Mitel - an investment in co-ordination

They would all be benefitting from using communications software from Canada-based Mitel Networks, provided by local service partner of over 20 years, TSTT (Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago).

Various Mitel software programmes which could do just what the aforementioned three customer groups would need were demonstrated to members of the local print media last Friday at the Hyatt Regency on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.

During the Mitel Freedom Roadshow, Mitel Networks’ vice-president of Strategic Business, the company’s vice-president of sales Ben Morris explained how a Mitel product could help teachers coordinate their students’ safety in an emergency.

“Benbria is the Mitel affiliate which offers Intelligent and Mass Notification Solution, which simplifies the old school bell (alert) technology by linking it to the school’s telephone system. If a hurricane notice was issued in Trinidad, with very little notice, and parents had to collect their children quickly, all the principal would have to do is push a button.

“This would issue a lock-down alert which would broadcast a message throughout the school, saying no one was allowed to leave on their own. At the same time that is happening, our system would call each parent and leave them a message in real-time, send them a text message or email them, saying they have to pick up their kids due to a school closure,” Morris explained. The Ministry of Education is among those stakeholders who expressed interest in Benbria during a private demonstration on May 19.

When Business Day asked Morris about the cost of installing this system, he said it would be “an investment” whose final price tag would depend on the school’s size and existing communications system.

If a school is unable to buy the Intelligent and Mass Notification Solution outright, it can rent the service on a monthly basis from TSTT. That cost is still to be determined, as Mitel has not yet announced its formal pricing for sale or rental of Benbria in the Caribbean.

Tourists seeking information on a destination or festival in Tobago could one day walk up to a touch screen telephone kiosk to do just that. This is the vision of Information System Analyst II in the Tobago House of Assembly’s Division of Tourism and Transportation, Bertrand Waldron.

“We have been using Mitel since 2007…I am interested in their Kiosk system (because) that technology opened my mind to what we can do in Tobago to give tourists information about our air and sea ports, attractions throughout the island, hotels, restaurants. Also, Mitel’s display of communication technology could help the THA as a whole to integrate its entire communication system,” Waldron said.

He added the THA representatives who attended last Friday’s Roadshow were “very, very interested” in these technologies and would likely do further business with Mitel, through TSTT.

Those readers who live in East or South Trinidad but make the daily commute to PoS, know all too well about the man-hours lost to and from work because of traffic. Mitel has several options to suit the needs of businesses with employees in outlying areas as well as those whose employees, journalists for example, who may be sent to remote areas to cover an event.

The various software programmes cover IP-based communications, conferencing and collaboration, mobility solutions, fixed/mobile convergence, seamless transfer of customers from one party in one location to another, messaging and teleworking.

United States-based Mitel account manager Paul Alfano demonstrated the time and fuel saving benefits of using the Unified Communicator Advanced or U C Advanced application.

“All you need to become a teleworker, based at home, is U C Advanced, a DSL (high speed) modem, an IP telephone and a headset for greater mobility. Through our internet connection, I can talk to Mitel co-workers anywhere in the world for almost free.

“When I need to make a phone call to Trinidad, I dial nine and the operator seamlessly connects me to the person I want to speak to.

“All you’re paying for is the DSL connection. The software comes with video conferencing capabilities, so you can see each other in real time while you talk, hold teleconferences if you need to,” he said.

Alfano brought the point home about saving time on a day when many commuters from south Trinidad had spent an average of three hours in traffic because of two separate incidents – a multi-vehicle accident and a stalled bus.

“Those people who have to drive from San Fernando into PoS everyday, I’ve seen the traffic. It’s getting better with the flyovers but it’s still a zoo right? So the worker can work from home without having to go into the office. I now put in longer hours – I don’t have any ‘windshield’ time, I can stay up later and get more work done,” Alfano noted.