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A short note for navigating this section - scroll below for the most recent posts, and then for more, click on the Blog Archive box, where you can view all of my posts, going back to the beginning in March 2005.
Been heads-down working on new projects, but have also had a good run lately for doing video interviews. The latest is with Cognigy, where they have a series called CX Disruptors, doing 1:1 interviews with thought leaders, hosted by Jarrod Davis.
The series is well-done, and the latest episode is my turn, just published today. I hope you check it out, along with other episodes featuring many of my peers.
This is the third and final post about Smart Port visit to Tianjin, China back in September. Since then, I’ve posted here on my blog and wrote a guest article about it for Silverlinings.
During the visit, I took some video (one clip was shared on my blog post), but I was also interviewed by Silverlinings as part of a video segment they produced to document the story. That finally got published, and if you want to see what state of the art looks like when combining 5G, AI and IoT at scale, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better example anywhere.
The segment runs about five minutes, and is really well-produced - I encourage you to check it out. Here’s the link for the post, which includes both the video segment (posted on YouTube), and a full transcript of the narrative. If you just want to watch the video, it’s here below.
I enjoy wearing lots of hats, and there’s more to analyst life than endless writing and semi-glamorous travel. Judging awards events is one of those hats, and I recently got invited to be a judge for something different but very cool.
This one is for the Epica Awards, an EU-based group focused on recognizing creativity in the world of marketing and advertising. Their domain is mostly for consumer brands, and of particular interest to me is the central role that technology plays in many of these campaigns.
One of my mantras is that “consumers lead and enterprises follow” - meaning that innovation from the consumer world increasingly finds its way into the business world. I’ve been writing/speaking about this for years, and the creativity I’m seeing from these entries only validates my view. If you want to see what’s coming next for the workplace and contact center - AI, mobility, AR/VR, customer engagement, etc. - I’m seeing lots of it here.
I’m a marketing guy at heart - and an MBA to go with that - and a key way I help my clients is with their messaging and go-to-market strategy. Consumer brands are very good at this sort of thing, and I hope to take inspiration from these entries to help my tech clients sharpen their edge.
In terms of the judging process, the first cut is over, and now it’s time to evaluate the short list entries. Now I get to see the best of the best, and I’ll be taking notes for what might translate well in my back yard. Curious? Drop me a line any time!
Poly brought a small group of analysts and media to New York for the launch of their new Experience Center, right by Madison Square Garden. Branding is critical for maintaining visibility in a crowded market, and Poly has done a great job here. Their recent brand refresh was a good move, and while Plantronics is still in the picture, the branding is all Poly. While it remains to be seen how all this plays out with Hewlett Packard, the Experience Center is a great environment to showcase their broad portfolio.
Poly is still very much a product company, so if you’re into hardware and communications endpoints, this is the place to be. Visually, all the devices are great eye candy, but more importantly, this is where you can experience first-hand how all their products work, look, feel, etc.
Given that this is expensive real estate, and you only get one chance to make a first impression, I was kind of hoping to see some space set aside to showcase the company’s rich history. Poly has plenty of that in spades, but today’s younger tech buyers and influencers may not have a sense of their rich pedigree. Given how quickly companies rise and fall these days, the marketer in me says this could be a good way to distinguish Poly as a company you feel good about and confident doing business with.
That said, Poly is struggling - along with everyone else - to figure out the recipe for making hybrid work work. It’s a common theme among the vendors, as well as the events I’ve been attending recently. There are no right answers, but plenty of wrong answers if you don’t read the room correctly. They talked about their research showing a strong preference for workers to remain at home and not come back to the office very much - if at all.
I don’t doubt that sentiment for a second, but you can’t generalize across all verticals and all age groups, as well as personas. It’s a moving target, and that sentiment could easily swing the other way, especially for people who aren’t cut out to work in isolation at home full-time. In that regard, Poly is actually in a great position to make work from home a permanent fixture of this milieu we call hybrid work. Their offerings are precisely what these workers need, and we saw an impressive range of products built to make this a great experience. Without that, work from home wouldn’t be a great experience, and that makes the return to office scenario more palatable.
