Next Webinar - with Enghouse Interactive - Cloud for Contact Center

I may be recovering from foot surgery, but I’ve got plenty of things on the go, including a new webinar. This one is with Enghouse Interactive, and it will be live on April 30 at 10am ET. I’ll be presenting about the current state of things with contact centers, especially those who have not yet made any moves to the cloud.

A lot of education is still needed, and once the benefits are understood, it’s a much easier decision to make. I hope you can join us, and here’s the registration page.

Latest White Paper - The Supervisor Opportunity for CX

Aside from traveling to industry and vendor events, I work with many vendors to provide various forms of thought leadership and go to market support - that’s mainly how I make my living.

NICE is one of those vendors, and my latest work with them is a white paper, which was recently published. I don’t have the exact date, but was likely around late March. AI is transforming the contact center space in many ways, and there is no shortage of angles to explore.

For this white paper, the focus is on supervisors, a role that tends to be in the shadows when considering use cases for AI. Well, it turns out this is a really important use case, and to better learn why, I hope you give this a read. As with most white papers, registration is required on the vendor’s website - it just takes a moment, and follow-on comments are welcome, as always.

New Mini-Report - US Contact Center Market Review

I’m a market researcher by trade, but as an indie analyst, I don’t publish industry reports as a matter of course. However, I’m happy to produce those on a custom basis, but that’s a different conversation. On occasion, though, I will produce mini-reports, which are on a smaller scale, and often based on publicly-available secondary sources.

That’s the format used with Aizan for this review of the US contact center market. More specifically, the research was used to support the notion that the on-hold experience is a critical link in the customer experience value chain, and is poorly understood.

This is a focus area for Aizan, and regardless of what’s on offer, the main takeaway is about the opportunity for contact centers to better address this weak link. Registration is required from their website, but if this is something you’ve been thinking about, I think you’ll find it a good read.

New Month - Time for New Newsletter and Watch This Space Episode

Last month, I had ongoing travel to industry events every week, so I have lots to write and talk about. During February, I got to wear quite a few hats, and if you want to know what that looks like, you should check out the latest editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and my Watch This Space podcast, now in its 7th season.

If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - the signup page is here.

For my Watch This Space podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website. The title in the thumb below tells you what we had on tap for March, and here’s the link if you want jump in right now.

Writing Roundup for February

Following a quiet month on the writing front, February made up for it, with four public posts, plus two that ran late last month, but not in time to be included in the January roundup.

Zoho Analyst Day - More Than Meets the Eye, BCStrategies, Feb. 26

How AI is Transforming Unified Communications, TechTarget, Feb. 7

Voice Communications Tools in the Modern Customer Experience, Aizan Blog, Feb. 2

The Future of Work is Here Now - Are You Ready for It?, No Jitter, Feb. 1

Willing and Able? Modernizing the Contact Center to Drive CX, Aizan Blog, Jan. 26

Three Big Ideas for 2024, Aizan Blog, Jan. 25

Next Stop Update 1 of 2 - Zoho Analyst Day, McAllen, TX

Tomorrow starts a travel run of 5 industry events in 4 weeks, so there’s a lot of packing and planning to do, not to mention delivery stops for the newspaper. I’m SO analog, I know.

First stop is McAllen, Texas - definitely a new locale for me, and it’s home to Zoho’s analyst event, which will also be a first for me. The borders for the contact center space are becoming ever-more fluid, and that applies both ways. Not just for vendors outside this space adding CCaaS, but for contact center vendors reaching into the enterprise. I’ll have more to say about that after taking in the sessions, so stay tuned.

New Interview - Cognigy CX Disruptors

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.

Latest Insight Report - 2024 CX Trends for Upstream Works

Been doing my share of writing and speaking for what lies ahead for 2024, and here’s my latest example. This is an Insight Report I prepared for Upstream Works to help educate contact center leaders about key CX trends to be watching for in the new year. Lots to talk about in this space, and here’s the registration link to access the writeup. If you get it, I hope you like it, and welcome comments any time.

Next Stop - Verint, Scottsdale, AZ

I’ve got one more industry event during this travel run, and it will be the ninth in nine weeks, so it’s been a long stretch of airports and hotels.

This one is for Verint and their Analyst Days event in Scottsdale. It will be my first time attending Verint’s event, and am very much looking forward to being with them in-person, and hearing about their roadmap from their leaders. As always, I’ll share on LinkedIn along the way as time allows, and will do a wrapup post soon after.

NICE Analyst Summit Review - on BCStrategies

Am slowly getting through the backlog from last month’s travel run, including posting reviews of the various events I attended and spoke at.

For the NICE Analyst Summit - epic in many ways - I shared posts and photos on LinkedIn during the event, along with some short video clips. Definitely needed time to reflect on that event, and my writeup is now running on BCStrategies - you can read it here.

I’m not done with NICE, though, so here are a few more tie-ins to my post:

• I have MANY photos to share still, both from the event and from our Machu Picchu expedition. Am planning to share some here soon, and if you follow me on Facebook, more of the fun stuff will be there.

• For more on their analyst event, check out colleague Blair Pleasant’s review here, and yesterday, a foursome of BCStrategies Experts did a LinkedIn Live segment to review recent industry events, including NICE - you can view that here.

• Am having a double-shot week so far with NICE, as my latest white paper for them was just published - details here.

