Zoom and Mitel team to meet enterprise demand for AI unified comms

Stressing that as many as 91% of enterprises are prioritising a hybrid approach for their business communications, Zoom and Mitel have entered into a strategic partnership to deliver differentiated artificial intelligence (AI)-first hybrid communications and collaboration solutions.

The partners are seeking to address growing enterprise demand for unified communications (UC) deployments in an evolving world of work where 82% of leaders are planning to make their working styles more flexible in the next two years, so found the Navigating the future of work: Global perspectives on hybrid models and technology survey conducted by Zoom and Reworked Insights in August 2024.

As these changes and the desire to improve employee productivity and customer engagement accelerate, the firms said demand for greater flexibility and modern collaboration solutions is increasing and that enterprises need AI-first solutions that will help drive their business forward, while also maintaining a level of control, regulatory compliance and security for their mission-critical communications.

Zoom and Mitel claim to have produced a “best-of-both-worlds” and “unique” hybrid cloud solution that delivers security and control for mission-critical communications alongside collaboration to enhance business productivity. It combines Zoom Workplace and Zoom AI Companion with Mitel’s flagship communications platform. The partnership will introduce a Zoom-first experience within Mitel’s hybrid portfolio, including access to the full Zoom Workplace platform, which works with existing Mitel investments. 

Through Mitel’s Common Communication Framework, the offering will deliver an embedded, “feature-rich” experience without add-ons or plug-ins, including UC and mobile app integration, hardware device-level integration, and advanced business process capabilities such as bi-directional presence, call-to-video escalation, and centralised user provisioning and administration.

Users will also gain access to Zoom Phone with embedded support for Mitel PBX platforms, whether deployed on-premise or in the cloud. Mitel’s more than 70 million global users will be able to elevate their collaboration experience with access to Zoom AI Companion, Meetings and Team Chat, among other applications.

Commenting on the launch, Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan said: “As organisations continue to prioritise hybrid UC deployments, it is critical that users across the globe have access to AI-first, reliable and seamless collaboration solutions. Together, Zoom and Mitel are now able to address the largest segment of today’s communications market, particularly in EMEA, strengthening growth potential and enabling more users worldwide to reimagine the way they work.

“Like Zoom, Mitel has a customer-first approach where providing a best-in-class, collaborative working environment is of the utmost importance. I look forward to watching this partnership progress and continuing to work closely with Mitel to meet the evolving needs of our users.”

Mitel president and CEO Tarun Loomba added: “Effective communication and collaboration are the lifeblood of modern organisations, but they become transformative when tailored to meet each customer’s unique business objectives. As hybrid communications emerge as the future of business, we see this partnership as a catalyst for driving innovation and growth, together with the Zoom team.”

The joint solution will be generally available for customers in the first half of 2025. Advanced capabilities are underway as part of the multi-phase partnership plan, and continued enhancements are being planned.