JAA’s Communications and Collaboration - September Edition 2023

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This month, our attention pivoted to the world of customer service, which is undergoing unprecedented transformation – and disruption. There are many themes to cover, and here’s the gist of what we talked about on this episode. The same technologies that contact centers have now embraced to better understand the customer journey can also be used to determine which customers are the most valuable, as well as those they’d rather do without. Ineptitude isn’t the only reason customers are driven away by bad service, and we explore how bad service can also be by design. Jon and Chris raise some darker realities of how customer service is evolving, and how transformative technologies like AI can be a double-edged sword, depending on how well business priorities are aligned with trying to be customer-centric.

  • For those of you who don’t subscribe to our podcast directly from a commercial platform – you can access it any time here on the new Watch This Space website. Otherwise, the easiest platforms and sources to find WTS are Apple Podcasts, Google Chrome/Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Overcast, iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music. Believe it or not, we’re also getting found on LinkedIn, Safari, and Alexa-enabled devices. For a more extensive replay archive, you can access all our podcasts here on my JAA website. 


What’s Up? Part 2 – JAA Highlights from August

While the Watch This Space podcast is the main form of original content for this newsletter, Part 2 here is a digest of JAA activities from last month, including my other forms of original content, along with my social media stats. More detail and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog or posted on the website.

  • Industry conferences – just one for August, but it was a good one, as I gave two well-received presentations:

    • Cooperative Technologies Conference and Expo, August 8-9, Myrtle Beach, SC – highlights here on my blog

  • Guest blog post - for Aizan:

    • How AI is Transforming Voice Communications for Business, August 31

  • Guest article - for Contact Center Pipeline: 

  • Another guest article – ran Aug. 1, so you might have missed it earlier:

  • Video segments/interviews:

    • Big UC News – topics: Verizon/Bluejeans, Zoom Phone, WhatsApp, Back to Office Woes, Aug. 30

    • ARMdevices.net – my take on Mobile World Congress Shanghai and 5G trends, published Aug. 18

  • Podcast:

    • AI and the Contact Center, with Tim Shi, CTO, Cresta, Aug. 18 

  • New kudo:

  • Writing Roundup for August – just two pieces to share – hope you can read both - it’s a monthly digest of my thought leadership across various channels, including Tech Target, No Jitter, Channel Futures, Contact Center Pipeline and BC Strategies

  • Media citings – three citations last month

  • Social media highlights - since these stats change every day, the metrics are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use Twitter and LinkedIn, and here are some approximate tallies for August:

For LinkedIn

  • I had 32,784 views and 21 posts – views are double from July, mainly due to one particular post, but that’s the highest overall tally by month this year

  • My top LinkedIn post registered 11,237 views – by far, the highest post YTD 

  • Overall, 6 posts had 1,000+ views, and 12 had 700+ views 

For Twitter/X

  • Only 1,143 impressions, and 7 new followers – by far, the lowest monthly tally ever – I think the end is near with me for this platform – I’m not a big social media person, and clearly X and I don’t have much in common any more!

  • My “top tweet” was for my video interview during MWC in Shanghai, with a measly 183 impressions - wow  


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for September

In terms of industry events, September is busy with five events – and October is even busier:

  • Canadian Communications Technology Consultants Group (CCTC) Networking Event, Sept. 7, Toronto – am giving a keynote presentation and moderating a panel session

  • Avaya Analyst Roundtable, Sept. 12, Toronto

  • Digital CxO Summit, Sept. 13 – am speaking on a panel (virtual event)

  • Huawei Connect, Sept. 20-22, Shanghai, China – details coming

  • Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA) Financial Summit 2023, Sept 26-27, NYC – will be speaking on a panel; details coming soon

Active work to keep watch for:

  • Webinar hosted by ICMI – Where to Invest for Long-Term Contact Center Success, am a panelist, Sept. 27 

  • Three case studies I have written for a vendor in the Teams ecosystem – all will be published this month

  • New CX Pulse podcast with NICE – will publish this month

  • Two ghost-written articles that should be published this month

  • Was interviewed on a podcast for a leading cloud provider – publishing any time now

  • Was profiled in an article about digital transformation trends – should run this month in a major US publication

  • New white paper being written now for a leading contact center vendor

  • Writing my first guest post about 5G IoT deployments for an online publication – details coming, and will be doing more writing here

  • Continued guest posts coming for three clients – Aizan, Upstream Works and TeamMate

  • Another white paper that a client has started, and I’ve been engaged to help finish

  • Mapping out my various speaking roles for the UC Expo event in London this October

  • Mapping out a speaking gig at an event for a Top 3 vendor in this space for October

  • Early-stage planning for my speaking role for Enterprise Connect 2024

  • My Future of Work Expo 2024 – next February in Ft. Lauderdale – firming up the agenda now, and then I’ll be reaching out to start lining up my speakers – if interested in speaking on a panel or helping develop a topic for us to explore, please get in touch


Hey, Did You Know?
… I have a new mascot? Vendors send me lots of stuff, and many of these goodies make for fun mascots. As you can from above, it’s crazy busy already for the fall, and new things just keep coming my way. Some of them don’t make it to the newsletter, but am very glad you’re following along with me here. So, to counter all that busy-ness, it’s good to power down and keep things real simple, especially with the summer weather still here.
What could be simpler and calming – not to mention super soft and soooo cute – than this guy/gal? Yup – an alpaca from NICE – the vendor, not the city in France! They treat the analyst community really well – yeah, nice – last year they took us to Marrakesh, and this fall we’re going to Machu Pichu, Peru for their 2023 Analyst Summit. Wow, huh? Updates to follow on this fantastic event, but for now, how can this not put you in a good mood, and chill out a bit before all the craziness starts again after Labor Day.

Oh – for those who pay attention – bonus points if you know what the alpaca is standing on? There’s a clue in the para above.