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

Having returned from Enterprise Connect the night before, the time was right to talk about takeaways from the 2024 edition, of which there were many. Before talking about how AI has now become the main focus of the event, we felt compelled to put things in perspective first. This conference used to be solely about PBXs – hardware-based telephony – and we reviewed how the communications technology space has been radically transformed in very little time by AI. Digital natives may not find this perspective relevant, but trust us, it is, and we’ll leave it for you to decide after giving our latest episode a listen.

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 March

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 events – following travel to five industry events in February, I was very happy to have just one event last month, albeit the biggest event of the year in our space:
- Enterprise Connect, Orlando, March 25-28
- I spoke on two sessions – one as the leader and presenter, and one as a panelist
Podcasts – two were recorded - but one had an audio glitch and needs to be re-done – and another one is still awaiting a recording date:
- Caller ID Reputation Podcast – I recorded another episode with Gerry Christensen about current KYC issues for managing telecom fraud – see March 19 blog post
- Kristine Konrad’s new podcast – Innovative Tac-Tips – I’ve been announced as an upcoming guest – recording date TBD

Video segments – two short ones last month, both for UC Today; plus a few others taken during Enterprise Connect, but they haven’t come across my radar yet:
- Interview with Intermedia, but not published yet
- Two-minute takeaways during Enterprise Connect – more detail further below
White paper – for NICE, registration link required:
- The Supervisor Opportunity – Using AI to Reposition the Role from Operational to Strategic
Mini-report – for Aizan, also gated content:
- US Contact Center Market Review and the Qtivity Opportunity
Writing roundup for March – details here – three posts to share, and I think you’ll enjoy reading all of them!
Media citings – surprisingly, no citings to report for March

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 LinkedIn – fyi: have now stopped using Twitter/X – so, here are my approximate tallies for LinkedIn during March:
- I had 53,832 views and 49 posts – well-above average, mainly due to activity during Enterprise Connect
- My top LinkedIn post registered 3,048 views
- Overall, 9 posts had 1,000+ views, and 27 posts had 500+ views

What's Coming? JAA Outlook for April

Under normal conditions, the road would continue for me in April, as I have five events on the travel calendar. However, I’m having minor foot surgery soon, and will be off my feet for a bit, and definitely no air travel for pretty much the whole month. Too bad, but I’ll be working as usual, and where possible, will follow these events remotely.
Active work to keep watch for:

One new white paper will be publishing soon
Continued guest posts coming – some with my byline and some without – will post about these as they are published
New projects are in play with several vendors, both current and new clients
Several companies I met with at Enterprise Connect are promising prospects, and should lead to new project work very soon

Hey, Did You Know?

… all you need is two minutes to get the gist of what Enterprise Connect was like? Dave Michels and I know how to work a room, and we really should take this on the road. Here’s the link from UC Today on LinkedIn Live with our take – and then some - enjoy.

While I have you, this is a good spot to share some other photos from Enterprise Connect. See anybody you know? Will share more in upcoming articles and posts about the show.
Below: my panel session on the state of speech tech and AI in the enterprise (photo – Dan Miller), at the SCTC booth with Fran Blackburn

NICE sure had a strong presence at the show – speaking of which - Chris Irwin-Dudek and Schevone Johnson, Dan Miller by the sign

I caught Amir Hameed in a good moment while speaking at the RingCentral booth, with Fred Hussey from Aizan and Vonage CEO Niklas Heuveldop, with Doug Green and his ubiquitous Telecom Reseller podcast

Ok, yes, there is some upside to all this gruelling travel – 30-year Highland Park at Jim Burton’s famous scotch/wine tasting event – wow, enjoying a sip looking at the incredible atrium here, tomahawks at the RingCentral reception – yummy!