JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - December Edition

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We mixed things up for the December episode, with our first-ever book review. A novelette, actually, from the sci-fi genre, that we found to be very timely. Written by Jack Williamson in 1947, With Folded Hands is a prescient story about a world that’s looking very familiar, and with Humanoids running everything, the parallels to the trend du jour – Agentic AI – are pretty striking. We discussed what it all means, and after you listen to us, we hope you’ll give it a read. In response to the conformity that comes with this brave new world, we raised the question about where is the next Bob Dylan to push back on all this? Following that, we reviewed our recent industry events – CREtech, ISC East, and the Talkdesk Analyst Summit. Being the last episode for 2024, we closed out with some big picture takeaways from this year, along with some things we’re expecting for 2025.

On the potential impact of Agentic AI and future of work:

“As these autonomous applications come in, they’ll be doing more and more of our everyday tasks at work – meeting summaries, writing emails, planning meetings. Basically, your personal bot is doing all these things – just like With Folded Hands, there’s nothing left for us to do. This is a big existential future of work issue – we’re going down that path, and it takes us right back to the story, where that’s exactly what happened.”

  • 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 November

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 – 1 for November:

    • Talkdesk 2024 Analyst Event, Charleston, SC, Nov. 18-20

  • Video segments – recorded and published:  

  • Video segments – recorded, but not yet published:

    • 2025 UC Predictions, UC Today

    • Hot Take on 2025 AI Investment Trends, RingCentral

  • Market research report – just published, in partnership with Aizan – US Consumers’ Attitudes Towards Contact Center Queues – Nov. 21

  • Awards judging – am back for the Paris-based 2024 Epica Awards – judging has completed, and short list has been announced – details here

  • Writing roundup for November – digest here on my blog

  • Media citings – just one last month 

  • 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 November:

    • I had 25,571 views and 23 posts – a tad higher than October

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 7,373 views

    • Overall, 5 posts had 1,000+ views, and 10 had 500+ views


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for December

  • No industry events for December – but plenty lining up for early 2025

  • Active work to keep watch for:

    • Webinar with NICE – Can Customer Journeys be Automated with AI? – Dec. 12, register here

    • New podcast recorded December 2 with a FinOps vendor in partnership with EM360

    • Completed two writeups for Contact Center Pipeline – both will run in the January issue

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

    • Just finished another white paper for a leading CCaaS vendor about how AI can be used to elevate CX – should be published during December

    • 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?

… I do more writing than speaking, but that got flipped last month. As per above, I had six video segments that ran during November, and here’s a peek from being on both sides of the mike – hope you check out the links as well.

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - November Edition

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

With travel to industry events in full swing during October, we had a lot of ground to cover. Jon recapped both events from earlier in the month – Verint, British Telecom and UC Expo – along with previewing upcoming October events that were to take place after our podcast was recorded, namely Cisco WebexOne and NICE Analyst Summit – which took Jon to Zambia. From Chris’s end, he updated us on VON Evolution (now vCon), where Jeff Pulver’s community explored the future of voice and conversations, then WorkTech, where the focus was on the return to office side of hybrid work, and how the corporate real estate world is thinking about these things. Things are never dull here on Watch This Space, and this episode will update you on the worlds of AI, customer experience and future of work in more ways than you might imagine.

On the bigger picture for getting an ROI with AI in the enterprise:

`“There’s huge pressure in enterprises to show an ROI on all that data (from AI)… every line of business has its own needs and priorities for what the data for their lines of business means to them… the pressure on IT now isn’t just about getting optimum network performance – that’s the meta level – but the actual data itself is creating all these new forms of intelligence that AI is harvesting for its learning models.”


NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – as mentioned above, we’ve added two new channels for broader distribution. Aside from listening to us talk about, here’s the gist for the updates:

  • 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 News site. 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.

