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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.
Got another guest post to share - this is Part 2 for a short series I’m doing with TeamMate. The article is running now on their blog page, where you can also find Part 1. I hope you find the posts helpful.
With the long weekend earlier, the July editions were published a bit later than normal. However, they’re out now, so this post is an fyi for JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review newsletter, and the Watch This Space podcast.
If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - the signup page is here. For my podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or click to listen to the current episode here. Hoping you’ll check both out, and would love your feedback any time.
Still catching up from being offline last week, and here’s another ICYMI shout-out.
I recently did a white paper for Enreach about the growing role of mobility for collaboration, and soon after its release, Doug Green interviewed me about it for his widely-followed Telecom Reseller podcast. We get along quite well, and if this topic is of interest, I think you’ll enjoy our conversation. I sure did!
This isn’t really an ICYMI post, and if you’re still wondering about what Avaya’s prospects look like, I think you’ll find my analysis a good read.
I was offline all last week, and actually wrote this right after Avaya’s ENGAGE event in Orlando, so it was done before most of the subsequent writeups came out. For reasons unbeknownst to me, BCStrategies couldn’t get my writeup published until last Friday - right before the holiday weekend, when everyone is heading to the beach or a bbq. Doh! That’s how it goes sometimes, so this is very likely the first you’re hearing about it.
There are many good stories to be told about what I’m calling Act III for Avaya, and my writeup on BCStrategies is just one of them. This week, my July Watch This Space podcast comes out, and there will lots more there about Avaya, so keep an eye out for that as well.
Back-to-back months of hectic travel, so writing has been on the light side. Lots of new work in play, though, and over the next few days I’ll catchup on the backlog and get all of that posted. Until then, here’s a digest of my public writing from June.
Avaya ENGAGE - Takeaways for Act III, BCStrategies, June 30
SIP Trunking vs. VoIP - What’s the Difference?, TechTarget, June 15
Campaign Registry - a Higher Bar for A2P Messaging, Aizan Blog, June 9
Travel schedule has been light lately, and all of a sudden, there are three good ones all happening next week - go figure. I can only do one, and my pick is Avaya ENGAGE, so it’s back again to Orlando.
As we all know, the stakes are high for Avaya these days, and so far, they’ve done a great job righting the ship. Under Alan Masarek’s leadership, things are looking promising, so I’m quite keen to attend and see where things are going from here. With a solid balance sheet and renewed market focus, there’s a lot of opportunity to capitalize on, and over the next few days, I’ll share my thoughts on how well they’re executing.
The June editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and Watch This Space podcast are out now.
If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - the signup page is here. For my podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or click to listen to the current episode here. Hoping you’ll check both out, and would love your feedback any time.
I had a heavier-than-normal travel schedule in May, so writing was on the light side. Still managed to get a few things out, and here’s the digest.
Re-Thinking the On-Hold Experience, white paper for Aizan, May 31
3 Best Practices for a Successful UCaaS Migration, TechTarget, May 23
Are We Moving Too Fast with AI?, No Jitter, May 23
How to Manage Telecom Fraud, Contact Center Pipeline, May issue, May 4
I’ve had three big trips over the past three weeks, and while I have a lot of new writing and speaking to share, I’m way behind getting things posted. Am hoping to get that backlog cleared up over the next few days.
This blog post is to share my latest No Jitter article, which ran last week. I’m part of a rotating group of analysts under the BCStrategies umbrella that contribute to No Jitter, and this time around was my turn.
If you follow me, you’ll know I write a lot about AI in its various forms, and for this article, I’m drawing on some data from a new research study commissioned by RingCentral with Ipsos. While I only had access to a limited data set, there are some interesting comparisons between decision makers and non-decision makers about AI perceptions that I think need to be considered when moving down this path.
AI is getting really overheated now, and pumping the brakes a bit is not a bad idea - that’s the gist of my writeup, and I hope you give it a read.
UPDATE - since publishing this post, RingCentral has just made the broader set of findings from the Ipsos study available - here’s the link to download the report.
