vCon Event Redux - Pix and Posts

This is mainly a for-the-record post, as I have shared takeaways from the recent vCon event in various forms, and unless you follow me closely, it will be hard to find them all. There were many timely, important messages from the event, and if you spend some time here, you’ll catch them all.

Otherwise, if you still have questions, I’m not hard to find. Also, there were many panel sessions, and I’ve only cited the session leaders here by name - please ask if you need the names and companies for the panelists.

Below are links from my activities, followed by some photos from the sessions.

• During the event, I posted commentary on LinkedIn - here’s my profile page, and look for posts on Dec. 3

• My full-length review, posted as an article, here on LinkedIn

• Interview with my takeaways just after the event, on Doug Green’s Telecom Reseller podcast

• Video recording of the session I moderated with Thomas McCarthy Howe and Perry Evans about the vCon ecosystem - thanks Doug, and he did the same for most of the other sessions

And now for some photos - all are mine except two, credited below.

Jeff Pulver with his vCon overview; Andy Abramson’s panel on building vCon apps

Doug Green’s panel on the state of vCon; Glenn Richards leading the panel on telecom policy updates

Panel on managing consent and permission-based marketing - moderated by David Carter; telecom fraud panel, moderated by Kevin Rupy

AI policy panel, led by Greg Ewing; my session about the vCon ecosystem, with Thomas McCarthy Howe, and Perry Evans (photo credit - Lauren Pulver)

Fireside chat with Jeff Pulver and Chris Fine

Mitch Lieberman talking about “conversational CRM”, me with Dave Michels at the VIP speakers dinner (thanks for photo, Dave!)

Newsletter Time - December Edition Out Now

Had some hiccups on the back end of things, and the newsletter is uncharacteristically a week late, but it is out now for my subscribers. If you don’t know, the newsletter is the best way to keep tabs on what I’m writing about, speaking about, and which upcoming events I’ll be attending.

Subscribing to JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review is easy - it’s free - the signup page is here.

Sidebar - although my Watch This Space podcast is on pause for now, you can still subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website.

There are 85 episodes to choose from, so I’m sure you’ll find something of interest. And if you have any topics you’d like to see covered in future episodes, drop me a line! The format will be changing, but new episodes are in store for 2026.

Next Stop - Talkdesk Analyst Event

This event looks to be my last stop for the 2025 busy season with industry events in our space. Next week I’ll be in Savannah, GA - first time visiting - for the 2025 edition of Talksdesk’s Analyst Summit.

Last year’s event was in Charleston, SC - also a first visit - and the Deep South vibe never gets tired for me, especially for smaller coastal spots and warmer weather. Talksdesk continues to hold their own as an independent pureplay CCaaS provider, and the summit will serve as an in-depth update on what’s behind that.

Also, they just completed their 2025 CX Innovators Awards, where I returned as one of the judges. Am sure they’ll have interesting updates on the winners, so watch for updates on that. If you didn’t catch this earlier, the details are here.

As usual, I’ll post updates on LinkedIn during the sessions, with more to come soon after.

Newsletter Time - October Edition Out

Still catching up from being away last week, but wanted my broader following to know that my latest newsletter was published recently.

If you don’t know, the newsletter is the best way to keep tabs on what I’m writing about, speaking about, and which events I’ll be attending.

Subscribing to JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review is easy - it’s free - the signup page is here.

Although my Watch This Space podcast is on pause for now, you can still subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website. There are 85 episodes to choose from, so I’m sure you’ll find something of interest. And if you have any topics you’d like to see covered in future episodes, drop me a line!

NiCE Analyst Summit - My Photo Review

Every analyst event that NiCE puts on is magical, and last week’s summit in Vienna was no exception. They have kept the bar very high, and there was so much to talk about as well as see. This post is about the latter, with my photos both from the event itself, and all the cool stuff we did around it.

I have other takeaways coming both on video and article form, and during the event, I regularly posted commentary and photos on LinkedIn. NiCE had its largest-ever cohort of analysts there - so for everyone else, here’s a taste of what last week was like - first for the event, and then all the other stuff. Here goes…

Below - CEO Scott Russell solo, and with Jeff Comstock - key pieces for the new team.

NiCE Cognigy CEO Phil Heltewig, then as part of the Exec Q&A session.

Tim Harris talking about workflow automation, then Benno Schindler of Allianz with the most memorable visual from the event, talking about the success they’ve been having with Cognigy.

GM Q&A session, and Carmit DiAndrea demonstrating Automated Insights - next-level AI for the contact center.