  • ALSO NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – but less recent - we’ve now 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 October

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 – 3 for October, all in-person:

    • British Telecom Focus 2024, London, Oct. 1 – photos here

    • UC Expo, London, Oct. 2-3 – photos here

    • NICE Analyst Summit, Livingstone, Zambia, Oct. 21-24 - photos here

  • Video segments – recorded and published:  

    • Big UC News – updates on Intermedia, Slack, HP and X, Oct. 2

    • UC Today – interviewed during UC Expo, Oct. 2

    • EM360 – interviewed during UC Expo, Oct. 2

  • Video segments – recorded, but not yet published:

    • Interview with RingCentral, during UC Expo

    • Interview with 8x8, during UC Expo

  • 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 October:

    • I had 24,235 views and 25 posts – about 60% higher than September

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 2,370 views

    • Overall, 9 posts had 1,000+ views, and 13 had 500+ views


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for November

  • I have one in-person event for November:

    • Talkdesk 2024 Analyst Event, Charleston, SC, Nov. 18-20

  • Two video segments coming up:

    • SCTC – am going to be Steve Leaden’s guest on the Nov. 6 edition of Fireside Chat, where I’ll be reviewing highlights from my recent conferences

    • UC Today – will be a panelist for the November edition of Big UC News

  • Active work to keep watch for:

    • Watch for commentary about a new market research study I just finished with a vendor in the customer service space

    • New podcast recordings being scheduled now for November in partnership with EM360

    • Just finished another white paper for a leading CCaaS vendor about how AI can be used to elevate CX – should be published during November

    • 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?

… I was a pretty global guy last month, where my airport stops included London, New York, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Livingstone and Zurich. Not my normal itinerary, and here’s a quick taste of where my travels took me.

First stop, London for the UC Expo – on the Ask the Analyst panel, and at the British Telecom Focus 24 analyst event.

Enroute to Zambia – long layover at Frankfurt. My new best friend for long trips – NapCabs, where you can rent a sleeper pod by the hour – great idea. At the Lufthansa lounge – when in Germany, local beer goes with just about anything.

In Zambia, for the NICE Analyst Summit – the executive Q&A session, with Barry Cooper, Einat Weiss and Barak Eilam. During our safari outing, as he always does, Barak gets a group selfie.

Just a taste of Africa below, and several more photos were in my LinkedIn posts during the event, along with my blog post, which was referenced earlier. First - helicopter view of Victoria Falls – think Niagara Falls, but bigger and more dramatic. Next - my turn to feed the elephants – no doubt this guy is the alpha male for this group.

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - October Edition

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

October marks the start of the busy season for technology events, and we provided a preview of what’s coming, namely Jeff Pulver’s new-and-improved VON event, Verint Engage, British Telecom’s Focus analyst event, the UC Expo in London, and NICE’s analyst event in Zambia. Ahead of that we introduced changes coming to the podcast, both for updating the format, and two new channels where WTS can be found – TMCnet, and EM360. On the tech news front, we discussed the implications of Amazon’s new mandate for full-time back to the office – definitely a Watch This Space topic.

  • NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – as mentioned above, we’ve added two new channels for broader distribution. Aside from listening to us talk about, here’s the gist for the updates:

    • 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.

  • ALSO NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – but less recent - we’ve now 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 September

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 – 

    • Sprinklr, Source24, NYC, Sept. 9-11 (unfortunately, I had to cancel last-minute)

    • Verint Engage24, Orlando, FL, Sept. 23-25

  • Video segments – recorded and published:  

    • IoT Marketing – short excerpt from my fireside chat session with Tiffani Neilson about AI evolving role in the enterprise

    • Nutun – guest on their Global Experience podcast

    • Parallel Universe – guest on Glenn Goldberg’s podcast – need I say more?

    • EM360 podcast on the AI in the contact center

    • Verint – Blue Room guest interview on LinkedIn about AI and CX

  • Video segment – recorded, but not yet published:

    • Big UC News, recorded Sept. 26

  • White paper – new paper for NICE on digital self-service is published now

  • Awards Judging – am back for the 2024 Talkdesk CX Innovators Awards - entries have closed now, and the judging process is now underway 

  • Writing roundup for September – just one post - here on my blog

  • Media citings – three during September – you can review them here

  • 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 September:

    • I had 14,832 views and 30 posts – very similar to August’s numbers

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 1,832 views

    • Overall, 7 posts had 500+ views


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for October

  • I have three in-person events for October:

    • British Telecom Focus 2024, London, Oct. 1

    • UC Expo, London, Oct. 2-3

    • NICE Analyst Summit, Livingstone, Zambia, Oct. 21-24 

  • Active work to keep watch for:

    • Watch for commentary about a new market research study I just finished with a vendor in the customer service space

    • Just finished another white paper for a leading CCaaS vendor about how AI can be used to elevate CX

    • 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, 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

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


Hey, Did You Know?

