Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

As space becomes an increasingly contested domain, military and defense organizations require robust communication solutions that ensure secure, reliable, and instantaneous data transmission across their operations.

Critical infrastructure organizations, including energy, transportation, healthcare, and government services, are under increasing pressure to modernize. Aging systems, evolving cyber threats, and stringent regulatory requirements demand a new approach to operational resilience. Yet, many organizations still rely on disconnected systems and outdated communication tools to manage essential workflows, creating inefficiencies and security vulnerabilities that put mission-critical operations at risk.

On Oct. 15, 2025, Microsoft will stop providing support for Skype for Business. If your organization still uses Skype for Business to collaborate, you need to immediately start thinking about moving to a new collaboration platform. Otherwise, you risk communication disruptions, frustrating your employees, and exposing your organization to additional security vulnerabilities, among other risks.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has been phasing out Skype for Business, causing companies to look for alternatives. Fortunately, there are many options available on the market that offer better call quality, security, and privacy compared to Skype for Business. Some of these alternate enterprise collaboration platforms also allow for greater hosting flexibility.

As the Department of Defense pushes for greater adoption of CJADC2 initiatives across all branches of the military, Army-led Project Convergence aims to reach its modernization objectives and ensure future warfighting readiness with the help of secure collaboration tools. Though new weapons and defensive systems often get the most press, collaboration tools are essential for communicating in the field, saving lives, coordinating with allies, and conducting operations.

As the central collaboration hub for your organization, Mattermost is full of all sorts of enriched communication data that your organization can use to work smarter and more efficiently. However, without the right tools in place, all of that conversation data can be difficult to parse, preventing organizations from unlocking the true value of that essential data. As a result, employees often deal with information overload and struggle to figure out which messages require immediate action.

The way we collaborate is going through a massive transformation. Already, there are many ways teams can use artificial intelligence to work together more effectively; as we move further into the future, it seems all but inevitable that the technology will have an even more profound impact on collaboration. While the emergence of AI-powered collaboration capabilities is no doubt exciting, organizations need to figure out how to balance innovative functionality with data sovereignty and security.

At Mattermost, we’re laser-focused on ensuring our customers get the most out of their Mattermost deployment investment. To do that, they need insight into how their user base is using the platform and what’s working best for them. Right now, getting insights about their user base’s experience is not easy. To get the data they need, some customers have leveraged external survey solutions, but others in air-gapped environments don’t have that option at all.

Mattermost is at the forefront of providing a seamless platform for teams to connect and collaborate. Our AI assistant, Mattermost AI Copilot, has already proven invaluable, automating tasks and answering questions with conversational ease. But we’re envisioning a world where Copilot can do more than just chat. Today, we’re exploring an experimental fork of the Mattermost AI Copilot in a cloud demo environment.

As a popular business messaging solution, Slack is well-suited for general collaboration, particularly among smaller teams. Though the platform does offer several advantages — it’s user-friendly, it supports team collaboration, and organizations don’t have to manage the software or infrastructure themselves — there are certain areas where this SaaS solution falls short. Chief among them? Built for general business collaboration, Slack struggles to support mission-critical work.