Enterprise Systems Strategy Update - March 2023

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The Enterprise Systems Strategy (ESS) is driving Digital Transformation efforts to prepare Mohawk College for the future. ESS includes various projects that are exploring ways to reduce legacy systems and manual processes, and to modernize with emerging digital technology. The ESS will position the college for success over the long-term with modern and digitally-enabled systems that will directly benefit students and employees. 

Unified Communications (UC) 

Unified Communications (UC) is the standardization and integration of services such as instant messaging, voice and video calling, virtual meetings and classrooms, team collaboration channels, content sharing and much more.  It will give you access to everything you need to connect, share, learn and work through the same streamlined interface.

Unified Communications will ensure employees have access to the technology, tools and resources they need to succeed in our flexible working and teaching environments. It will improve how we interact with each other digitally, increasing collaboration, productivity, and overall engagement. 

Project Updates:

• Following the results of a thorough comparative analysis last year, we have decided to proceed with Microsoft Teams as our standard UC platform.
• A pilot project is currently underway to determine the impact of this change across different departments, develop support resources, and plan a college wide roll out
• The project will follow a phased roll out plan to support the unique needs and operational requirement of different areas of the College
• College-wide implementation is expected to begin during the summer months.

What we know, and how you can prepare:

• Are you new to Teams? A list of helpful resources is included at the bottom of this email
• The enhanced Teams license, soon available to all users, will introduce new functionalities such as interactive features for classrooms and meetings, access to voicemail, calendar, ability to make external calls, search for contacts, and more.
• Skype for Business (Lync) will be phased out – if you currently use Skype for instant messaging, calling, and virtual meetings, we recommend that you start using the same features already available in Teams.
• Zoom licenses will not be impacted at this time.

Microsoft Teams learning resources:

• Search for “Microsoft Teams” using the Learning Search in MyLearning to access training videos (For beginners and intermediate users)
• Check out the Digital Skills Toolkit available to staff and students with helpful tutorials and resources (For beginners)
• Learn with Microsoft Training – For intermediate and advanced users

Stay tuned, more details will be shared soon. Please direct any questions to Jeffrey Silva, Jeffrey.silva@mohawkcollege.ca

Be an Insider

This project is supported by the Enterprise Systems Strategy (ESS). Visit ESS on MyMohawk for status updates and to learn about other projects and initiatives.