JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - January Edition

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What’s Up? Part 1- Our Latest Watch This Space Podcast

Season 8 of Watch This Space began with our look-ahead to 2025, where the main topics were how we see workplaces and workspaces evolving, why small language models will have their moment, and our concerns about how AI is becoming baked into everything. On another tangent, we discussed how sensibilities in the digital age are so different from the analog world we are grounded in, and why that’s making it easier for AI to take hold. We also continued the literary theme from our last episode by revisiting some lingering thoughts from the sci-fi novella With Folded Hands, then veering into another AI-related must-read, Benjamin Labatut’s The MANIAC. If you’re wondering why DeepMind’s AlphaGo is a foreboding sign for how AI could reshape our very humanity, this is the book for you.

Chris Fine on office space evolution for 2025: 
“I think the trend is more hospitality-like than a traditional type of office – the lighting is more subdued, the space is more welcoming and comforting, more oriented toward collaborative work – but also quiet work if needed.”

  • NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – a new look and feel coming for January – a refresh has been in the works for a while – I think you’ll like it, and will help kick off Season 8!

  • NEWISH FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – we’ve added two new channels for broader distribution:

    • For EM360, a dedicated website has been created, and hosts the 10 most recent episode. You can read more about this, along with all the related links in this blog post of mine.

    • For TMC and Future of Work Expo, TMC is now a media sponsor for the podcast. This does not impact our content or topics in any way, but since the podcast is about the future of work, we’ll talk more about the sponsorship in the context of my Future of Work Expo. There’s a natural tie-in here, as the podcast is another way to support the Expo. In return, the podcast is now in regular banner rotation on three of their sites: TMCnet, our Future of Work Expo website, and their Future of Work Newssite. If you visit any of these sites on a regular basis, sooner or later, you will see banners for Watch This Space podcast, where all those clicks link directly to our WTS website.

  • AND… we’ve added an additional mail-out for newsletter subscribers, specifically about the podcast. In case you don’t check it out now, it will provide more detail about the episode to encourage you to give it a listen then. Watch for that in about a week’s time!

  • 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 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 December

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. Detail and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog, or posted on my website.

  • Industry events: nothing for December, but several on the calendar from February onward 

  • Video segments:  

  • Podcasts:

    • In conversation with CloudBolt about finops and AI, Tech Transformed podcast for EM360, Dec. 11 

    • In conversation with CallTower about UC business models for channel to offer customers, UC Today, recorded Dec. 12, but not yet published

  • Webinars:

  • Writing roundup for December – digest here on my blog

  • Media citings – three for December

  • Social media highlights - since these stats change every day, they are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use LinkedIn – I’ve stopped using Twitter/X for some time – so, here are my approximate tallies for LinkedIn during December:

    • I had 8,524 views and 19 posts – very light month for traffic, but the drop-off is consistent with previous Decembers

    • My top LinkedIn post registered only 721 views – only month during 2024 where the busiest post had under 1,000 views

    • Overall, only 2 posts had 500+ views

What's Coming? JAA Outlook for January

  • No industry events for January – none on the calendar, but will also be away for two weeks on a personal trip

  • Active work to keep watch for:

    • Article about the importance of call testing for CX

    • Article about the rationale for integrating UCaaS and CCaaS

    • Article highlighting my new market study for Aizan about the on-hold experience

    • Finished another white paper for a leading CCaaS vendor about how AI can be used to elevate CX – should be published this month

    • For my Future of Work Expo event – running next Feb. 11-13 - here’s the latest e-blast outlining what’s on for the events, the press release announcing the agenda, and Call for Speakers for anyone interested in being on a panel or to propose a new topic

    • Continued guest posts coming – some with my byline and some without – will post about these as they are published – those with my byline will be shared as they are published

    • New projects are in play with several vendors, both current and new clients


Hey, Did You Know?

… 2024 was my best year so far, and going into my 20th year as an independent technology analyst, I figure I must be doing something right, so my plan is to stay the course. 

Normally, I do a by-the-numbers year in review for this issue, but time is short, so you’ll have to get in touch if you really want to know how many conferences, how many articles, how many webinars, how many new clients, etc. there were for JAA during 2024. 

I will, however, share my month-by-month LinkedIn traffic tally below. As you can see, there were several strong months during 2024, with February being the highest month I’ve ever had. My overall number of views for 2024 was 434,580 – my highest annual count to date, and was a solid 30% higher than 2023.