Mitel Looks to Place More AI in Patient Care

Fresh off the October acquisition of Unify, Mitel says it's stepping up its efforts in vertical markets like health care. Furthermore, the company says it's doing so on the artificial intelligence front.

Mitel says that with a "more powerful portfolio," it has a freshly launched e-consultation solution compliant with HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and other regulations.

The legacy provider also is initiating a rebrand, much like most companies in the unified communications and contact center space, hoping to showcase their latest artificial intelligence innovations. 

We learned more about these efforts at this year's Enterprise Connect communications and collaboration event from Luiz Domingos, the company's chief technology officer and head of "large enterprise R&D," who got us up-to-speed on Mitel's latest innovations and how they will impact the channel. 

Mitel's Luiz Domingos

Domingos previously was Unify's CTO. He tells Channel Futures that Mitel and Unify now have a combined channel presence of over 5,000 with a dedicated salesforce in Europe.

Bringing AI In Patient Care to the Forefront 

Regarding its efforts on the AI on the patient care front, Domingos drove home the point that Mitel would rebrand itself as more AI-forward, a far cry from what most consider it — a legacy provider like rival Avaya. 

Looking to change this perspective, he said, AI will be present in a lot more aspects of its offerings, especially for those who want to keep their communications on-premises.

Mitel, Domingos said, will make more AI available to its core audience, which remains on-prem due to previous investments or regulatory reasons. 

That includes a solution that leverages AI in patient care to alert doctors of things they can't see with the human eye. 

"The channel is no longer selling a traditional solution. They can add the vertical element, which is the driver for the sale and the win," Domingos told us. 

Integration, Interoperability and the Channel Remain Key

Looking at Mitel's long-term vision, it seems that AI in patient care is only one element of a larger AI suite it hopes will help it compete with others. 

Integration also remains central to what Mitel does as its customers leverage other systems like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to collaborate, while relying on its telephony infrastructure to make business calls. 

Domingos told Channel Futures the channel plays a pivotal role in what Mitel does, making the case for keeping customers on-premises and never fully migrating them to the cloud.

"Hybrid deployments let the channel be the orchestrator," Domingos added.

After all, this is the crux of their business — keeping seats on-prem versus moving them fully to the cloud.