The Case for Private Cloud When Considering Hosted Solutions

In the collaboration space, cloud has become a very strong trend, but like a lot of game-changing innovations, taking things at face value isn’t such a good idea. Vendors can’t seem to move their UC solutions to the cloud fast enough, and service providers are jumping into the game to compete with them via white labeled hosted offerings. IT has never before faced such a range of choices for something that in earlier times was basically a commodity – phone systems – but is today becoming a highly strategic decision.

I write about cloud regularly, and being an analyst, will look for balance as a matter of course. There are virtues for both premise-based and cloud-based forms of UC, and this time around I’m going to focus on a particular variation of cloud that doesn’t seem to get enough attention these days, namely private cloud.

People often talk about “cloud” in ubiquitous terms, as if it’s been around forever and its dominance over premise-based models is inevitable. Perhaps we’ll get to an all-cloud world someday, but what I and others see in the market is a slower-than-expected takeover. For enterprises in particular, there’s strong interest in cloud, but the favored model has been hybrid, where some elements remain onsite with others being hosted. In time, they may well go all-cloud, but IT will need to ease into it.

The reasons behind that thinking require a separate analysis, but here, my focus is on the growth opportunity I’m seeing with private cloud. Public cloud gets most of the attention, mainly because the big players are so well known – AWS, Azure, Google, Rackspace, etc. – and have the economies of scale to dominate the market. That said, it’s still early days for cloud – especially in the communications space – and IT decision makers are trying to understand where it fits for their needs as well as where the true business value lies.

No doubt, the cost efficiencies and on-demand scalability make public cloud very appealing, but as enterprises consider pushing applications offsite, some realities start to become apparent. One issue is not knowing where your data actually resides once it’s in the cloud; which can be problematic for industry-specific compliance around security. Perhaps more important is losing a sense of privacy when your data is being managed on a multi-tenant platform, shared among other hosted clients – sometimes even your competitors.

Another consideration is the simple fact that having applications hosted in the cloud doesn’t take the problem completely off of IT’s plate. They still have to manage the applications going forward, plus to get this in place effort is required to migrate legacy and premise-based applications off-prem into a cloud environment. All indications tell me this is easier said than done, serving as a deterrent for some companies to using the cloud.

On a more operational level, IT gives up control over company data – which will be the case with any form of outsourcing – and that can limit their ability to customize applications. This is becoming increasingly important for two reasons. First, IT will have customization needs for applications that will be used by everyone company-wide. Second, each line of business will have similar needs that are specific just for their domain. The more extensive these customization needs are, the more challenging a public cloud deployment will turn out to be.

For many companies, the positives about public cloud outweigh these concerns, and clearly this model is gaining traction. However, there is more to the story, and that’s where private cloud comes into the picture. I’m not alone in saying there is a lot of misunderstanding, not just about the cloud concept in general, but also about the various deployment options, namely public, private and hybrid.

When it comes to addressing the above issues, private cloud has a lot to offer. Of course, the cost is higher, as would be anything that’s private instead of public. Every scenario is different, but let me break down some specific use cases where private cloud is a good option, especially for collaboration.

·         In cases where the complexity of moving to the cloud in general is a holdback, private cloud overcomes this. When IT doesn’t know what to do to make a cloud transition, they’ll just move on to other priorities that can be addressed right away in order to keep the line moving. Most public clouds are in the business of hosting on a large scale, and otherwise, there’s a lot of DIY as well as BYOA that falls to IT. To overcome this obstacle, private cloud providers can offer onboarding capabilities to make this process easier, and in some cases possible.

·         For collaboration in particular, solutions are constantly evolving, with new applications/integrations coming on a regular basis. This translates into an ongoing form of customization, and that’s not what public clouds are really built for. Their ideal customer has a static application where the drivers are low cost hosting and scalability to serve a large user base. In many ways, private clouds offer more control and easier ways to customize platforms. A great example would be enterprises that want to have cloud-based platforms for both UC and contact center. Not only will each platform need to add new applications, but there’s a growing trend for integrating them so employees and agents can share a common directory. These requirements can be complex, but will be much easier to do in a private cloud, especially with a provider that has domain expertise to help IT along the way.

