Brought to you by IPC Tech — Platinum Certified Mitel Support Partner specializing in connecting your business applications to optimize your communication experience.

There’s no denying the remarkable transformation of business communications. Smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile devices allow us to work without being tied to a traditional office desk. According to Oxford Economics, 75 percent of business leaders say mobile devices are essential to company workflows.

Unified communications (UC) solutions allow us to use several distinct communications technologies from a single platform. Can a UC platform be truly “unified” if it doesn’t have mobile functionality?

There is pent-up demand for mobile UC solutions that will give users anytime-anywhere access to a diverse set of communication and collaboration tools such as voice, video conferencing, email, messaging and chat. That’s because the market has been slow to develop due to some significant integration challenges.

For the most part, the process of launching enterprise communication and collaboration apps on a mobile device has been slow and cumbersome. Users have found it easier to use the native apps on their mobile devices. That essentially leaves them operating with two distinct communication solutions, one for the office and another for the rest of the time.

To a great degree, this was because major smartphone manufacturers didn’t provide access to the native dialer function on their devices. UC developers had to come up with a workaround, creating apps that ride on top of a mobile operator’s network. To make a call using one of these apps, you must launch the app and enter the number on the application’s dialer rather than the device dialer. It’s workable but awkward.

Things began to change once Android and Apple opened up their dialers and other key application programming interfaces. The use of the native dialer application allows a mobile device to become part of the enterprise dialing plan, enabling users to make standard business calls without launching a separate application. Additionally, it enables deep integration with a variety of business and collaboration applications for a much more fluid workstyle.

More recently, mobile UC products and services are being deployed through the cloud, which provides cost-effective access for small to midsize businesses (SMBs). Mitel’s recent launch of a cloud-based communication and collaboration solution offers breakthrough capabilities that previously have only been accessible to large companies and enterprises.

Mitel’s MiVoice Office Mobile Application is an easy-to-use, all-in-one solution delivered through the Mitel CloudLink platform, which hosts Mitel’s next-generation family of applications. Through CloudLink, businesses can fully leverage existing communications assets while extending and adding new capabilities from the cloud. As a result, MiVoice Office Mobile Application effectively puts the full functionality of a business desk phone in your pocket.

MiVoice Office Mobile Application was built from the ground up with mobility and simplicity for SMBs in mind. As a mobile-first solution, it enables users to be productive from anywhere with full office functionality, including business telephony, secure chat and presence, as well as dynamic contact management in a single application.

UC and mobility are becoming synonymous for the communications and collaboration needs of an increasingly mobile workforce. Organizations today are eager for solutions that will allow them to connect seamlessly with colleagues, customers and partners through a single platform. IPC can help you take advantage of MiVoice Office Mobile Application to bring the power of UC to your team.