UCStrategies Podcast - 2015 Highlights

Everywhere you look there are 2015 reviews and predictions for 2016 - it's what we do. So, better late than never - our last UCStrategies podcast reviewed 2015 and how this bodes for the new year. We did this just before Xmas, but for some reason, it didn't get posted til now.

2016 is barely out of the gate, and our perspectives on the podcast are still very timely, so I urge you to give it a listen. Blair Pleasant was the host, and my comments start at the 9:43 mark.

Just a quick heads-up - we're doing our 2016 UC&C outlook on today's podcast, and I'll be posting about that once it's on the UCStrategies portal.

December Writing Roundup

Just like that, it's 2016 and time to get back to work. Am ramping up for a busy year, including a major refresh of my website and blog page. That's a long project, though, and the writing continues, so I'll start 2016 off with a recap of my top posts from last month. To keep track of what's keeping me busy, these posts from December will give you a pretty good idea.

2016 Collaboration Outlook - Three Things to Expect, Toolbox.com, Dec.30

How to Make Unified Communications Strategic, Internet Telephony Magazine, Dec. 21

Five Trends Driving UC in 2016, CTC Info Telecom, December 2015 newsletter, Dec. 18 - note: link here only takes you to signup form to request a copy. I can send you the PDF directly as well - just drop me a line.

8 Steps to Success with Open Source Software Projects, post and infographic, Toolbox.com, Dec. 18

Cisco Spark - is this the New Collaboration Era?, UCStrategies, Dec. 17

Choosing Between Microsoft and Google for UC, Toolbox.com, December 15

Two Things to Know About Hosted UC, Internet Telephony Magazine, Dec. 14

Why Collaboration Needs to be More Mobile-Centric, Toolbox.com, Dec. 11

The State of UC and Collaboration, Shaping Influence, Dec. 11

Three Business Benefits of the Cloud offered by UCaaS, TechTarget, Dec. 9

Why Collaboration is Harder with UC, Part 2, Toolbox.com, Dec. 8

What are the Collaboration and IoT Challenges Facing IT?, TechTarget, Dec. 4

How to Make UC Strategic - New Article

I've been writing my monthly Rethinking Communications column for TMCnet for a few years now, and even within the world of UC&C, there is always something new to consider.

My columns usually run in their flagship publication, Internet Telephony, and that's where you'll find my current article. The value of UC has always been difficult to pin down, and in this post I examine two ways to make it strategic to the business. UC is not about cost reduction, and to get buy-in, the business has to see it in different ways.

While it's easy to assume decision-makers know how to do this, that's not always the case, and in next month's issue, I'll look at two examples of how not to be strategic with UC. Until then, I hope you start at the beginning and read my current post. Comments are welcome, and sharing is great too!

My TMC Interview - State of UC&C

Before you know it, we'll be covered in snow and I'll be thinking a lot more about the ITExpo, coming later next month in Fort Lauderdale. I'm ready for Florida now, but still got work to do before signing off for a bit.

I posted recently as a preview of what I'll be up to at the Expo, and more will be coming as the date gets closer. Another way to promote the event is with editorial coverage from TMCnet, and they recently did a Q&A with me about the UC&C space.

For some reason I missed this when it came out, so am just sharing it with my followers now. The interview is running here on their Shaping Influence portal, and while you're there, that's lots of other great content to read. If my views pique your interest, comments are welcome, as is any form of sharing - thanks!

5 Trends Driving UC in 2016 - New Article

Well, it's that time of the year, huh? I get my share of requests for what to expect in 2016 from the media, and I'll share those as they get published.

This post is along those lines - "5 Trends Driving UC in 2016" - but is rooted in a presentation I gave back in October rather than what a journalist asked me yesterday about the year ahead. My presentation was for the Telecom 2015 conference here in Toronto, and if you follow my blog, you'll already know that.