·         Within enterprises, another important development is how LOB managers are increasingly undertaking their own initiatives independent of IT. This is becoming more common for business applications like ERP or Dynamics where the LOB wants flexibility and control as well as data security. As they get further along with UC and start realizing its business value, LOBs will want to do the same here. For whatever reason, when LOBs can’t get what they need from IT on this front, the cloud speaks loudly, and running their own cloud infrastructure is the best solution. Since the LOB is funding it, they will determine the right model, and if they feel these applications are too strategic to be housed in a public cloud, going with a private cloud provider will be the right choice.

·         Vertical markets provide great use cases, with finance and healthcare being prime examples. Both are highly regulated, and private cloud makes compliance easier, especially around data sovereignty. Supporting multi-site operations is a common need for both, and when it comes to making universal changes across locations, private cloud provides IT with a lot of control and flexibility. Security is another consideration along these lines, whether it be protecting mobile payments or EMRs. On the collaboration front, private cloud makes it easier to implement and support new applications that bring true business value. FinTech is coming into its own now, and UC has a big role to play, especially for customer-facing communication. Healthcare is just as promising, especially telehealth, where there are major benefits to come both for providers and patients, as technology makes care more accessible.

There’s more to consider with private cloud, and as my research continues, I’ll have more to share. At this point, however, I’ll conclude by noting one company from my briefings. That would be Breakthrough Technology Group, a private cloud provider that is very much on the pulse of what IT decision-makers really need. Two things about BTG stand out in terms of what enterprises should be looking for in a private cloud partner.

First would be BTG’s overall capabilities in terms of hosted infrastructure, and that’s self-evident even based on a cursory review of their offerings. Marketed as Adaptable Cloud Services, their model checks many of the boxes cited herein, especially around supporting the needs of both IT for company-wide applications, as well as LOBs for their specific operational needs.

The second item would be their ability to support mid-market IT needs, especially for vertical market scenarios. Whereas large enterprises can afford private cloud as a matter of course, and SMBs will favor more economical public cloud solutions, providers like BTG have developed an attractive value proposition for the mid-market. While their architecture is built to support enterprise-grade requirements, SaaS solutions like UC, CRM, etc. can be scaled to the mid-market with cost-effective licensing that also allows for extensive customization.

Over the course of my research, I’m seeing that this is a difficult balance to strike, but if providers like BTG can do it, then mid-market IT decision makers should expect it. If that’s not your expectation, then you’ve set the bar too low for private cloud. Hopefully my post here will help change your thinking, especially if you’ve only been considering public cloud to this point.

My Q&A with Jeff Pulver - MoNage and the Emerging Messaging Opportunity

I recently attended and spoke at Jeff Pulver's new event, MoNage - Messaging on the Net. It was a great window to explore where messaging is going and how it's impacting the broader communications space. I wrote my takeaways about MoNage here, and during the event, I spent some time with Jeff talking about his vision for messaging. We loosely followed my Q&A outline, and I've pulled it all together, with the output being the following interview format. I hope you enjoy it, and comments are welcome.

It’s great to reconnect with you Jeff, and a lot has happened since VON’s heyday. We’ll come back to that, but let’s fast forward to 2016 and your current event, MoNage. Let’s start with a basic overview of MoNage, as well as your broader vision behind it.

VON was really part of a communications continuum, and we’re still on it. In VoIP’s early days, I took a protocol, and built a community that turned it into an industry. It wasn’t just about a new technology – it attracted investors, dreamers, builders, etc.