Of course, Poly must support both markets, so they also have a strong mix for office settings - including - you guessed it, desk phones. Maybe not for home use, but there are still plenty of office-based use cases for them. That said, there’s no doubt that video is the big focus here, and we saw demos for both personal desktop use and room-based meetings.
Also notable is Poly Lens, which can track all kinds of endpoints usage and performance, but I think it’s early days for that. We didn’t hear much about how this data is being used to help optimize IT operations or track feature adoption, but that will no doubt come. All told, there’s a lot to like here, and while most of this is familiar for analysts, I can see how the Experience Center strengthens the brand, and helps drive the top line. That’s my written take for now, and here’s a bit of what I saw.
CEO Dave Shull during the ribbon-cutting photo op.
Below, Beau Wilder with product updates, in-office endpoints - note the desk phone! - and home office endpoints - note the light bars on the edges of the screen to improve video image quality
Below, video screens showing how cameras automatically track the speaker, and compensate for speakers who are far away in a big room - lots of other cool features too. Nice homage to the NY’s iconic subway system for wayfinding across the floors inside the Experience Center. And… jazz time Monday night at the Flatiron Room - that’s a big draw for me!
First Tuesday of the month - that usually means newsletter time, and yes, the June issue of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review went out to subscribers yesterday.
In tandem, our latest Watch This Space podcast episode went live as well. Thumbnail for that below will give you a good idea of what we talked about, and you can give it a listen here. Going forward, newsletter sign-up is easy - here’s the link, and you can explore back issues and earlier podcasts here and here.
My newsletter goes out later tdoay, and subscribers will see how busy May was, so my public writing output was limited. Unlike April, however, at least I got some pieces out, and here’s the digest.
Companies Must Rethink Video Conferencing Usage in 2021, May 24, TechTarget
How Could BYOD Support Touchless Meeting Rooms?, May 19, TechTarget
10 Essential Benefits of Unified Communications, May 12, TechTarget
Five9 Analyst Summit - My Quick Take, May 6, my blog
CCaaS: Rethinking Your CX and Customer Service Strategy, May 4, No Jitter
Will Video Fatigue Drive Users Back to Voice Calls?, May 4, TechTarget
Well, this was fun. I was recently on a video panel with two colleagues - Blair Pleasant and Raul Castanon - hosted by Rob Scott of UK-based UC Today. The CPaaS space is obtuse and not well-understood, but it sure is booming. Doesn’t help to be led my companies with funny-sounding names that give no clues about what business they’re in - Twilio, Plivo, Sinch, etc.
We’ve seen this movie before, and if you haven’t checked lately, the share prices for the public players are on fire, and the rest of the world is just catching up. Don’t let the names fool you - these are smart companies doing cool things, and they’re just getting started.
Cue the walk-on music for analysts, whose stock-in-trade is digesting all this and explaining it to various audiences in various ways. I’ve been in that camp for a while now, and things like CPaaS keep our tribe pretty busy. We did our best here for our CPaaS moment, and kudos to Rob Scott for putting this toegether. It’s been making the rounds on social, and if you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the link. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have more pressing questions vital to your company’s success, I’m not hard to find.
We’re on a roll lately at BCStrategies, this being our third podcast over the past few weeks. I hope you caught the last two - 2020 highlights, and our look-ahead for 2021. They’re easy to find on our portal, as is our current podcast - best practices for video meetings.
Every vendor has a video story now, but that doesn’t mean it has to be all video, all the time. In my view, video has its place, and should only be used if it’s additive to the meeting. Of course, video helps home-based workers feel more connected to their teams, so it’s not just about having another communications channel at our disposal.
Best practices can mean many things, and if you’re looking for ways to make your video meetings more productive, I think you’ll get a lot from our collective take on the topic. Here’s the link to the replay, and kudos to Blair Pleasant for moderating. As always, comments and sharing are welcome.
The folks at UK-based Enterprise Management 360 have come up with a new series called Emerge5, where speakers like me share our perspectives in short, 5-minute video segments. Being December, they wanted my outlook for 2021, so the focus was 5 key trends to watch for in the collaboration space.
My segment is running now on the EM360 site, and if you give it a watch, I’d love to hear your feedback!
Another fairly light month on the writing front, but was plenty busy on other fronts. That said, here’s what I was writing about during November.