Been off the grid for a bit, and finally back to things here. Here’s a new kudo from earlier this month from 8x8. They do a top list of influencers for various spaces each year, and in March, I was on their influencer list for CCaaS.
This time around, I’m on their UCaaS list as well, so am on a bit of a roll with them. Last year, I was also on both these lists, along with another one for CPaaS - let’s see how the rest of 2023 unfolds, and I may yet have another update on that front.
UK-based UC Today has been running their UC Awards for a few years now, and I’ve been invited back again to be part of the cohort of judges. It’s a fun process, and as an analyst, I talk to a lot of vendors, which helps provide the industry-based perspective needed here.
The awards program itself is underway, and applications can be submitted until June 9. If getting industry recognition is on your to-do list, more detail can be found here, including the 12 different awards categories.
The May editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and Watch This Space podcast are out now.
If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - the signup page is here. For my podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or click to listen to the current episode here.
Our focus this month was on current industry events, along with growing concern about AI, and how technology is reshaping the fan experience at sporting events - and not necessarily in a good way.
On my website, there are now archives for both the newsletter and the podcast, so it’s easy to find earlier editions of each there. We’re into Season 6 of the podcast, so there’s a lot on offer in the archive if you want to check out earlier episodes.
Been plenty busy on many fronts lately, and during April, some of that work turned up in my public writing. Here’s a digest of that, and I hope you check some of these out.
Enterprise Connect 2023 - My Analyst Perspective, April 24, EM360
How Generative AI for Business Enhances Collaboration, April 18, TechTarget
POTS Replacement - More Complex Than You Might Think, April 11, No Jitter
The Year of AI: Impacts on UCaaS and CCaaS, April 4, RingCentral Blog
If you don’t know, UK-based UC Expo is launching its first US event this September, and I’ll be speaking there. To help build awareness and interest, they’ve produced a webinar series, UCX USA Talks, and I was one of their guests recently.
The theme was “how to keep your customers and employees happy in 2023”, and serves as a preview for some of what to expect when this show runs in Austin. I hope you check it out - along with other Talks in their series - and maybe I’ll see you there. Here’s the landing page on their site, along with the direct link to watch it on Vimeo.
Another week, another event, but I’ll be home now for the rest of April. This was my first time attending an Extreme Networks event, and this was their first one just for “influencers”, which includes analysts, consultants and media. To varying degrees, each of these groups are influencers, but that topic is best left for another time.
Just have a short window at the airport now until my flight goes, so this will be quick. My first impressions were very positive, and kudos to my hosts Tom Fitzpatrick and Wes Durow for putting on a great event. We were a small group - by design - and the time was well-spent. I may not be a networking guy, but I follow it well enough to understand how it drives business value, and as digital transformation marches on, the possibilities really open up.
In due time, I plan to write a few pieces to explore that, both overall, and for specific use cases, such collaboration and hybrid work. There are strong parallels between what they’re envisioning in terms of outcomes with all this hyper-connectivity, and Future of Work, which is one of my cores areas of focus. More coming on that soon, and until then, here are a handful of my photos.
CEO Ed Meyercord talking about how the network has become strategic now - definitely - and what really turned Extreme around was shifting from being engineering-focused to being customer-focused. Good plan. Next - Amy Aylward, VP Corp. Marketing (off camera, sorry), moderating a panel with Extreme execs about how the market has changed with exponentially more data now to manage - “new ways, better outcomes”. Last - demo session on opening night.
Yes, it’s true - everything is old in Boston - well, almost. The ballpark may be well into its second century, but there’s lots of cool innovation happening here. We got a great tour of the stadium, but also a closer look at the technology Extreme provides; and to tell us about it, we had Randy George on hand, VP Tech Operations with the Red Sox. More specifically, fellow SCTC colleagues Scott Murphy and Tom Brannen pointing out one of the 800 access points Extreme has running at Fenway to provide incredibly rich data about everything going on there via our mobile devices. A bit scary, but a data geek’s playground.