Eight years later, we’re picking it up again. We’re still moving along the communications continuum, and the next big thing is the shift in how we communicate. It’s no longer a voice-based world like we had in the times of VON. Rather, it’s now about messaging. Not IRC or BBS either. Those modes are old – we had ways to do messaging back then – but it’s different now. Back then, messaging was community driven and it wasn’t for everyone – just a core of enthusiasts who liked communicating this way amongst themselves.

Then SMS came along – carriers started charging, and it became a big business. Just as what happened with VoIP and how it displaced TDM, innovators got into free IP-based messaging and disrupted the SMS space. Think back to email, which showed us what was possible with the Net as a transport medium for communications. It replaced the office memo, and revolutionized how we communicate. The communications space is a two trillion dollar market – and we continue to see new IP-based applications come along that want to take a piece of everything. Messaging is the latest variation, and it won’t be the last.

My view is that MoNage has a role to play in the success of this new opportunity, and is driven by the same principals I applied with VON when VoIP was disruptive. Basically, to support an emerging ecosystem – in this case around messaging - you need to have what I call the “5 C’s”; content, context, community, commerce, and communication. That’s an ecosystem, and that’s what I’m trying to support with MoNage.

No doubt messaging is a major trend in communications, and is arguably as disruptive as VoIP was a decade or so ago. Why do you think this is happening?  

With VoIP, once it reached a certain point of market acceptance, Verizon told me that “you won”. This truly validated everything that I and others believed in, and now Verizon is a data company. Today, there’s no question that they’re in the data and the content business, and not the voice business. This is where the Pulver Order truly changed the face of communications. Before that, the incumbents had enough power to maintain the status quo and keep innovation out of the picture. The Pulver Order opened things up and created an environment to nurture VoIP innovation and a platform for disruptors. That same platform has been adopted across the entire telecom industry, which they now use for their benefit.

This is where Vonage really changed the game. Once they demonstrated how VoIP could be commercially viable, this validated the broader opportunity for all telcos to enter IP space and offer digital phone service. And that’s exactly what they’ve done, and the demise of the PSTN is no longer a matter of if, but of when.

Now, with messaging, we’re at the early stages of “purple messages” – things you could never do before. This is a 2016 version of my version of “purple minutes”, which I used to describe the enhanced and added value features of VoIP to elevate it beyond the limitations of TDM. This is the kind of disruption I’m envisioning with today’s messaging. Initially, it was just about delivering messages, with no intelligence or connection to anything else.

Now, messaging has context, and more is coming. It’s no longer something like ICQ or IRC – it’s mainstream and not just for geeks. For example, when messaging can drive commerce, it brings communities together, and it grows. That’s what I see unfolding now, and for me, MoNage is the age of messaging on the Net. Why now? Again, it’s the continuum – we lived through the age of VoIP, and now it’s been successfully commercialized. VoIP really isn’t disruptive any more, but I think messaging is going to have a similar impact, if not more.

Now, the continuum is about the messaging platform, and MoNage is trying to help drive what happens next. There are lots of developers doing chatbots, and it would be great if we can help standardize their work. They have a common interest to affect change and we can provide a voice to do that. The developer community is drawn to messaging because the opportunities are new and disruptive. Voice and video are so mainstream now, and that’s not interesting for them.

So, what will make messaging disruptive, and who do you see as the winners and losers?

For starters, the scope is broad. Just think about all the various messaging scenarios - one to one, many to many, many to one, one to many. Now layer IoT on top of that. IoT is a big part of what’s coming – look at how quickly things like Fitbit and Uber have gained mass adoption, and how central messaging is to their value propositions.

Then we have to look at all forms of communication and how messaging impacts each. Email is over – long live email, but it’s just not what people rely on now when they need to get things done. When all of that is considered, MoNage will help redefine who will be in the communications business. The advent of IP has shifted so many things around, and the communications landscape looks very different today.

There are many new types of service providers out there and they all provide value. Is Slack a communications provider? I think so. None of the major messaging players are owned by phone companies – at least not yet. When Facebook reaches two billion subs, it becomes way bigger than any telco – bigger and more powerful than AT&T ever was.

