x8, with incentives from ScanSource, and equipment from Poly.

Twilio says Software Needs to Change

Finally this week, the CEO of Twilio, Jeff Lawson, said that software needs to change to make access to innovative solutions easier for end-users. In his keynote from the Twilio Engage conference in London on the 14th of November, Lawson said that businesses need to launch digital transformation journeys with a close evaluation of what customer needs. This allows companies to work backward to a solution from an existing problem.

According to Lawson, connecting the dots of the customer journey and working with that customer on towards their goals is crucial for businesses in the future. A visual editor like Twilio’s Studio will allow businesses to combine building blocks together into experiences that suit their unique requirements. In a world where technology is becoming increasingly complex, companies need simple solutions to their problems, not just complicated new tools.

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