Purple is the color scheme here - nice touch. Things never stand still in our world, so during the briefings yesterday, I managed to work in two video spots - both to review highlights from last week’s Enterprise Connect. First, Steve Leaden, hosting his regular live Fireside Chat - Wednesdays at noon - so being onsite, I joined him for the segment. This is for SCTC members - Extreme is one - and replays are available for members on our website. Finally - I did a segment with Zeus Kerravala for his ZKast video series, where we also talked about Enterprise Connect takeaways. Here’s Zeus setting up the camera before doing our chat. If you don’t follow Zeus, you really should, and I’ll share this once it comes out.
It’s time for the April editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, along with my Watch This Space podcast.
If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - the signup page is here. For my podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or click to listen to the current episode here. Our focus this month was on a variety current industry events, and the current state of enterprise communications.
On my website, there are now archives for both the newsletter and the podcast, so it’s easy to find earlier editions of each there. We’re into Season 6 of the podcast, so there’s a lot on offer in the archive if you want to check out earlier episodes.
Was quite a week at Enterprise Connect, and still trying to process all the conversations and updates. Normally, I’d have time to consolidate my thoughts, but it just hasn’t happened yet.
In lieu of that, however, I’ll be sharing my takeaways via three different video segments, with the first one recorded yesterday for Big UC News. Am attending an analyst event this week, and have two other video segments lined up then, so it won’t take long to get those done and shared here, and on my social channels.
Until those come out, am sharing some photos below from the conference - all are mine unless credited otherwise. If you want to chat further about Enterprise Connect, feel free to drop me a line. It’s not usually this hectic after an event, but that’s how things are lining up right now.
Below: Dave Michels hosting the Innovation Showcase (I was a judge), Blair Pleasant’s panel on bringing UCaaS and CCaaS together, and the super-interesting UCaaS vendor breakdown session with Kevin Kieller and Brent Kelly.
My session on enterprise use cases for AI-driven speech tech (photo: Dan Miller - thanks!), panel session on Thursday about how IT will adapt to the future of work, Vonage analyst breakfast, with Savinay Berry speaking
Long-time tech journalist Doug Green - I was his guest for an episode of his Telecom Reseller podcast - coming soon! Next - very cool demo from the most interesting thing I saw at the show - from Alan Lepofsky (another Canadian!) of Mobeus. Look closely at the right screen at his hands looking like a ghost image, and as he gestures, the outline of the hands show up on the left screen, in real time. Hard to explain, but Airglass adds a virtual layer to what’s on your screen that helps make meetings more interactive and immersive. Out of the box for sure, and very cool. Last photo - Paul Ginn speaking at Mitel’s analyst update.
Hey, I got photo-bombed by “no kisscam” Zeus Kerravla - surprise! I was briefing at the time with Joe Burton of Telesign - thanks for the photo, Joe. Cool signage here as you walk into the event space - it reflects perfectly below on the marble floor. Another fun shot, with another Canadian and long-time colleague, Darryl Wilson from Kyndryl (Darryl’s selfie).
More social stuff - with my SCTC and SIPtones brothers - Rick Hathaway, Steve Leaden and son (thanks Fran Blackburn!); with Lisa Martin from Five9 (her selfie), and Carlos Cano from Talkdesk (his selfie).
Enterprise Connect after dark - very fun whiskey tasting with Talkdesk, firing up a smokey and very delicious Old Fashioned at NICE, and a very glam welcome sign from Twilio’s reception.
Quiet month on the public writing front, but already there are several guest posts queued up for April, so plenty more coming soon.
8x8 Analyst Day - My Thoughts and Photos, March 14, my blog
How AI-Driven Innovation will Change Speech Technology, March 6, No Jitter
Last Friday, I attended 8x8’s Analyst Day in New York, held at the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square. Was a different setting than usual, but it was part of a broader branding effort, where they got to ring the closing bell - and, along with the industry analyst cohort, financial analysts were there as well. Been a hectic few days, including an unscheduled stop in Montreal, but finally home long enough now to get this post done.