Think about that and all the implications when messaging displaces voice as the preferred mode of communication. Will there be regulatory issues? No doubt. Can Facebook influence the upcoming election? After all, they know a lot about their users and have the means to shape their preferences. Are they too powerful? Are they evil? Should they be anti-trusted? When one entity has this much sway over the world’s population, these questions come to mind. Will people rebel? You know, Mark Zuckerberg was at VON in 2004. Maybe he learned something from how he saw the way VoIP was disrupting telephony.

Millennials are certainly a big part of the story here, and their preference for short-form, text-based communication is very different from the conventional modes of voice and email that have dominated the enterprise space for so long. How you see things unfolding with them?

 Currently, they’re 35% of today’s consumers. Millennial-speak will proliferate, and that means a big shift from voice to text. However, it won’t change the boomers, as their preferences are too hard-wired. This represents a big generation gap, as Millennials are the first generation born into the Web – it’s the only world they’ve ever known. So, be careful what you weave, and you’ll reap the products you sow.

They are also the unexpected consequences of the Web – a generation that is very much technology-defined. Beyond them, I see something else coming up – the iPad generation. For them, it’s all about their mobile devices – “pinch the glass” – that’s how they engage to communicate and consume content. I think they’ll be even more demanding than Millennials. Voice becomes old school for them – they talk face to face – but for everything else, it’s messaging and mobility.

To wrap up, Jeff, what’s your crystal ball view and the future you want us to explore at MoNage?

I’d say the big thing will be to develop a messaging value proposition – something that really has value for end users, but can also be sustained with a business model to keep innovation happening. We don’t know the impact of this generation yet, and we’ll probably be wrong based on what we think will unfold.

Basically, we need to explore the future together – open the door, share, engage, listen and see what we need. Filters will evolve, though, as we all have to discover boundaries for using messaging in beneficial rather than detrimental ways. There’s a lot we’re going to learn – so, things like cloud-based services to monitor our health are good. Using similar services to steal our identities or spew hate are not so good.

The same forces will apply for us at work – IoT can be good that way. There’s a bad side too, as employees will have less privacy, and will be monitored all the time. What we used to think of as sci-fi will soon become real-fi, and there’s probably no going back.                                         

Contact Center Industry Disruption - Our Latest UCStrategies Podcast

Good timing here, as I'm at the Genesys G-Force 2016 event in Miami, and I'll be immersed in contact center the next two days.

There's a lot going on in this space right now, and we covered that ground on our latest UCStrategies podcast. Lots of implications up and down the value chain, and Genesys is certainly right in the middle of things. To check our podcast out, it's up on our portal now. If we missed anything, let me know, and we'll find a way to cover it next time around.

"This is Craziness" - My Takeaways from Jeff Pulver's MoNage Event

Last week I was in my hometown of Boston for MoNage - Messaging on the Net. This is Jeff Pulver's latest conference and marks his return to the communications space I follow since moving on from VoIP many years ago. 

I have a long history with Jeff, and it's great to see him back, plus I was very pleased to be included to speak on two panel sessions. Messaging is poised to become a disruptive force in the business world, and I see it very much being a double-edged sword.

MoNage was a lively forum to explore all this, and my takeaways have been summarized in my current writeup for UCStrategies. It's posted now on the portal, and I think you'll find it a good read. As always, both comments and sharing are welcome!

My Next Webinar - Choosing the Right Partner for VoIP

This week marks the start of my "busy season" where I'm either speaking at or attending industry events, and I've already got my calendar mapped out through December. I'd be happy if nothing else comes up between now and year-end, but that's wishful thinking, and wouldn't be good for business.