… the time comes for all of us, and it came far too soon for Alan Percy. I can count one, maybe two hands for the people I’ve worked with in this space from the beginning, who I’m still close to. Alan was definitely one of them, and at this point, it’s as much about friendship as being peers in the world of tech. 
Sadly, he had very recently retired, and was ready for the next chapter, but this wasn’t the plan. My partner, Sara and I, spent time with Alan and his family last December, when we drove down from Toronto to see my Patriots play his Bills. They were gracious hosts, and Alan gave us the down-home tour of where the locals go in Buffalo.  
More on Alan’s story here, and am sharing a nice photo of us after eating at the legendary Schawbl’s during our Bills trip. They don’t make eateries like this any more, they don’t make ‘em like Alan any more. RIP, sir.

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - September Edition

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

Our September episode began by talking about the best things that came from the summer. In terms of technology, the highlight was how good streaming has become, and how great a showcase the Paris Olympics were for this. From there, Jon talked about the recent NCEC Technology Conference for rural utilities in North Carolina, where he returned as a speaker. He reviewed the challenges and opportunities they face for adopting AI, along with highlights from his session on the use of conversational AI in the contact center. 

  • NEW FOR WATCH THIS SPACE – starting last month, we’ve now 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 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. Detail and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog, or posted on my website.

  • Video segment – recorded and published:  

    • Big UC News – industry roundup, including Microsoft Teams Premium, Avaya’s new CEO and the CrowdStrike outage

  • Webinars

    • NICE - in support of my new white paper for them, Aug. 8

    • VentureBeat – video segment on impact of AI on enterprises, in conversation with Gary Sorrentino from Zoom, moderated by VentureBeat’s Thom Langford, Aug. 19

  • Awards Judging – returning for the 2024 Talkdesk CX Innovators Awards

  • Writing roundup for August – summary of posts is here on my blog

  • 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 August:

    • I had 13,088 views and 25 posts – almost identical to July’s numbers

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 2,093 views

    • Overall, 5 posts had 700+ views


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for September

  • After a travel-light summer, I have two conferences for September: 

    • Sprinklr, Source24, NYC, Sept. 9-11

    • Verint Engage24, Orlando, FL, Sept. 23-25

  • Active work to keep watch for:

    • 3 podcast interviews coming in September: with EM360, Nutun, and Glenn Goldberg’s Parallel Universe (all were supposed to run in August)

    • For my Future of Work Expo event – running next Feb. 11-13 - here’s the 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

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


Hey, Did You Know?
…this what no travel for industry events looks like – at least in August. Our summers are short, and it won’t be long til travel resumes again, so am taking in the moment. Hope you did the same during your off-the-clock time this summer! 

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - August Edition

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

Here’s a taste of what Chris and I had going on the podcast, talking about the Patagonia class action lawsuit for how they’ve been using AI:
            “Using everyday conversations to train AI models raises issues of consent and privacy, and it shows you how disruptive and transformative new technologies can become – and when they hit, they happen big and fast. We’re in so deep now with these technologies, we just can’t walk away.

  • The main focus for our August episode was on the recent Leesman Corporate Real Estate Poll, and the emerging need for enterprise leaders to develop a workplace strategy. Senior management has numerous priorities to manage for their organization to function effectively; such as employee experience, office utilization and cost management, but they lack the tools to develop an integrated strategy. This where AI comes in, not just for integrating disparate elements across the organization, but also to provide the datasets management needs to make decisions and develop strategies. We discussed how there’s an unmet need here, and a possible opportunity for the UCaaS and CCaaS vendors, who are already capturing much of this data with their AI-driven platforms. Our discussion was based on my recent No Jitter article, which includes a link to the Leesman research. Ahead of all this, we opened the episode with a review of recent tech and AI missteps, namely CrowdStrike, Patagonia and Ticketmaster – not just for the risks we’re all exposed to, but also for how dependent we’re becoming on Big Tech.