As a companion piece, the show producer asked me to write an article based on the presentation for publication in the next Info Telecom magazine. This is the quarterly publication of the CTC - Community of Telecommunications Consultants - of which I am a member.

The print edition is out, and so is the digital version, which all members get. However, the publisher is happy to share this and help build awareness of the CTC. I'm happy to do that, and of course, to share my article with my readers.

You can access the article here, but only after registering, which anyone can do. Instead, if you want to get a PDF of the full December 2015 magazine directly, please drop me a line.

Cisco and the New Era of Collaboration

That was a big theme at last week's Cisco Collaboration Summit, and I've put my thoughts together around that in my current post for UCStrategies. The lines are blurring between UC and collaboration, and while Cisco only talks about the latter these days, there's a lot of UC in what the latest iteration of Spark can do. If they end up owning the market, those terms will go away and Spark will simply become a verb that encompasses all these applications. I'll bet they'd love for that to happen, but that's another conversation.

For now, I'll steer you to my post on the UCStrategies portal. I'm only touching on three big takeaways here, but there's a lot more we could be talking about from the summit. Perhaps another time, perhaps another place, perhaps on a Spark session!

Two Things to Know About Hosted UC

That's the theme of my current Rethinking Communications column for TMCnet's Internet Telephony Magazine. Every month I examine different themes in terms of communications technologies that business decision-makers might need to rethink. There's still a lot of legacy technology out there - much of which is working very well - and with that comes varying degrees of legacy thinking about the value of these technologies.

Hosted UC is one such topic, and that's the focus of my column running in the current issue. There's a lot to like about the cloud, but before jumping in - or up - a few realities need to be considered, and my post addresses two of them. I hope you give it a read, and if you care to comment and/or share, that would be great.

Business Benefits of the Cloud for UCaaS

My UCaaS series for Tech Target continues on their SearchUC portal, where the takeup has been very good. In the first post, I defined UCaaS and explained why it's becoming so popular now.

For the latest post, my focus shifts to outlining the business benefits of hosting UC in the cloud, along with three use cases where UCaaS has strong value. This post is running now on Tech Target, and part 3 in my series will run a few days from now.

UC Summit/BC Summit Podcast

Somehow I missed this last week - better late than never. I recently posted my takeaways about the UC Summit, and since then, we did our own post-mortem via our regular UCStrategies podcast.

Lots to digest, not just because it was a really solid conference, but also because we launched our new identity changeover from UC Summit to BC Summit. That process will unfold over time, but it reflects how the nature of UC&C has evolved, and how our focus as analysts and consultants has had to change along with that.

The podcast was ably moderated as usual by Michael Finneran, and you can download it here from our portal.

Upcoming Webinar - "BYOD Mobility or Bust"

I do my share of webinars, but for a change this one isn't mine. Am just doing a friendly shout-out for Voxvalley, who is doing their own webinar this Thursday.

The topic is a familiar one for me, and wanted to help get the word out. It's got a catchy title: "The Death of the Desktop IP Phone. BYOD Mobility or Bust!" Am not sure if that's a promise or a threat, but it's not hard to make the case that the desk phone is in terminal decline. If you accept that premise, then developing a business plan around BYOD should be a priority for 2016.

To learn more about why this is important and what businesses should be doing, sign up now. Here's the registration page, and after that, mark your calendar for this Thursday at 2pm ET.

Telecom 2015 Video Interviews - Here's Mine

I really enjoyed the Telecom 2015 conference here in Toronto back in October. On Day 2, I presented on UC trends for 2016, and am hoping to hear soon about how the video of that turned out.

Otherwise, earlier during the conference, I was interviewed by Chris Henry about my practice as an analyst as well as what I'm seeing in the Canadian market. This was part of a series of inteviews done on video by the FOX Group, and they've all been posted now to their FOX Group TV channel on YouTube.

Here's the clip Chris did while interviewing me, and will update my blog once there's news on the video of my presentation. Otherwise, to check out more about the conference, I posted about it here, and wrote a recap article for UCStrategies.