Along the way, I have to get paid work done of course, and that includes webinars. I've another one coming up with Ziff Davis, and the title in this post is pretty self-explanatory. These webinars consistently draw well, and am looking forward to the next one, which will be Tuesday, October 4. If the topic is of interest, I hope you'll register and join me then. I'll post about it again as the date approaches, but to sign up right now, here's the landing page with all the details.

Am Speaking at MoNage Next Week - Jeff Pulver's New Event

If you've been around long enough, you'll remember VON - Voice on the Net - a conference that defined the VoIP/IP comms space in its early days when it was truly disruptive. Much has changed, and Jeff Pulver continues to explore how technology is changing our lives. Ten years ago, it was all about voice, but today it's all about messaging for Jeff, and that brings us to MoNage - Messaging on the Net.

I have a long history with Jeff - as many of us do - and am very glad to see him back in our space, and also glad to be part of next week's event. MoNage is running from September 20-22 in Boston, and many of us from the VON days will be there. I'll be speaking on a panel session about enterprise messaging, moderated by my good friend, Chris Fine. We'll be joined by Ross Daniels of Cisco, and Lawrence Miller of Symphony.

Our session runs at 10am on Tuesday on the main stage, and if you're there I hope you can join us.

Just today, I've been added to a second session, and if you scroll down further on the above link, I'll be joining Alan Duric on his 4pm session that day, titled End to End Messaging.

Otherwise, it's not too late to register and make your way to the Boston Public Library. I'll be there first thing Tuesday and will blog/tweet as time allows.

As a coda, I'm currently working on a Q&A interview with Jeff Pulver, and will post that as soon as it's ready.

My Video Interview with Systems Integrator SPS about Collaboration

I recently shared two teasers as short previews for this interview, and now the full version has been posted. The video was produced by Enterprise Management 360, and for this segment I interviewed Mike Cavanaugh of Atlanta-based SPS. 

As a leading systems integrator, they have first-hand insights about how enterprises are deploying collaboration technologies, and that's the ground we covered. If that's of interest, I think you'll enjoy our discussion, and it's been posted now on the EM360 site. I hope you like it, and on behalf of everyone involved, feel free to share.

August Writing Roundup

Pretty light month on the writing front, but hey, it's August, and after getting through some bigger projects, I need to focus on my Fall pipeline for new business. Have also been busy on two other fronts.

First is adding the back end to my updated website/blog, so I've been compiling a lot of content that will be posted soon. Once that's done I'll have a formal launch, hopefully by mid-September.

The other front is researching and writing for upcoming conferences. For the next three events, I'm either presenting or speaking, and it was great to have time to do a lot of the prep work over August.

That said, here's what I'd like to share as writing highlights from August.

UC Implications from Dialpad's New Study about Anywhere Workers, UCStrategies, Aug. 30

How Should Mobile-First Apps fit our UC Strategy?, TechTarget, Aug. 29

How Market Disruptions Impact UC Buying Decisions, Toolbox.com, Aug. 24

Why You Should Consider Integrating Contact Center with UC, Toolbox.com, Aug. 19

The Parallel Worlds of UC and the Contact Center, Toolbox.com, Aug. 16

Why Are We Still Working in Offices?, Internet Telephony Magazine, Aug. 11

New Ways to Look at UC and the Contact Center, Toolbox.com, Aug. 9

Three Key Questions for a Successful Hybrid UC Deployment, TechTarget, Aug. 8

Three Reasons Not to Partner with a Vendor for UC, Toolbox.com, Aug. 1

Dialpad's New Study About Anywhere Workers - UC Implications

As a UC Expert with UCStrategies, I contribute a monthly writeup to help keep our content fresh. Regular followers will know that I've been part of this group for years, and our BC Summit is coming soon! Stay tuned for updates on that, along with what I'll be speaking about there.

For my current contribution, I wanted to draw attention to a recent study commissioned by Dialpad, a company that knows a few things about disruption and innovation. I like where they're going with CPaaS, and that's at the heart of what's been shaking up the UC space lately.