  • 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 July

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 – none for July, but I had plenty keeping me busy

  • Video segments – recorded and published:  

    • Big UC News – industry roundup, including NICE launching UCaaS, state of RingCentral’s partnerships, and Microsoft’s anti-competitive case in the EU

    • Let’s Do Video Boardroom – my first guest spot with David Maldow, talking about the future of UC and contact centers, July 15

    • Intelligent Thinking AI Summit – a virtual IoT event, where I did a fireside chat about AI trends and opportunities with Tiffani Neilson, July 18

  • Video/podcast segments – recorded but not yet published:

    • Big UC News – industry roundup, including MSFT Teams Premium, Avaya layoffs, and implications of CrowdStrike’s mini meltdown, Aug. 1

    • VentureBeat – video segment on impact of AI on enterprises, in conversation with Gary Sorrentino from Zoom, moderated by VentureBeat’s Thom Langford, July 31

  • New kudo – Named a UC All-Star, UC Today, July 11 

  • Writing roundup for July – summary of posts is here on my blog

  • Media citings – there were two for July, listed here

  • 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 July:

    • I had 15,863 views and 25 posts – about half of June’s activity, but not surprising given I had no travel, plus a lighter vibe with summer in full swing

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 1,377 views

    • Overall, 8 posts had 500+ views


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for August

  • For conferences, I have one for August - returning to NCEC to speak and be on a fireside chat with Cognigy about the growing role of AI in the contact center for utilities:

    • North Carolina Electric Co-operatives Technologies Conference, Wilmington, NC, Aug. 13-15

  • Active work to keep watch for:

    • Two white papers are complete now, and will be publishing this month, finally – one with Cisco, and one with NICE

    • NICE webinar on August 8, in support of my new white paper for them

    • 3 podcast interviews coming in August: with EM360, Nutun, and Glenn Goldberg’s Parallel Universe

    • Fall is just around the corner, and that means conferences – details coming next month, but for now, I have two events on tap for September – Sprinklr and Verint

    • For my Future of Work Expo event – running next Feb. 11-13 - here’s the 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

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


Hey, Did You Know?
… there’s more to life than being an indie tech analyst, and with our summers being so short, when a cottage opening comes, you have to take it. Sometimes it’s enough just to watch the waves and the clouds go by – with no AI in sight. We had a window for that during July, and another one coming for August – woo hoo!

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - July Edition

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

Both of us attended major industry events during June, with Chris at HPE Discover, and myself at NICE Interactions – both in Las Vegas, as it turns out. HPE and NICE are different companies in different spaces, but both were showcasing how they’re pushing the envelope with AI. Given our focus on future of work and digital transformation, Chris noted the impact of AI-driven network technologies on smart buildings and how that can support return to office. With NICE, I reviewed how their vision for AI is taking us to a world where live and virtual agents will work symbiotically, much like the Digital Centaur that may some day come to transform the workplace. Aside from our take on these events, we took some side roads to expound on Vegas’s unique vibe, and how HPE’s acquisition of Juniper is another example of Big Tech getting bigger.

  • 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 June

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 – two for June, plus a local event:

    • Zoholics – Zoho’s customer event, June 4-5, Austin

    • NICE Interactions 2024 - June 10-12, Las Vegas

    • RingCentral – invited to attend an update session with consultants, June 18, Toronto

  • Video segments – recorded and published:  

    • Big UC News – news roundup, including MSFT Teams, Zoom, RingCentral and Avaya – June 12

  • Video/podcast segments – recorded but not yet published:

    • Glenn Goldberg’s soon-to-be-rebooted Parallel Universe Podcast – very fun, coming soon

  • Industry awards judging – in addition to the 2024 UC Awards, I’m doing judging again for Talkdesk’s 2024 CX Innovators Awards

  • Writing roundup for June – summary of posts is here on my blog

  • 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 June:

    • I had 34,570 views and 35 posts – a bit lighter than May, but fifth month running with over 25,000 views

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 5,298 views

    • Overall, 4 posts had 1,000+ views, and 14 had 600+ views


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for July

  • For conferences, am happy to report there is no event travel during July!