Next Stop - San Francisco and Cisco's Collab Summit

I don't travel extensively, but am in the midst of traveling three weeks out of four, but after that I'm staying local til mid-January.

Next week, I'll be at the Cisco Collaboration Summit in San Francisco - what's not to like? This has been a regular event with me for a while, and it's definitely going to be interesting. If you follow my writing, you'll know I distinguish between UC and collaboration, and next week we'll be hearing a lot about Spark.

It's too early to tell where this fits in their overall UC&C roadmap, as well as what kind of revenue contributionk Spark can bring Cisco. Given the recent Atos/Unify deal, Cisco is no doubt paying close attention to the need to properly support these new collaboration platforms, as well as get a sense how this will impact their more established UC business.

If you're wondering about the same things, check my blog next week, and for more timely updates, please follow me on twitter - @arnoldjon.

November Writing Roundup

No two months are ever the same for me, but November was another busy one with a continued variety of articles, thought leadership and speaking at conferences. Here are the highlights, and any sharing is greatly appreciated!

Where do IoT and Collaboration Technologies Intersect?, TechTarget, Nov. 25

UC Summit - Three Takeaways - Searching for the Center - UCStrategies, Nov. 25

UC as a Service Emerging as a Viable Deployment Model, TechTarget, Nov. 24

Why Collaboration is Harder with UC, Toolbox.com, Nov. 24

How to Collaborate Without a Phone System, Toolbox.com, Nov. 18

ITExpo - Never too Early for Florida, my blog, Nov. 13

UCaaS Vendor Landscape - Microsoft and Google, Toolbox.com, Nov. 12

UCaaS - Three Reasons to Think Twice, Toolbox.com, Nov. 9

Choosing a VoIP Vendor - New Buyer's Guide - TechTarget, Nov. 6

My Next Webinar - So, You Think You Can Collaborate? - Toolbox.com, Nov. 5

UCaaS - Three Reasons to Adopt - Toolbox.com, Nov. 2

New Series on UCaaS for Tech Target

I've done a few series recently for Tech Target and their Search Unified Communications portal, and they continue to attract a strong readership.

My latest is on UCaaS - UC as a Service - a topic I've been researching and writing about quite a lot lately. As with the other series, I'm doing a three-part analysis of UCaaS, and each writeup stands on its own.

The first post is running now on their portal, and Parts 2 and 3 are coming soon.

Also, these writeups will be followed by an analysis of the key vendors, done by another writer. Once these run, all of this will be bundled into a free-standing UCaaS Buyer's Guide, which makes for a nice all-in resource for decision makers.

UC Summit - Three Takeaways - Searching for the Center

I was part of last week's UC Summit, and what really stood out for me was how fragmented this space is becoming. There seem to be several centers of gravity now, and tracking them all is, well, what we try to do at UCStrategies.

For those of you who weren't there, I've written up my thoughts, which are summed up into three basic themes. They all bring me to same conclusion that there may not a true center any more for UC, so you have to stay on top of a few trends to get the big picture.

Am not sure where this is taking us, but there are a lot of companies now vying for your business. However you define the pool of vendors to consider, it's only going to get bigger, and I hope my post helps make that clear. It's running now on the UCStrategies portal, and as always your comments are welcome.

UC Summit - First Take

Wanted to get a quick post out and share some photos from the first full day of the UC Summit. The conference actually started on Sunday, and I spoke on the first session. I also moderated a session yesterday, and so far, the content has been consistently first rate. There's a healthy mix here of consultants, end customers and sponsors, and it's great to have access to all this in a vendor-neutral setting.

Aside from the familiar players - and most all the majors are here - it's great to have so many new ones that you wouldn't normally associate with the UC space, such as Google, Tata, Vonage and newcomer Redbooth.

The UC&C space is undergoing major disruption - and understanding that is the big takeaway overall from this event. To reflect that, we've adapted too, with the new name and logo being launched. Going forward, the UC Summit will now be known as the BC Summit - Business Communications.

