The cloud industry is currently undergoing a significant sea change. The term “cloud” has been used to describe public cloud services. Over the past few years, buyers’ attitudes toward cloud services have noticed a notable change, with private and hybrid deployments rising.

This trend isn’t limited to communications; it has been seen more broadly. On a recent analyst call with VMware, Vice President Prasanth Shenoy said, “We are seeing increased customer demand for sovereign [private] cloud in critical areas like data security, management and compliance solutions, especially as organizations prioritize data as an asset. Sovereign Cloud provides best-in-class solutions around protection, management, control, compliance, portability and access to unlock value from data.”

Another supporting point comes from Splunk Chief Executive Gary Steele. “We still believe in on-premises; we know most of you have critical infrastructure there, which remains a key focus area for us,” he said during the company’s last earnings call.

My research shows that 89% of enterprise customers will deploy hybrid clouds within the next five years for all workloads. For unified communications as a service and contact center as a service, that number is slightly lower, 73%, but most enterprises will still deploy communications in a hybrid environment. I expect that number to increase as artificial intelligence gets more widely deployed, since companies want more control over their data.

Mitel introduced a new framework to help customers shift to hybrid, offering a more flexible way to manage communications systems. Its “Common Communications Framework” enables organizations to utilize the various deployment models easily. Whether they want to leverage existing on-premises systems, cloud or a combination of both, the framework adapts to their operational requirements.

For Mitel, the Common Communications Framework is the next evolutionary step in its hybrid unified communications (UC) portfolio. The framework’s ability to maximize existing investments while allowing businesses to find the optimum hybrid deployment model makes it appealing, said Paul Ginn, group director of product marketing at Mitel. It’s designed to support a diverse workforce, from knowledge and office employees to frontline staff like field services teams and contact center workers.

The Common Communications Framework gives businesses control over their communications without fully committing to just one type of technology. For example, an organization can connect its communications system with other solutions, such as artificial intelligence tools. Mitel is offering organizations access to its AI ecosystem of tools through the framework. Mitel’s AI tools are integrated with more than 200 business applications.

“It’s a decision framework that any business or enterprise can use,” said Ginn. “With so many companies focusing on business value as their number one driver, integration with business applications is a huge source of value.”

The growing demand for hybrid UC solutions is being driven by market maturity. Small businesses and early adopters drove the initial adoption of UCaaS and CCaaS. As the market has evolved, many organizations realize that “one size doesn’t fit all,” creating the need for more options. With Hybrid UC models, organizations can choose the best tools for their needs while benefiting from the scalability and accessibility of cloud services.

Mitel provides a platform that connects with various apps and tools, making it easier for organizations to manage UC. During a briefing, Mitel showed the results of a study done with Techaisle. It revealed that 91% of enterprises prefer a hybrid architecture, which aligns with my research. Moreover, 50% prioritize security, data privacy, and regulatory compliance, while 52% seek solutions that drive better business outcomes rather than operational efficiency.

“This points to integrating with systems that drive business outcomes first,” Ginn said. “Second, the desire for customers to control how their communications are managed. Basic telephony isn’t enough anymore, nor is it an off-the-shelf unified-communications-as-a-service application. They need options and the right mix of technologies.”

To address the needs of organizations in highly regulated industries, Mitel offers the Secure Cloud as a managed service. It provides organizations with enhanced data protection and compliance measures to manage their communications while maintaining control over sensitive data. Secure Cloud is available in three tiers — hosted, trusted and sovereign — which cater to varying levels of data. These are built to support strict regulatory requirements such as Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation.

Already available in the U.K., Secure Cloud will be launching in Germany in October. Mitel will expand Secure Cloud to other European countries in the first half of 2025. The company is also preparing to expand globally, depending on demand from different regions. Pricing for the hosted and trusted tiers will be competitive with other market solutions, while the sovereign tier will offer tailored pricing based on each organization’s specific requirements.

“The framework, together with Secure Cloud, builds on the heritage of the Unify offering (which Mitel acquired in 2023),” said Ginn. “It’s one of many examples of the best parts of Unify and Mitel coming together and driving differentiated customer value.”

Another important milestone in Mitel’s hybrid communication strategy is the recently announced Zoom-Mitel partnership, which will introduce a Zoom-first experience within Mitel’s hybrid portfolio. That includes access to the full Zoom Workplace platform, which works seamlessly with existing Mitel systems. Mitel and Zoom are planning to jointly develop an exclusive hybrid offering that combines Zoom Workplace and Zoom AI Companion with Mitel’s flagship communication platforms — OpenScape, MiVoice Business, MiVoice 5000 and MX-One.

Mitel plans to roll out additional features and services as part of the Common Communications Framework, with more announcements expected later in the fourth quarter.

Predicting how communications will evolve can be done by looking at other segments of information technology. Because of their importance, which creates conservative buyers, UC and CC are typically at the tail end of the technology waves. The shift to Internet Protocol-based systems, virtualization and cloud are all great examples.

In each case, many industry watchers felt communications could never run in the cloud or be virtualized. Now, this is common. Cloud is already widely deployed as a hybrid — except in communications, and that’s coming.

Zeus Kerravala is a principal analyst at ZK Research, a division of Kerravala Consulting. He wrote this article for SiliconANGLE.

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