Zoho Releases Trident UC&C Solution, M-Files Buys No-Code Document Automation Provider Ment, More News
While the tech giants were falling over themselves in a race to compete with ChatGPT, other digital workplace vendors continued to deliver on the foundational tools companies need to thrive. Austin, Texas-based Zoho has serviced this market for years and has steadily been building on its digital workplace offerings. The release this week of the unified communications and collaboration platform (UC&C) Trident is its latest.
Trident pulls together email, video calling, calendar, task management and messaging among other apps and tools under the broader Zoho Workplace umbrella. The company also announced it was upgrading the Zoho Voice platform into a Phone System that will be integrated directly within team collaboration app Zoho Cliq and web conferencing app Zoho Meeting.
The new Zoho Webinar, which is now part of the Zoho Meeting app, does exactly what you'd expect: allows workers to set up and broadcast webinars to thousands of participants, with polls and Q&A capabilities.
The release further consolidates Zoho's aim to provide a unified workplace platform. Zoho Workplace is built on a common data model, which allows employees to move across applications seamlessly.
The cherry on top here is the price. While Zoho is setting itself up for stiff competition with Microsoft and Google by entering this space, its pricing is going to make many organization leaders take a second look. Zoho Workplace is available in three editions: Standard is $3 per user/per month, Professional is $6 per user/per month while Zoho Mail is $1 per user/per month.
The release of Trident is very much in keeping with the company's trajectory. The 2020 release of Zoho Workplace at the time consisted of nine productivity tools, all of which could be used together or as standalone applications.
The company claims it has grown 30% year-over-year and now has more than 16 million users. It also claims that migrations from Google, Microsoft and GoDaddy to Zoho Workplace almost doubled in 2022.
At the kind of prices that Zoho is offering, it would not be a surprise to see a similar growth pattern over the coming year. What will also be interesting to see is whether the integration that Zoho is talking up in Trident is as seamless as it claims.
M-Files Makes No-Code Document Automation Buy
M-Files, the Austin, Texas-based metadata-driven document management platform provider, this week announced its intention to buy no-code document automation vendor Ment.
According to a statement from M-Files, the buy will add new capabilities for its customers including the ability to rapidly create new customized documents in compliance with a company's rules and best practices. Ment, the statement added, supports the development of complex automation processes and will allow workers to create documents directly from third-party offerings.
M-Files has had a growing focus on the legal vertical, so the buy will add considerably to its offering. With it, legal firms will be able to safely automate laborious manual tasks that need to remain compliant through the entire process.
In addition, M-Files has announced plans to initiate a phased integration of Ment into M-Files's other solutions following the closure of the deal. It specifically mentioned M-Files Hubshare content collaboration portal in this context. It will also look to expand the use of Ment's technology to industries outside of Ment's historical focus on the legal profession.
The companies did not release financial details of the deal. According to Crunchbase, Ment closed its last funding round on June 17, 2021, with a $1 million seed round.
Microsoft to Replace Free Teams Edition
While the big news out of Microsoft this week was the ongoing roll-out of ChatGPT across the Microsoft environment, most notably its move into Bing, smaller businesses should take note of another item coming out of the Redmond, Wash. company.
According to the Microsoft Teams site, Microsoft Teams Free (Classic), the legacy free Teams app for business, will retire on after April 12, 2023. In its place, Microsoft will release the similarly titled Teams (Free) on the same day.
While it sounds like a smooth transition from one to the other, there is a snag. Any existing Classic edition customers that want to retain their associated data — data like chats, meetings, channels and other important information — will have to move to, at minimum, Teams Essentials which costs $4 per user/per month.
Microsoft 365 head Jared Spataro described Essentials at the time of its release as the first standalone offering of Microsoft Teams, “designed specifically with small businesses in mind.” Essentials brought together features small businesses need to meet goals including up to 30 hours in group video calls, group chat, and file sharing and calendaring.
Any Classic customers unwilling to pay the fee will lose their data.
Learning Opportunities
Of course, migrating to another tool like Slack is an option, but not necessarily an easy solution. First of all you have to set up any new system in such a way so as to keep your teams connected, a time consuming prospect. Any migration can be problematic.
While the announcement may not necessarily impact current users, the sunsetting of the free plan for Teams might dissuade potential Microsoft customers from signing on in the future.
GSoft Expands Its Offerings With Didacte Buy
GSoft, the Montreal-based company behind the ShareGate, Officevibe and Softstart brands, announced this week its acquisition of web-based learning management system provider Didacte for an undisclosed amount. The purchase marks the first for GSoft and will flesh out its portfolio of employee experience offerings.
The deal comes at a time of heightened interest in employee upskilling and reskilling. In its 2022 Workplace Learning Report (pdf), LinkedIn found its members skills changed 25% between 2015 and 2021, and further predicted the skills would change by 40% by 2025. The World Economic Forum last year predicted half of employees worldwide will need reskilling by 2025.
Didacte was founded in 2014. In a statement about the buy, Didacte CEO Mathieu Dumont said, "Partnering with GSoft was the next logical step to increase Didacte's impact and outreach among an audience aware of the importance of the employee experience, while continuing to support local businesses."
Simon de Baene, Sébastian Leduc and Guillaume Roy founded GSoft in 2006. Up until the current acquisition, the company offered products which touched on the following aspects of employee experience: digital transformation (ShareGate); performance and recognition (Officevibe); and onboarding (Softstart). But CEO De Baene hinted at more acquisitions to come in the press release: "GSoft is also working on filling other gaps in the employee experience offering by developing new products on a full-time basis, including one that is expected to be launched in the coming months."
There’s More to Bots Than ChatGPT
Finally this week, while Microsoft, Google and others have been in the bot spotlight, other companies in the space are expanding their reach through partnerships.
Such is the case with Boston-based intelligent automation platform OpenBots. The first of those companies is Katy, Texas-based Nitco, which accelerates digital automation with AI, machine learning, natural language processing and robotic process automation.
OpenBots is also collaborating with Sandton, South Africa-based Tangent Solutions, a full-service IT solutions provider. Tangent provides specialized services across custom development, intelligent automation, cloud services and modern workplace services targeted at utility service providers.
Finally, OpenBots will partner with Tuscon, Ariz.-based Mozaiq to deliver a fully automated process for loan applications to help consumers and mortgage lenders navigate the process.
What is notable here is that that all four companies are focused firmly on digital transformation and enabling better workplace processes through AI and bots.
Although the ongoing development of bots and generative AI by the big players in the market continues to lead the headlines, partnerships like these demonstrate the vibrant market outside of Big Tech and how these smaller vendors are producing innovative solutions with AI and bots to solve common workplace problems.
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About the Author
David is a full-time journalist based in Ireland. A partisan of ‘green’ living and conservation, he is particularly interested in information management and how enterprise content management, analytics, big data and cloud computing impact on it.
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