I'll have more to say about this in my wrapup post, which will follow once I'm back from the summit. Until then, here are some photos from yesterday.

Jim Burton welcoming the audience, with the new BC Summit logo behind him

Vendor roundtable - well, looks more like a new offensive line formation - great session, but too short for so many people

Dave Michels talking about how disuptive the new messaging-based collaboration platforms are - totally agree

Blair Pleasant and Kevin Kieller talking about usage and adoption challenges for UC

Clark Peterson of Vonage Business explaining why they're in this business and how well they understand the changing needs of end users, especially Millennials

ITExpo Preview - Never too Early for Florida

It's getting chilly in Toronto, and am already thinking about the warm Florida sun. TMC's next ITExpo isn't until late January, but the conference agenda was announced earlier this week, so it's time to start talking about it.

The conference continues to evolve, and I've had a small hand in adding new topics to keep the agenda fresh. To that end I'll be moderating two sessions, and if others materialize, I'll post those later.

"Are You Communicating or Collaborating?"  This is on the UC track, and runs Wednesday at 2:30

"Making Video Easy - How Hard Can it Be?" This is on the Business Transformation track, and runs Thursday at 10am.

For some reason, the agenda page on the website doesn't provide specific links for each session, so to learn more, you have to go to the main agenda page and scroll down to the right time - or filter search by track or day.

Lots more updates to come, and it's not too early to be making plans for Fort Lauderdale!

Atos Acquisition of Unify - UCStrategies Podcast

This move last week came out of the blue for most of us, and with so little detail being made public, it's hard to know what's really going on. Atos is not well known in North America, and while Unify isn't a household word so much here either, they also bet heavily on Circuit. I've had my own reservations about Circuit, and one could view this deal as a sign that after a year, they've run out of time/patience/resources to realize its potential.

I'm just one voice among many, and if you're wondering what to make of the Atos/Unify deal, our latest UCStrategies podcast should be your next stop. The podcast was moderated by Dave Michels, and he engaged several of us in a lively discussion. It's been posted now, and I hope you give it a listen. We'd love to hear your thoughts as well!

UC Summit - Starts This Sunday

Got a few conferences coming up now, with the next one starting on Sunday. It's the UC Summit, an event I've blogged and written about before. This post is a friendly reminder that we're just a few days away. I fly there Sunday morning, and presuming there are no travel hiccups, I'll be on my first panel at 2pm that afternoon. Slides are all ready, and am looking forward to La Jolla!

As per my last post, here's everything else you need to know about the summit, along with what I'll be speaking about.

As a UC Expert, I'm part of the UCStrategies team that is presenting great content on all things UC&C, and we'll have a solid mix of customers, vendors, consultants/analysts and channels. This year, I'll be speaking on two sessions:

Sunday at 2pm - Contact Center Update

Monday at 5pm - The Changing Role of IT and Shift in Technology Decision-Making

For more detail, here's the summit agenda, along with full details about the conference. We also issued a news briefrecently outlining how this year's summit will be structured.

Also, if you missed last week's podcast, we did a preview of the summit. I was away and couldn't participate, but there's plenty here to get you excited about what's coming.

Choosing a VoIP Vendor - New Buyer's Guide

I've been writing a few different series for TechTarget's Search Unified Communications portal, including one on VoIP for businesses. I contributed a series of three features on this topic, and have cited those here on my blog as they are published.

Another way to track these - along with the various other forms of content I write for them - is to view my profile page on the site.

Aside from being published on a serialized basis, these three VoIP features are also part of a more comprehensive buyer's guide, with additional content prepared by another contributor that profiles the leading vendors. This has all been pulled together under the title "Choosing a VoIP Vendor", and has just been published on their portal.

For anyone just starting down the path with VoIP, I think this will be a valuable resource, but I'll let you be the judge. Comments are welcome as always, as is any form of sharing.