Mr. John Watson reports

BELL COLLABORATES WITH MICROSOFT TO BRING NEW HYBRID WORK SOLUTIONS TO CANADIAN BUSINESSES.

BCE Inc.'s Bell will collaborate with Microsoft to bring new solutions that will help Canadian businesses modernize their communications platforms and better collaborate in the new world of work. Bell Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams is now available to Canadian enterprises, enabling them to extend their Teams collaboration capabilities to employees, regardless of their location. Bell is also advancing its company-wide digital transformation and work force modernization through cloud collaboration investments with Microsoft.

With Bell Operator Connect, a cloud-based Bell solution that enables business-grade voice calling on Teams, Canadian organizations can now add Bell's high-quality voice network to Teams without additional phone equipment, hardware or upfront investment. By integrating the capabilities of Teams with the reach and reliability of Bell's network, customers can simplify the management and administration of voice services, and access high-quality nationwide voice calling. These capabilities are backed by end-to-end support from Bell's Microsoft-certified experts with professional and managed services in Teams and Microsoft 365 solutions.

Bell has also selected Microsoft 365 as its cloud collaboration solution as part of the company's own digital transformation. Bell will adopt the Microsoft 365 collaboration suite, including Teams Premium and Teams Room Pro, to foster greater collaboration and productivity within its own team. This adoption will bring together communications, collaboration and business processes, built on a foundation of security and privacy. These investments will also lay the foundation for Bell to use Microsoft AI (artificial intelligence) solutions.

Expanding its use of Microsoft's modern work solutions with its own work force will also set the stage for Bell's professional and managed services teams to further enhance customer support through its own transformations to the cloud with the latest Microsoft 365 innovations.

"We're excited to continue our relationship with Microsoft as we further our transformation journey and modernize our work force at Bell, while delivering on our purpose to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world. With Bell Operator Connect, we're enabling enterprises across Canada to take advantage of our outstanding network through a seamless Microsoft Teams voice solution. We see this as the next step and foundation for future telephony and mobile solutions innovations that we're excited to bring to market soon for Canadian customers," said John Watson, group president, business markets, customer experience and AI, Bell.

"Microsoft and Bell share a vision of empowering Canadian businesses with enterprise-grade collaboration solutions that are seamless, cost-efficient, and enable teams to stay connected and work effectively from any environment. We are delighted to work with Bell to support Operator Connect and Microsoft 365 in the Canadian market, and to support Bell's internal modernization with our productivity tools. This is just the start of an exciting, shared journey of innovation and collaboration that will shape the future of the workplace in Canada," said Chris Barry, president of Microsoft Canada.

Serving most large enterprises in Canada, Bell provides reliable network and leading security, combined with Microsoft's modern work and cloud solutions. With FX Innovation (a Bell company), a designated Microsoft Azure managed service provider, Bell provides comprehensive service to enterprise cloud and modern work transformation.

About Bell Canada

Bell is Canada's largest communications company, providing advanced broadband wireless, TV, Internet, media and business communication services throughout the country. Founded in Montreal in 1880, Bell is wholly owned by BCE Inc.

Through Bell for Better, the company is investing to create a better today and a better tomorrow by supporting the social and economic prosperity of its communities. This includes the Bell Let's Talk initiative, which promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let's Talk Day and significant Bell financing of community care and access, research, and workplace initiatives throughout the country.