Pandemic Implications for CX and the Contact Center, Upstream Works, Nov. 18
UC Analytics Mature to Verify Business Value, TechTarget, Nov. 17
A Change Is Gonna Come: Reflections on Slack, Twitter, Zoom, No Jitter, Nov. 10
Last month, I had nine virtual events to track (more on that in my newsletter), but three in particular stood out, from Zoom, Twilio and Slack. Three companies that have only been on our UCC radar a few short years, but with three, you have a pattern, and I’m seeing a few here. I’m sure you do too, and if so, I think you’ll enjoy my analysis.
Lots to explore, and the article is running now on No Jitter. As always, comments and sharing are welcome.
Zoom is certainly having its Covid moment, and like Google, it’s become a verb - or two, or three. The company is absolutely in the right place at the right time, and when we’re not busy working, we’re often helping family members use Zoom, if not Zooming ourselves. Enough, already!
Our group at BCStrategies has just weighed in with our take on Zoom, but also with a more critical eye given all the vulnerabilities and privacy issues that been front and center with the company. For better or worse, this pandemic will be a real test of how well Zoom truly scales, and how well it can gain - and keep - the trust of consumers. The podcast has been posted now to our portal, and I hope you enjoy it.
Well, this was fun, and since it was just posted on Youtube, I thought it would be good to share here to close out the month with a smile.
This was recorded towards the end of TMCnet’s ITExpo in Ft. Lauderdale earlier this month, and it was pretty ad hoc, but it turned out ok. The TMC folks had a videographer there to cover the show, and we happened to be alone in the press room, so we just did this in one straight take. Kudos to Arthur at amage.media - they’ve got a pretty cool-looking production company, so if you need video to spice up your messaging, tell Arthur I sent you.
That aside, I’m just talking here about what analysts do, and the key trends to watch for in the collaboration space, with a particular focus on future of work. My main role at the show was to chair the Future of Work Expo, but that’s another conversation.
I hope you enjoy the video, and if you’re too young to pick up on my homage to Bob Dylan, everything you need to know is down below! :-)
Eventually, I'll transition fully from UCStrategies to BCStrategies, and hopefully this doesn't cause confusion. Two names, two websites, but the content is the same, and so are the people. Am hoping it will just be BCStrategies at some point in 2018, and I'm getting on the bandwagon now.
I stand corrected on my earlier blog post, saying that our podcast about Net Neutrality was the last one for 2017. Forgot about that one, and this one is our lookout for what 2018 holds for the always expanding/ever-confusing world of communications/collaboration/customer care.
Whatever you choose to call it, this podcast is a good roundup of analysts and consultants - myself included - who are all close to the trends shaping this space. I think you'll find it time well-spent, and here's the link to hear what we had to say. Feel free to add your take, and I'll be back to blogging early next week. Happy New Year!
If you follow me, you'll know the whole month has been non-stop, but aside from all the travel to conferences and speaking spots, I managed to keep a pretty full slate of writing going - mostly for clients, but also for my own blogging. Here's a digest of my activity, and that will give you a sense of the trends I'm seeing in the collaboration and customer care spaces right now.
Tech Leader Talk - Digital and Customer Experience: Are We There Yet? - Facebook link to live-streamed video, May 30, Schulich School of Business, Global Alumni Network
NEC and Frank Viola - "Raising a Family" - My Q&A on Frank's Retirement, May 30, my blog
How Can Near Real-Time Communication Modes Offer Context?, May 25, TechTarget
CX17 - Genesys and ININ - Quick Take, May 25, my blog
Thinking Clearly About the Cloud for Collaboration, May 23, Toolbox.com
Our Drivers of the Digital Economy Event - Thanks for Coming all!, May 17, my blog
Messaging, Slack and Facebook - It's Complicated, May 15, Internet Telephony Magazine (am also cited in three other articles in their Q2 edition - links are here)
Vertical Market Collaboration Scenarios - Healthcare, May 12, Toolbox.com
NEC Advantage 2017 - Quick Update, May 12, my blog
Takeaways from Cisco's Customer Care Analyst Event, May 10, UCStrategies
Assessing the Total Impact of Digital Transformation, May 8, Toolbox.com
How the Customer Journey Drives CX, May 2, Toolbox.com
Messaging, Chatbots, AI - Finding the Enterprise Opportunity, May 2, No Jitter
I'm in Montreal about to start Day 2 for Cisco's 2017 Customer Care Analyst event. Been really good so far, and more to come today. I'll be writing about this shortly, so stay tuned.