The research has some pretty interesting findings, and while nothing is all that surprising, when you tie them together, the broader themes validate some of the challenges UC players are struggling with. From that, I see some opportunities as well, and that's my cue to steer you now to my analysis. I hope you give it a read, and as always, comments and sharing are welcome.

UC/Collaboration Market Consolidation Review - UCStrategies Podcast

The past few weeks has seen a flurry of activity from just about every UC&C player not named Cisco or Microsoft. Some companies are outright looking to make moves, while others are showing expressions of interest, so there's a lot in play right now, and that has ripple effects across the full value chain. 

Interesting times for sure, and it's a prime opportunity for analysts and consultants to weigh in on what we think is happening and what it all means. That's what we talked about in our latest Industry Buzz podcast at UCStrategies. This time around, Dave Michels was our moderator, and he managed to get a wide range of insights voiced, including mine. The podcast has now been posted to the portal, and we'd love to get your thoughts after giving it a listen.

Why Are We Still Working in Offices? My Latest Article

My Rethinking Communications column for Internet Telephony Magazine has been running a few years now, and as technology keeps changing there is no end to the things that we need to rethink. 

Over the last few columns, I've been using the "Why?" theme to explore why we still use various technologies that seem out of step with today's needs. You can explore those here on my TMCnet archive page, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of them.

Continuing that theme, I'm now asking why we work in offices any more, and there are lots reasons to be thinking this way. Old habits die hard, but change happens for a reason, and when something as fundamental as the workplace comes into question, you know big things are in play. Are you seeing what I'm seeing? You can give my article a read here, and after that, I hope you'll let me know.

Our UCStrategies Podcast - Gartner's UC Magic Quadrant

That's the subject of our latest UCStrategies Industry Buzz podcast, and needless to say there were lots of perspectives from the group. If you want to know the latest state of enterprise UC, the Gartner MQ is required reading, and for the most part, there were no surprises.

Needless to say, this is really just one slice of the UC pie - it may be the biggest, but it doesn't really reflect all the disruption that keeps our community busy and gainfully employed. To me, that's where the podcast gets more interesting, and I really hope you give it a listen. It's certainly one of our most popular podcast topics, and you can access it here from the portal.

Aside from my comments on the podcast - at the 11:56 mark - much of this was amplified in my latest UCStrategies post, titled "Tomorrow's UC - Nobody's Talking About Voice", and you might enjoy that as well. And if you do, feel free to share!

My Writing Roundup - July and June - and the Bigger Picture for JAA

I've been doing a monthly digest for a while here on my blog to summarize my top posts in one place.

Most of my followers don't know that I'm published regularly on four different portals, with one of them being 12 posts each month. Additionally, I post original content here on my blog, write one-off articles that turn up in a variety of places, share my current white papers here, ghost write posts for select clients, and am cited in the media from time to time.

In short, I produce a lot of content, all of it fueled by my ongoing research and involvement in the UC&C space. These monthly digest posts are a good way to get a taste of my current thought leadership, and I hope that leads you to explore more about my practice. Almost all of the above forms of writing can be accessed here on my website, and part of the refresh I just went through was to make it easier for visitors to find everything. 

For example, if you only follow me on Ziff Davis or UCStrategies, you may think that's all I do. Spend some time here on the my site, and you'll get a fuller picture. On that note, I should add that this new site is still in beta mode, and there's LOTS more content coming soon.

Enough said, so let's get on to the roundup. This time around, I'm doing a double digest, as I didn't get a chance to do June, mainly due to the cutover from my old site to here. There's a lot to summarize over two months, so I'll just hit the high spots, and perhaps you'll explore further here on your own.

