Given the dramatic shift to pure cloud real-time communications and collaboration solutions and the growth of adoption by the world’s largest enterprises, government organizations, and small and medium businesses, the attention to ensuring every voice, video, and messaging session continues to grow in importance and investment.
Unified Communications (News - Alert) as a Service (UCaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), and Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) markets are replacing traditional “telecom” solutions with easier to use, less expensive to operate, and more intelligent applications that keep teams connected regardless of where team members are working from.
The race to ensure teams had access to productivity applications, from their mobile devices, laptops, and desktop computers, created countless opportunities for adversaries to “tap” into virtual meetings, during which private and confidential information was being shared, resulting in a wake-up call to IT leaders who are responsible for ensuring data of any kind – including data generated in virtual meetings and calls – is fully protected.
American Virtual Cloud Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVCT), a global IT solutions provider offering a comprehensive bundle of services including unified cloud communications, managed services, cybersecurity, and enhanced connectivity, recently acquired Kandy, a cloud communications leader, from Ribbon Communications (News - Alert) (NASDAQ: RBBN), and along with it, Smart Office, a full suite of collaboration and communications tools offered on the Kandy Cloud Platform.
This week, they announced new security features, including the optional use of single sign-on (SSO) authentication on all Smart Office UC desktop and mobile clients using corporate credentials.
“The quick shift to remote work presented new challenges for business leaders as they navigated the uncertainty of how to promote collaboration and innovation from anywhere on any device,” said Kevin Howe-Patterson, Kandy (News - Alert) Platform CTO and vice president of product management at AVCtechnologies. “As the workforce shifts to a hybrid model, businesses need to invest in flexible, secure technology and solutions that can shift and advance employee productivity. AVCtechnologies’ Smart Office connects employees to the office, no matter where they are. The new features and investment in these tools are a testament to our commitment to provide leading unified communications solutions.”
Additionally, the company announced an enhanced user interface with updated graphics and light and dark mode functionality, which has been reported to reduce eye strain and conserve battery power.
Other new features include:
- Real-time visual notification — Collaboration tools are now equipped with features to support visual notifications of typing responses, missed calls, and chat messages.
- Message and contact synchronization — New synchronization capabilities allow for simplified applications across all devices, ensuring users have the same experience regardless of device.
- Seamless integration with Poly (News - Alert) headsets — Tighter integration with Poly HUB for better audio quality and call controls.
The latest Smart Office update also highlights a partnership with Poly to service call control enablement for all Poly (formerly Plantronics (News - Alert)) headsets that support Plantronics HUB software. To keep users connected and more productive, Smart Office updates will make remote answering of Poly headsets more user-friendly. Users can now answer/disconnect, hold/resume, and mute/unmute all from their headset.
“Our partnership with AVCtechnologies is essential to our service provider business,” said Dave Finney, Director of Global Alliances at Poly. “Our work with AVCtechnologies enables us to pursue unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) opportunities in mid to large enterprise verticals, such as financial, healthcare and education. A key component of that strategy is the integration of Poly HUB into the Smart Office WebRTC UC client. This integration enables users to determine their best user experience by controlling their call from either the telephone or the headset. HUB integration also empowers users to manage their headset settings, ensure they’re on the latest version of software, and receive support if needed. We look forward to working with AVCtechnologies as it continues to grow its global Smart Office offering.”
Arti Loftus is an experienced Information Technology specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the research, writing, and editing industry with many published articles under her belt.Edited by
Luke Bellos