New Month - Time for Newsletter and Podcast

Am a bit off schedule for November publishing, but new editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review newsletter, and the Watch This Space podcast are out now. If you don’t know, October was a very travel-heavy month for industry events, and covering that was the main focus of the podcast. We also talked about the state of hybrid work, and why this is a great time to be an entrepreneur - I hope you check out the latest episode.

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.

New White Paper - Being Strategic When Deploying AI in the Contact Center

Still catching up on new thought leadership to share - been doing a lot of that lately, but with so much travel, it’s been hard sharing about them in a timely manner. Here’s one, though, that is timely. My latest white paper for NICE was just published yesterday, and it’s getting a lot of traction already.

So, ICYMI, it’s out now, and here’s the registration page to access a copy. Sorry, but long-form content like this is usually gated, but it just takes a minute to fill out the form, and you’ll have it to read in no time.

New Guest Post - Enhancing CX with Integrated Messaging Apps

My series of guest posts for Aizan continues, with the latest topic being the role for messaging apps to improve customer experience. Customer service has historically been voice-based, but the use of messaging has increased greatly, especially with mobility, and there are many scenarios where this is the best way to engage with customers. For more on this, I hope you check out my post, and more topics are coming soon.

October Writing Roundup

ASIDE from the insane global travel across all of October, it was a good month on the writing front, with five public writeups - with my byline (others don’t have that, but I can’t share those here obviously) - and all with very different storylines. I hope you read ‘em all!

Avaya Rejuvenation - Can They Do It?, EM360, Oct. 30

Tianjin Port - the Leading Edge of 5G, AI and IoT, Silverlinings, Oct. 25

Setting Realistic Expectations with Contact Center AI, Genesys blog, Oct. 25

Spotlight on Operator Connect, TeamMate blog, Oct. 18

Latest Ipsos Research Validates the Value of UCaaS and AI for Improving Productivity, No Jitter, Oct. 9

New Podcast - Insights on CX and AI with NICE

Got another CX Pulse podcast to share. This is my latest one with NICE, where the discussion covered an all-too-familiar - but very timely - topic - the role of AI in shaping CX and the contact center.

We were just able to touch on a few themes, but if you give it a listen, I think you’re find it of interest - along with the many other episodes on their site. For my current episode, here’s a direct link via the Apple Podcasts site.

London Called, Lima Calling - NICE Analyst Summit Next

This crazy - but really fun - Fall 2023 World Tour continues, and there are several more stops ahead yet.

Am just back from London and the UC Expo - blog post/pix about that is coming next. Home barely long enough to pack and prep for alpaca country - Peru! This could be the most complicated trip I’ve ever done, but it’s all an adventure, and I know it’s going to be memorable.

This is for the NICE Analyst Summit, and if you thought Marrakesh, Morocco last year was exotic - and it was - it’s not a stretch to say Machu Picchu is even more exotic. I think we’re really splitting hairs here, but more importantly, NICE has set the bar impossibly high for analyst events, and am more than happy to be in the mix.

Most people don’t believe me when I tell them about this run of travel I’m on, so if not just to bear witness, I’d damn well better share pix. I always do that, but this time around, there will be video coming too, and I’ll explain more about that next week.

For now, I need to figure out what to wear, and double check all the travel logistics. I fly from Toronto early Monday to Newark, connect there to Lima, stay the night, then fly out Tuesday morning to Cuzco, and from there I will get taken to the hotel, and then the adventure really begins!

I have a lot to learn about Inca culture, but I do know that Cuzco is central to the origin myth for sun god worship - Inti - and it’s probably best to stay on his good side. NICE sent this guy along, and he’s coming with me as my good luck talisman.

New Guest Article - Climbing Over CCaaS Obstacles

My writing comes in fits and starts, and am on another run here. I’m a regular contributor to Contact Center Pipeline, and my latest writeup is running now in the September issue, which is just out now. CCaaS is a bottomless pit to be writing about, and the space sure keeps me busy. Here’s the link to my article, and as always, comments are welcome, as is sharing!

Next Webinar - Where to Invest for Long-Term Contact Center Success

Quiet month before summer ends, but September will be busy, and even more so for October. Got a new webinar here to pass along - I’ll be speaking with RingCentral, and it’s hosted by ICMI, so I’ll be in good company.

There’s so much to talk about in the contact center space, and I hope you’ll join us for our take. The webinar is on Sept. 27 at 2pm ET, and here’s the registration page.

Next Speaking Slot - Digital Transformation, CX and AI

I can talk a long time about this mix of themes, but for this session, we only have 45 minutes, and there will be three of us. No matter - am happy to be there - and worth noting this will be a new event for me.

The event is called Digital CxO Summit - it’s a one-day virtual event on Wednesday, September 13, at 1pm EST. I’m new to this group - Techstrong - and they have several other events that may fall into my orbit later this year.

Let’s see how this one goes first, and if you want to attend, registration details are on their site. For more detail about the panel session, here’s the Agenda link, and if you scroll down to 1pm, you’ll see it there.

Latest Podcast - AI and the Contact Center, with Cresta

I recent engaged with Cresta for a two-part podcast series, talking with their executives about the growing role of AI in the contact center, its business value to them as a vendor, and how it helps improve customer service.

The latest episode was just published by EM360 - the host of this series - where I was in conversation with Cresta’s co-founder and CTO, Tim Shi. Here’s the link, and I hope you give it a listen - and if you like it, you’ll probably want to check out the first episode, which I did with their CMO, Scott Kolman.