Tomorrow's UC - Nobody's Talking About Voice, UCStrategies, July 28

Should our video strategy be built by lines of business?, TechTarget, July 27

UC's Future Ain't What it Used to Be, Enterprise Management 360, July 26 (article runs on pp. 5-8; PDF version available on request)

Choosing the Right Partner for UC, Toolbox.com, July 25

The Communications Gap - it's Business and it's Personal, Vonage, my new white paper, July 25 (scroll down this page - you'll find a few references to the WP there - PDF available upon request)

Welcome to my New Site!, my blog, July 21

Three Ways IoT Impacts your Contact Center for UC, Toolbox.com, July 18

What collaboration tools are right for my organization?, TechTarget, July 14

What Connected Customers Mean for Collaboration, Toolbox.com, July 12

Reconsidering the Value of Telephony, Part 2, Toolbox.com, June 29

Assessing Deployment Options for UC, ShoreTel, new white paper, June 23 (PDF available upon request)

How Community Drives Collaboration, Toolbox.com, June 21

Is Interactive Intelligence an Exponential Organization?, UCStrategies, June 20

Five Forces Driving Collaboration, Toolbox.com, June 13

Choice - Perhaps the Best Reason why SMBs Should use Hosted VoIP, Toolbox.com, June 10

Interactions 2016 - Reimagine the Future, my blog, June 9

My New Article - Tomorrow's UC - Nobody's Talking About Voice

As a long-standing UC Expert with UCStrategies, I contribute a monthly article to help keep our overall pool of content fresh. If you follow the UC/collaboration space, and you're not a regular on our portal, I strongly urge you to spend time with us. I'm just one of many analysts and consultants working in this market, and you won't find a better one-stop-shop for what's happening and what buyers out there need to make good decisions.

Along that path, my latest analysis is about where things are going, and if you're only thinking about replacing an aging phone system, you better read this now. The content on our portal is very much on the pulse of change, and in my article I've connected the dots for three separate ideas to clarify what I think is important right now. Things change quickly in this space, and next month, it might be something else, but for today, I hope you give this a read, and would love to hear your thoughts.

New Article: UC's Future Ain't What it Used to Be

More backlog to share here from earlier this month during the cutover to my new site.

This is for an article I recently authored that is now running in the U.K.-based Enterprise Management 360 magazine. If you like Yogi Berra, I think you'll enjoy this, and is a sign of more to come that I'll be writing about in the emerging "future of work" space.

Here's the link to the promotional page for the issue - including my article - and from there, you can download the digital edition. My article runs from pages 5-8, and am happy to share the PDF version upon request.

My New White Paper for Vonage Business: The Communications Gap

This is one of several posts I need to write to clear the backlog while the cutover was happening from my old blog to this new site where the blog has now been integrated. It will take some time for my followers to find their way here, but I can also tell you that the new site is broadening my reach, so I'm also adding new followers.

Aside from working on this new site, I've been plenty busy with client work, including Vonage Business. I'm doing few things with them, with the first being a white paper to help enterprises understand the business value of UC. 

The white paper is titled: "The Communications Gap - It's Business and It's Personal", and has been featured on their website since launching a few weeks back. Response so far has been great, and you'll be hearing more about it as their go-to-market campaign unfolds.

All the details about the paper are on the Vonage Business website under the Mid-Market and Enterprise tab. Once there, scroll down a bit, and you'll see references in a few places, including a  large-sized call-out quote from me, my photo and a registration page to download the paper. Here's the link, and it won't take long to find the details. Let me know if any difficulties, and can get you a copy if the registration isn't working for you.

My Next Webinar - 5 Business Problems Addressed by UC

I do a lot of webinars, and it's time for the next one. This is another webinar with Ziff Davis, and it's coming up - next Thursday, July 28 at 2pm ET. Wanted to post about this sooner, but with the cutover to my new website/blog, I haven't been able to do that until now.

This time around, my focus will be on the business problems that UC addresses. It's easy to get caught up in the technical aspects of UC, but it's much more than a technology update. I've identified 5 business problems, and during the webinar I'll explain those further, along with what UC brings to the table as a solution. Here's the registration page, and I hope you can join us!