Their Analyst Relations A-Team, Schevone Johnson, Chris Irwin-Dudek, and Bernard Hartley. And, the last word goes to LVB, a very apropos quote for the passion NiCE brings for making CX better.

Now for the fun stuff. Arriving to the ballroom banquet in style - is there really any other way with NiCE?

On to more ordinary things, but still pretty special. Opening night including a gallery showing - of artwork NiCE commissioned with local artists to create for each of us individually. Wow, huh? So, all of their work was on display, and it was quite the experience to see all of their creations, with the artists on hand. Am pictured here with the artist who created something about me. Apologies - I did not get her name, and it’s definitely on the abstract side. You’ll never figure it out, but I’ll be happy to tell you the story any time. Just one of many creative touches from the NiCE events team to capture the spirit of where we are, surrounded by art, music and culture.

And, the best time to tell stories is at the bar - here’s our local hangout at the hotel. I kinda liked the Borat-style claim of it being the best hotel bar in Austria, and yes, it was… very nice. Did you see what I just did there? AI would never come up with something so clever. If you don’t get it, we need to talk.

I love to cook, and the food sure was great. Below - teppanyaki-style Japanese dinner at the hotel - a bit bland, actually, but very dramatic. Next - group outing to a local winery - in the city, btw - and a hearty Austrian-style meal. Best for last - we had a group cooking class, and I was on the schnitzel team. We did everything end-to-end, so I have a new dish to add to my cooking repertoire.

Quick coda to wrap this up - from low-brow to high-brow, we saw it all on this trip. Traditional trio playing at the winery visit - including the corny-but-fun chicken dance, and walking by the famous Vienna opera house.

Next Stop - Venice for Wildix's Analyst Event

The life of a tech analyst does have its perks, and attending vendor events sure is one of them. Last week was Vienna, and next week is Venice. Those locales are pretty hard to beat, and Air Canada seems to be liking me quite a lot lately.

This time around, it’s for Wildix, a company that is not well-known outside the EU. Best I can tell, I have been following the company longer than any other analyst - pre-pandemic - so they’re not unknown to me. Led by two brothers - Dimitri and Steve Osler - they have quietly been building a successful business, mainly focused on UCaaS for SMB and mid-market customers.

As with everyone else, AI is driving the innovation, and we’re going to hear all about their roadmap, and how their channel-centric model will help them accelerate growth. They’ve already done a great job to prime us with a video covering 10 ways that Wildix is different. Kudos to that, and it’s clear already that their marketing game is in good order.

It’s also clear that they’re ready to take the next step as a UCaaS player. This is their first full-on analyst event, so they will now be on the radar of many more analysts than in the past. Also, on a branding level, I love the messaging - the underlying theme is that they’re tired of being unknown, and it’s time to get on a bigger stage. But, they’re doing this Euro-style - as their tagline says, “not another Silicon Valley story”. I’m down with that - can’t wait.

To make us feel like a local, they’ve even given us a handy guide with Italian phrases. I’ve worked in my share of Italian restaurants, so I’ll be right at home. Not to mention seeing the local sites, and the Italian cooking class I’ll be getting there. Molto buono!

SCTC 2025 Conference - Recap and Photos

This is the busy season for travel to industry events, and am trying to share updates as time allows. Our annual SCTC conference was earlier this month in Reno, and being mostly for members, the audience is pretty limited. While not a big event, this is a tight community, with lots of engagement, and first-rate content for learning.

The SCTC community is mostly comms tech consultants, with decades of hands-on experience helping buyers make good technology decisions. Lots of vendors as well, and a handful of analysts. You can learn more about SCTC here on the website.

If you follow me on LinkedIn, I posted there regularly about the event, so I’m not going to do a full review here. Instead, I’ll share some photos - mostly mine - to give you a flavor of the event. Also, if you don’t know, we have a band - the SIPtones - and we had fun, playing two sets during the opening reception - gotta like that. Let’s go…

Sir Terry Matthews doing the opening keynote - lots to talk about there - and Steve Leaden just before the opening reception.

Outgoing President Mike Smith, then Steve in fireside chat mode with Sir Terry.

Denise Munro, leading a mixed panel of consultants and vendors, talking about building better partnerships. Then, Hardy Myers from NiCE Cognigy, talking about how AI is shaping nextgen CX.

Who wore it better - the always-sharp Brian Reijngoud, or me? Not to be outdone, Brian starting off his talk in a dinosaur outfit, explaining how his company helps businesses get out of the stone age with their outdated comms tech. Loved that!