After this, I'm in Phoenix for NEC's event next week, then I'm speaking in Toronto for a networking event hosted by Jeff Pulver about the chatbot/AI space. Week after that, I'm in Indy for the Genesys/ININ event, plus am playing piano there as part of the SIPtones - that should be fun. Following that, I'm speaking again in Toronto at a networking event hosted by my MBA alma mater, Schulich, running a roundtable discussion about digital transformation.
Something different every week this month, so never dull, that's for sure. Somehow, I'll get my regular set of writing done, along with finishing off two white papers and prepping for a webinar I'm doing later this month. It's go time, and the Cisco folks are ready to start here - out for now, back soon.
Well, this must be the longest I've ever gone without blogging - my last post was a month ago, doing my March writing roundup. Wow, time sure flies!
I had no business travel in April, but was away on vacation for 9 days, and had a more than full writing schedule, including writing two white papers, and prepping for several upcoming conferences and speaking spots. So, no blogging for April, but here's a digest of what I was writing about.
How CX Impacts the Entire Business, April 28, Toolbox.com
How to Get Management's Buy-In for Today's Contact Center, April 27, RingCentral blog
Does Your Business Have a CX Strategy?, April 20, Toolbox.com
Messaging Platforms Flout Traditional Real-Time Telephony, April 19, TechTarget
Three Things End Users will Like About Today's IP Phones, April 12, Toolbox.com
IP Phones are Hot - What's Up with That?, April 7, Toolbox.com
How Will AI Tools Affect the Future of Contact Centers?, April 6, TechTarget
What Businesses Think About Collaboration Technologies, April 4, Toolbox.com
Things continue to remain busy in the early goings of 2017; fulfilling client work, new projects/clients, speaking at conferences and lining up new things for Q2. During March, I produced 21 different forms of content, including articles, a webinar, a conference presentation, and preliminary research for two new white papers. My website remains a work in progress, but everything can be accessed there. To give you a sense of what I was writing about last month, here are some highlights.
Monage 2017 - Chatbot Challenges and New Life for UC, UCStrategies, March 27
How Workers Use Collaboration for Digital Transformation, Toolbox.com, March 23
Monage, San Jose - Quick Thought and Pix, my blog, March 23
Have Mobility and Messaging Trumped Business Voice Communications?, TechTarget, March 22
How Collaboration Impacts Digital Transformation, Toolbox.com, March 17
How Contact Center Adds Value to Hosted UC, Toolbox.com, March 15
Amazon Chime - Did AWS Buy the Wrong Company?, No Jitter, March 14
Outbound Communication - Taking Your Contact Center to the Next Level, RingCentral Blog, March 14
Future of Work Survey - Cloud Adoption Drivers, Toolbox.com, March 6
How Channels Can Own Collaboration, Toolbox.com, March 2
That's the title of the session I'll be speaking on at next week's Monage conference in San Jose. Joining me will be Chris Fine, where we'll reprise the topic from last fall's inaugural Monage in Boston. Here's the full event schedule, and if you scroll down the page to Thursday, you'll see our session is scheduled for 11am.
More importantly, it's not too late to attend, and if you're still deciding, you should explore the Monage website, especially the impressive speaker roster, and the YouTube clip on the home page with Jeff Pulver giving his personal pitch to come, as only Jeff can! It's great, and if you follow him on Facebook, he's got a new clip there you won't want to miss.
Based on what I see in the ever-changing collaboration market, I think it's a fair question. My reasons and perspectives are shared in my latest column posted now on No Jitter.
In short, the underlying technology is important when making these acquisitions, but given how quickly things evolve these days, nobody nails it going in, and other factors will ultimately dictate success.
My view is that this is more about going with a strategy that works in this market, and my analysis looks at two paths - being a disruptor or an innovator. If you give it a read, you'll know what I think, and then I'd love to hear what you think.
J Arnold & Associates is an Independent Technology Research and Analyst, helping businesses understand the strategic value of communications technology as they adapt to the digital transformation of work
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