Enterprise Connect Update #2 - Roundtable Session on Enterprise Speech Tech

Last week, I posted my first Enterprise Connect shout-out - am one of the judges for the Innovation Showcase, so if you’re a rising star in this space, you should check out my post.

Now it’s time to get my Enterprise Connect session on your radar. If you don’t know, this is the 5th year doing my update talk on the state of speech technology applications for enterprises. This time around, we’ve varied the format, now going to a roundtable.

Previously, I’ve done a standalone 45-minute talk, but now it will be a short update talk, followed by a roundtable discussion with three speakers. Joining me will be Dan O’Connell from Dialpad, Mahesh Ram from Zoom, and Edward Miller from LumenVox. By design, it’s a varied mix of voices, and I hope you’ll join us - Wednesday, March 29 at 4pm. I’ll update this post when I find out which room we’re in, but all the other details are here.

Also, below, feel free to use my special code to get $400 off your registration fee!

New Podcast with NICE - AI in the Contact Center

I’ve got a new podcast to share, this time with NICE. Am back for another episode of CX Pulse, hosted by Amelia Earhart, and this time we’re talking about the bigger picture for how AI is - and can be - deployed in the contact center.

There’s no direct link to specific episodes, so you have to scroll through their web page, but since mine is recent, it’s near the top - “AI in the Contact Center”. Also, there is a direct link for Apple Podcast subscribers, or here on Spotify, so those are other ways to access it.

Enterprise Connect Update #1 - Innovation Showcase

Calling all innovators! This is the first of two updates for Enterprise Connect 2023, and it’s shaping up to be pretty big. Another post is coming about my panel session, but this one is for the Innovation Showcase, which has been hosted by colleague Dave Michels for a few years.

I’ve been invited to be a judge for the submissions, so I have a small role to play here, albeit behind the scenes. The theme for 2023 is “Collaboration Reimagined”, so if that’s you, your application needs to be in by March 1. To learn more, here’s the link, and if you apply, I’ll be quietly assessing your entry along with the other judges. :-)

Otherwise, as the banner below shows, I’ll be speaking - and moderating - and details are coming on that in my next post. And… if you haven’t registered yet, feel free to use the code showing there to save $400.

New White Paper for NICE - Business Value of AI Beyond the Contact Center

Got a new white paper to share - this one is for NICE, and is a bit of a sequel to an earlier white paper I did for them. I touched on it briefly during a webinar last week, and to get the full story, here’s the registration link for downloading.

Big CX News - AWS, Avaya and ChatGPT

I’ve had a lot of new work hitting at the same time, and that’s put me behind on blogging, so this is an ICYMI post. I was recently invited back to be a guest on Big CX News, hosted by Charlie Mitchell, and the current episode was posted last week.

You may have caught it via social media already, but if not, I’m in the mix for some lively discussion about, well, big CX news - is AWS really a CCaaS player, where does Avaya go from here, and will ChatGPT put us analysts out of work??? Check it out here, and I hope to be back on a future episode soon!

January Writing Roundup

January ended up being more about video and podcasting than writing, so I only have one public article to share. I did, however, write four other articles last month, two of which are ghost-written, and two will run sometime this month.

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Asynchronous Collaboration, TechTarget, Jan. 4

Future of Work Expo, Feb. 14-16 - Updates

Another update for my upcoming Future of Work Expo, taking place in Ft. Lauderdale in just a few short weeks. FOW Expo is one of the sub-events with TMCnet’s long-running ITExpo. This is my fifth go-round as Chair, and the speaking roster is just about done.

Still a handful of open panel spots, so if that’s of interest, you can review the full agenda here, and get back to me if you see a particular topic - thanks.

Since my last update, we’ve done some tweaking to the program, and there are two new topics we’ll be exploring:

• ChatGPT - FOW implications - is there anything hotter right now?

• Contact Center Evolution - is this a model for FOW?

If you haven’t attended before, here are some highlights from the 2022 event, and here’s the latest e-blast from TMCnet to help promote the show.

Next Webinar - with NICE - Tapping AI Beyond Chatbots

Got another webinar to share here. This one is with NICE, and it draws on a recent white paper I did for them. As the title in the visual below shows, we’ll be exploring the bigger picture for AI in the contact center, and why it’s much more than chatbots.

I’ll be joined by Lauren Maschio from their Product Marketing Team, and the early response has been really great, so it should be well-attended. It’s happening next Thursday, January 26 at 11 ET, and here’s the link to register.

Future of Work Expo, Ft. Lauderdale - Feb 14-16

Another shout-out for my upcoming Future of Work Expo, one of the sub-events with TMCnet’s long-running ITExpo. This is my fifth go-round as Chair, and the speaking roster is rounding out nicely. Still room on some sessions, though, so if that’s of interest, you can review the full agenda here, and get back to me if you see a particular topic - thanks.

I’ll have more updates soon, including previews for some of the panel sessions, and hope you can join us. If you haven’t attended before, here are some highlights from the 2022 event, and here’s a recent e-blast from TMCnet to help promote the show.