SIPtones time! Nice shot here from Blair Pleasant. Another nice one here from Fran Blackburn after the gig. I’m the little guy in the back on keyboards, and videos coming soon. Until then, you can check out more photos and older clips of us here on my website.

Newsletter Time - October Issue Out Now

The October issue of my newsletter went out yesterday, so subscribers should have it by now. Am back to travel to various industry events, and the newsletter is the best way to keep tabs on what I’m writing about, speaking about, and which events I’ll be attending.

If you want to be a subscriber to JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, signing up to my newsletter is easy - it’s free - the signup page is here.

Although my Watch This Space podcast is on pause for now, you can still subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website. There are 85 episodes to choose from, so I’m sure you’ll find something of interest. And if you have any topics you’d like to see covered in future episodes, drop me a line!

Verint Engage 2025 - Our BCStrategies Review

Verint recently had its annual Engage event in Orlando, and in light of the big changes from just being acquired by Thoma Bravo, there was a lot to hear about. Of course, much of this is still in a quiet period, but with the CX space moving so quickly, we had updates on many fronts.

Our group of BC Experts did a recap podcast about the event, and we hope you watch our review. For this BCStrategies segment, I was joined by Blair Pleasant and Nicolas De Kouchovsky. Here’s the link, and while you’re on the site, there’s plenty of other great content, including Blair’s standalone review of the event.

New Kudo for Watch This Space Podcast

My Watch This Space Podcast has finally been getting some recognition the past few months, and I have another kudo to share, this one from Million Podcasts.

It’s not a best-of award, but one that recognizes my podcast as one of the tops in three categories, and sure, I’ll take it. Here they are, with hyperlinks to the full list in each category.

Best Digital Workplace Podcast, #45

Best Collaboration Podcast, #60

Best Remote Work Podcast, #34

If you don’t know, the podcast has been on hiatus since June - that’s why you haven’t seen any new episodes - but there are 85 in the archive you can check out any time. Am re-positioning a few things, including WTS, and if you want to hear more, am happy to chat.

Next Stop - Verint engage25, Orlando

I haven’t done one of these in a while, but it’s time to get back to industry events. This is a big part of analyst life, and things pick up after Labor Day, with a steady run of events through November. Am scaling travel back a bit overall, but next week is Verint engage25.

This is mainly a customer/partner event, but there is plenty of programming specific for analysts. With the recent acquisition by Thoma Bravo, this could be their last large-scale event, at least in its current form. Aside from being acquired, Verint will now be merged with Calabrio, so there’s a lot in play, and there will lots to learn next week. Stay tuned!

SCTC Conference - Am Speaking on the Analyst Panel

Time for another update on the SCTC annual conference. This year, it’s running in Reno, NV from Oct. 12-15.

I couldn’t attend last year’s event, and this time around, my speaking role will be as a panelist. Colleague Blair Pleasant and I will talk about trends impacting enterprises, and how consultants need to support them in a world of constantly-changing technology. We’ll be doing this fireside chat-style, moderated by industry colleague and SIPtones bandmate, Steve Leaden.

We’d better come prepared, as we’ll be following the opening keynote from Sir Terry Matthews - yeow. You’d better come prepared too, as the agenda is full of great sessions from consultants and others who are living with communications technology every day.

Plus, if you’re there Sunday night, you’ll get to see our SIPtones band - we’ll be doing two sets during the reception - can’t wait!

Our analyst panel is at 10am on the Monday, and the full agenda is here, along with details for registration.

Finally, if you haven’t seen this, we just released a set of video segments featuring 11 different SCTC members, talking about the various ways SCTC provides value to both the consulting and vendor communities.

Hat tip to Robert Cassard for doing such a great job putting these together - they’re really well done. You can check out all the videos here, and if you’re wondering how SCTC can be good for your business, all the answers are here.

To make life easy, here’s the link to my segment - it’s 4 minutes, so it won’t take too much time out of your day. Hope to see you in Reno!

Time for Next Newsletter

The September issue of my newsletter went out yesterday, so subscribers should have it by now. With summer fading fast, it’s time to get busy again, and the newsletter is the best way to keep tabs on what I’m writing about, speaking about, and which industry events I’ll be attending.

If interested in subscribing to JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, signing up to my newsletter is easy - it’s free - the signup page is here.

Although my Watch This Space podcast is on pause for now, you can still subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website. There are 85 episodes to choose from, so I’m sure you’ll find something of interest. And if you have any topics you’d like to see covered in future episodes, drop me a line!

August Writing Roundup

Writing was light for August, but my overall workload was light by design. That will change once things get back to full swing after Labor Day. Until then, I hope you check these out, and would love to hear your thoughts.

