Mitel WX bets next phase of unified communications will be won on the floor, not in the meeting room

For over three decades, unified communications has been centered around workers at desks, switching between meetings, chat, and email. This approach made sense during the pandemic when everyone joined video conferences, but it falls short for the vast majority of the global workforce that doesn't sit at a desk. Mitel Networks Corp. aims to address this gap with Mitel Workforce Experience, a single client that adapts to a worker's role and combines voice, messaging, meetings, contact center, and vertical applications.

In a recent briefing, Mitel's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Eric Hanson, highlighted the problem with many UC platforms: they are designed to cater to everyone but are optimized for no one. His company's solution is a refreshing change from previous attempts that sought to build a one-size-fits-all platform.

A Vanson Bourne study commissioned by Mitel surveyed workers in Canada, France, Germany, and the U.K. The results showed that 57% of workers waste time switching between an average of seven tools, 79% rely on voice for rapid action, and frontline workers are twice as likely to use unapproved tools. Mitel's approach is different: it starts from scratch, with foundational functions like voice baked into the core client and the rest available as plugins that administrators can enable based on a worker's role.

This strategy has led to a cleaner and more purpose-built codebase, resulting in a product that's easier to deploy and maintain. Mitel WX supports various deployment models, from public cloud to on-premises and edge deployments, offering a high degree of flexibility for customers. One of the standout features of Mitel WX is its private push notifications, which allow alerts and calls to arrive even in hospitals running private 5G networks or experiencing internet connectivity issues.

The vendor is also focusing on artificial intelligence capabilities, which they see as a way to make frontline workers more efficient and effective in their roles. Mitel WX is being rolled out in phases, with initial availability starting in November and full platform readiness expected by 2027.