As usual, I ran a running commentary during the event on LinkedIn, and if you follow me there, you can track that. Otherwise, I’ll add some key takeaways here.
Interim CEO Sam Wilson did a great job putting some stakes in the ground for 8x8 to stand out in a very crowded market. 8x8 is the longest-standing independent player in this space, but they don’t own the market, and nor are they the household name they should be by now. So, it was good to hear that they want to be known as “an innovation company, not a product company”. I’ll buy that, and to back it up, he noted that R&D spending is up 4X since 2018.
They are, however, falling into line with some other vendors who see more upside with CCaaS than UCaaS. That makes good business sense, and to clarify, Sam said they weren’t moving away from UCaaS, or their bigger XCaaS story.
He rightly noted how there are lots of customer-facing workers who aren’t in contact centers, so they want to provide one solution that brings all that together. They’ve crystallized that notion with a new value proposition: “Customer Obsessed Communications”. Thankfully they haven’t turned that into yet another acronym - it’s a bit clunky, but I like it.
We heard several presentations around their AI focus, mainly through OpenAI. Everyone has an AI story now, and their approach is to develop a healthy ecosystem of partners, and as we were told, they’ve already got 15 lined up. They’re targeting AI/ML applications across the full contact center spectrum - CAI, WEM, CRM, analytics, automation, etc. The big driver is to help contact centers reduce their biggest cost - labor - and we’re just starting to see the various ways AI can bring intelligent automation to all these areas.
Speech analytics is a big part of this story, and this being a core focus for me, I was really glad to hear that - but to be fair, all CCaaS vendors are on this wavelength. Another important theme was microservices, with a common set of building blocks to support rapid innovation for both UCaaS and CCaaS. Hunter Middleton explained how they have two frameworks for this - Cloud 8 and Infra8 - where they’ve already developed 300 microservices.
There was more on tap, but I’m going to stop now - I think you get the gist. Bottom line - despite still having an interim CEO, this sounds like a company that has every intention of staying in the game, and they showed a confident vision for how to do that. We didn’t hear about their financials or go to market/channel plans, but I think they know their standing in the overall universe, and are executing pretty well.
It was also assuring to know that Bryan Martin - both CTO and Chairman of the Board - was always a stones throw from the podium, quietly watching his team play to what could be a tough crowd - industry and financial analysts. They did a great job overall, and am sure he liked what he saw.
A few photos to share below, and if you like the sights of New York in general, I’ll be posting some urban shots, as I usually do when travelling, on Facebook.
Interim CEO Sam Wilson on the big picture, Hunter Middleton on innovation, and Dhwani Soni demo’ing their new Supervisor Workspace.
8x8’s new branding - keeping XCaaS, but going big with OpenAI. Customer Obsessed Communications is their new value prop, and Nasdaq is the place to tell the world about it.
Dave Michels and I tried recording an episode of his videocast Influence Me! in the wild - in Herald Square just in front of Macy’s. Would have been a very live-from-New-York moment, but no WiFi. Plan B ended up being a Starbucks where the coffee was great and the WiFi free., so we did it live from there.
If you follow either of us on LinkedIn or Twitter, it won’t be hard to find the interview, where Dave asks me all the hard questions about stuff we both love. Hope you can check it out, and make sure to follow him on Talking Pointz.
It’s time for my latest contribution to No Jitter - as part of the BCStrategies team - and it’s a preview for my upcoming session on enterprise speech tech at Enterprise Connect. Am looking forward to attending the 2023 edition, and this time around, I’ll be joined by speakers from LumenVox, Dialpad and Zoom.
If you don’t know, this is my fifth year speaking on this topic at the conference, and it’s become an ongoing focus in my work. I don’t know if ChatGPT is the next big thing or just a passing novelty, but am sure it will still have legs by the time we do this session on March 29, and it will be on the agenda. I hope you can join us, and my latest article, here on No Jitter, tells more of the story.
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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