Navigating the Telecom Alphabet Soup of UCaaS, CCaaS and CPaaS, guest post for Aizan’s blog, Aug. 12

How Zoom is Becoming AI-First, EM360, Aug. 4

Newsletter Time - August Edition Out Now

Things slow down at this point in the summer - at least for me! - but the newsletter routine continues. My July was pretty busy - and productive - so there are definitely updates to share. As you may know, my Watch This Space podcast is on hiatus, so for now, it’s just the newsletter, which went out to subscribers yesterday.

If interested in subscribing to JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, signing up to my newsletter is easy - it’s free - the signup page is here.

Although Watch This Space is on pause for now, you can still subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website. There are 85 episodes to choose from, so I’m sure you’ll find something of interest. And if you have any topics you’d like to see covered in future episodes, drop me a line!

July Writing Roundup

Was a light month for writing, but pretty busy on the video front. The latter is a different mode, and I still put a lot of stock in writing for expressing thought leadership and articulating the impact of tech on the things that we do.

Sidebar - am definitely concerned about AI’s impact now on creativity and original thinking, and if anything, I’ll double down on maintaining my writing output. That’s another conversation, for sure, and for now, I’ll just stick to July’s writing.

NiCE + Cognigy - What Took So Long?, BCStrategies (joint byline with Blair Pleasant), Aug. 1 (including this for July since it’s breaking news now)

3 Ways UC Offers the RTO Metrics You Need, TechTarget, July 31

We Have Proof AI is Improving CX, No Jitter, July 10

And, ICYMI, my review of Infobip’s analyst event, which ran at the very end of June:

One Communications Platform - Billions of Conversations: Infobip Analyst Event Review, EM360, June 27

NiCE Interactions Review - and More - my Latest on No Jitter

A big highlight from last month - but not the only one - was the NiCE Interactions event in Las Vegas. Aside from this being the not-so-new-anymore CEO Scott Russell’s debut keynote - and introducing their new branding - the event was a great showcase for the strides made from last year on the ever-improving AI front.

There was a lot to digest, and this post serves to share my latest reflection on Interactions, along with being a one-stop-shop summary of all the other sharing I’ve been doing about the NiCE event.

First, the latest - my Interactions review is running now on No Jitter. Here’s the link, and I hope you check it out.

Next - throughout the event, I posted photos and commentary on LinkedIn. If you follow me there, you can track my in-the-moment take on things.

Otherwise, during and after the event, I did various video segments, and for those that have since been published, the links are below.

• CX Today, onsite interview with Charlie Mitchell - view here on LinkedIn

• BCStrategies - event review with colleagues Blair Pleasant and Tom Brannen - Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

• NiCE TV - segments with Sharang Sharma from Everest Group, and Neeraj Verma from NiCE. These are still being edited, and will share once ready.

That should keep you busy for a while, but if you just want to chat, I’m not hard to find!

New Month - Time for July Newsletter

In case you’re looking for some quick beach reading during the holiday weekend, the July edition of my newsletter went out to subscribers today.

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review has been running steady for several years now, but for the first time, it’s going solo - as in, no new Watch This Space podcast episode.

If you follow me, you should know by now that I’m taking a brief hiatus from the podcast, and that’s explained a bit further in this month’s newsletter. I hope you check that out, and if you have any bright ideas for WTS 2.0, let’s get in touch!

For the handful of you out there not subscribed, signing up to my newsletter is easy - the signup page is here.

Although Watch This Space is on pause for now, you can still subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website. There are 85 episodes to choose from, so I’m sure you’ll find something there of interest. And if not, then we really don’t have much to talk about, do we? :-)

June Writing Roundup

Plenty on the go during June, including some new writing. I’ve got three articles to share that had my byline last month - hope you check these out if not seen yet. More coming for July.

One Communications Platform - Billions of Conversations: Infobip Analyst Event Review, EM360, June 27

The Telco to Techco Reinvention Playbook: Three Moves that Matter, Aizan guest article, June 25

How UC Can Support Return to Office, TechTarget, June 9

The Telco-to-Techco Reinvention Playbook, Part 2

I’ve been doing guest posts for Aizan Technologies for some time, and my latest article is running now. A theme I’m following with interest at the moment is “telco-to-techco”, where service providers are trying to evolve from the legacy telephony business model to being an AI-driven platform play built around digital applications.

It’s a major shift on many levels, and this post builds on Part 1, where I outlined the tech trends that are making this change necessary. For Part 2, the focus is on what telcos need to be doing for this to work. I hope you give both of them a read, and the link to Part 1 is in the article here.