Next Webinar - Jan. 12 - 2023 Crystal Ball for Collaboration with IR

That’s the next webinar on my schedule - running next Thursday, Jan. 12 at 11am ET. I’m one of three analysts talking about the big trends we see happening this year around collaboration, along with IR’s CEO, John Ruthven. That would be fellow BCStrategies colleagues, Blair Pleasant and Kevin Kieller.

I hope you can join us, and the registration details are here.

New Year, New Newsletter and Podcast - January Editions Out Now

Happy 2023, all! As busy as 2022 was, this year is already looking like more of the same. Lots to write about and lots to talk about, and the latest from my end can be found in the current editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review and 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 just pick up the current episode here.

Also, if you’re not familiar with my website, there are archives now for both the newsletter and the podcast, so it’s easy to find earlier editions of each there. The current edition of WTS marks Season 6 of our podcast, so there’s a lot on offer in the archive if you want to check out earlier episodes.

December Writing Roundup

With 2022 coming to a close, I just have one public writing piece for December, and it starts an exploration of a new topic for me - more to come in future writeups.

Telemarketing Fraud Presents an Unacceptable Risk to Businesses, No Jitter, Dec. 20

Telemarketing Fraud and Risks to Businesses - My Latest on No Jitter

This week was my turn to contribute an article to No Jitter from the BC Strategies team, and it’s a big topic - telemarketing fraud. As consumers, we all know what that looks like, but since we’d rather not think about it, the rest of the story tends to live in dark corners where there’s a constant struggle to stamp out or mitigate the damage done by bad actors.

There are a lot of moving parts here, and many have a direct impact on the telecom ecosystem. I’ve been researching this space recently, and the challenges are more daunting than you might think. This is my first analysis of telemarketing fraud, and there’s lot more to explore, and I hope you give this a read here on No Jitter.

Big CX News, Episode 3 - AWS, RingCentral, and Salesforce

Last week, I was a guest analyst on UK-based Big CX News, hosted by Charlie Mitchell. He had a full panel of thought leaders, and it was fun sharing all of our perspectives on some recent big news items. Hope to do it again soon, and hope you check it out - here’s the link.

My Latest Insight Report - for Upstream Works Software

Longer-form writing takes, well, longer to do, longer to be reviewed, and longer to be published. I do a lot of writing for all lengths, and here’s a current example of what I call an Insight Report. This would be longer than an article, shorter than a white paper, but substantive enough to be gated content.

I’ve been working with Upstream Works Software for a few years now, and when the stars line up, we do a couple of these annually. The latest one has been posted to their website, and here’s the registration page to get it.

The title is pretty self-explanatory, and speaks to a key trend driving just about everything in the contact center space these days: The AI Opportunity - Enhance the Agent and Customer Experience with AI Application Integrations. I hope you like it, and if any questions, just drop me a line.

My Next SCTC Fireside Chat - Dec. 14: "I've Been Everywhere, Man!"

We all know how that song goes, and it’s the theme song for this week’s SCTC Fireside Chat. I’ll be in conversation with the host, Steve Leaden - and fellow SIPtoner - where I’ll share highlights from my recent run of travel to various industry events. This should be fun, and after the chat, you should check out the SCTC for yourself.

Here’s the 5 second trailer on Youtube, and details are here to sign up. Our Fireside Chats are from 12-1 ET most Wednesdays, and hope you can join us then!

Newsletter Time - Podcast Too - December Editions Out Now

The December issue of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review is out now, along with the latest Watch This Space podcast. As the thumb below shows, Chris and I did a roundup of the November events I attended, along with our 2022 takeaways. Hope you like it!

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 just pick up the current episode here.

If you’re not familiar with my website, there are archives for both the newsletter and the podcast. The refresh for the podcast archive is almost complete, so it’s very easy to find and listen to earlier episodes there. For the newsletter archive, the updates are mostly done, but haven’t gone live yet - coming soon!

November Writing Roundup

Another busy month with travel to events, but three public things I’d been working on were published last month, so here they are if you haven’t seen them yet.

AI for the Contact Center - It’s So Much More than Chatbots, NICE, Nov. 30

Vendors Use AI to Boost Customer Experience in the Contact Center, No Jitter, Nov. 15

The AI Opportunity: Enhance the Agent and Customer Experience with AI Application Integrations, Upstream Works, Nov. 4

New White Paper - AI for the Contact Center, with NICE

With the sub-title being “It’s so much more than chatbots”, you should get the gist pretty quickly. AI has become a must-have for contact centers, and while chatbots are often the entry point for getting on this path, the use cases are much richer.

My analysis examines the drivers for embracing AI, but also for taking a practical approach that gets beyond the hype. The white paper has been featured now on NICE’s website, and here’s the registration page to download a copy.

New Podcast - with Intermedia, Talking About Cloud Migration

UK-based EM360 enlists me to host podcasts with their sponsors from time to time, and for this episode, I was in conversation with Mark Sher from Intermedia. There’s a lot of ground to cover with cloud migration, and in the case of UCaaS - as well as CCaaS - the challenge is educating the end buyer about the rationale.

This is very much a you-can’t-get-there-from-here story, and for anyone still on the fence about cloud for business communications, you’ll want to check our podcast out. I’ve long had a nice rapport with Mark, and I hope you’ll enjoy the discussion. Here’s the link, and if you like what’s on tap, I’m sure Mark and his team would love to tell you more.