  • Active work to keep watch for:

  • Two white papers are complete now, and will be publishing soon

  • Big UC News – was part of the latest roundup of industry news, recorded June 28 

  • NICE webinar on August 8, in support of my new white paper for them

  • For my Future of Work Expo event – running next Feb. 11-13 - here’s the Call for Speakers for anyone interested in being on a panel or to propose a new topic

  • This August, I’ll be returning to the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives Technologies Conference in Wilmington, NC for another session on AI use cases – this time with one of the leading conversational AI vendors – details next issue

  • 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


Hey, Did You Know?
… that AI is good at some things, and not-so-good at other things? Often at industry events, there will be a sketch artist doing caricatures, and in my experience, some have been good and others awful. Turns out that AI isn’t any different, at least based on the gallery of images it came up with for attendees at NICE Interactions.
At the event, NICE eschewed the sketch artist, and instead, each of us sat in front of an AI device of some sort for about two seconds, and about two more seconds later, came with its vision of you in the future. Sketch artists work pretty fast, but not this fast!

All we had to do was select a persona type – super-heroes were very popular – and AI did the rest. I actually can’t remember the persona I chose, but here’s what it came up with for me. Somehow, I keep getting younger in the future, and I’ll take this guy’s hair over mine any day, but is that really me? I guess this is my post-Apocalypse Fonz look, and if AI feeds me this image often enough, I’ll have to believe it. Are you ready for your AI close-up, or would you rather just stick with a selfie?

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - June Edition

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

With AI moving so quickly - yet without much ROI to speak of – it’s fair to ask if we’re at the beginning or the end with this revolution. For this episode, Jon shared insights from recent events with Zoom and Verint – two companies going all-in with AI. Both are aiming high, solving problems that only AI can handle, and we explore the bigger picture as to whether they will succeed. While they seem to be on the right track, there may be limits to how much automation workers and customers really want, making this another Watch This Space topic. Find out for yourself by checking out our June podcast.

  • 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 May

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 – am finally able to travel again, and I attended two analyst events:

    • Zoom Perspectives, May 20-21, New York City

    • Verint Analyst Days, May 22-23, Dallas

  • Video segments – recorded and published:  

    • Big UC News – news roundup, including NEC, Intermedia and Microsoft Copilot – May 2

    • CX Today – in conversation with Content Guru about barriers to cloud adoption – May 13 

    • Ecosmob – Future of VoIP, in conversation with Krunal Patel (also here on YouTube) – May 22

  • Video segments – recorded but not yet published:

    • Big UC News – news roundup, including MSFT Teams, Zoom, RingCentral and Avaya – recorded May 30

  • Industry awards judging – registration for the 2024 UC Awards opened on April 29, and more recently, the roster of judges was profiled – details here

  • Writing roundup for May – a rare month with no public, JAA-bylined posts – largely due to being away for two weeks in Israel 

  • Media citings – none to report for May

  • 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 May:

    • I had 40,749 views and 33 posts – about 60% higher than April, largely due my return to travelling 

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 4,750 views

    • Overall, 12 posts had 1,000+ views, and 19 had 500+ 


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for June

  • There are two industry events on the June calendar:

    • Zoholics – Zoho’s customer event, June 4-5, Austin

    • NICE Interactions 2024, June 10-12, Las Vegas

  • Active work to keep watch for:

  • One new white paper will be publishing soon, and another one is in the works now

  • Review articles for both Zoom and Verint events in May – both coming on BCStrategies

  • 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


Hey, Did You Know?

… not too many people are going to Israel right now, but I was there with my partner Sara for almost two weeks in May, mainly on a personal trip. Since it dominated most of my time last month, thought I’d share a few photos here. It’s a change of pace for my newsletter, but hey, there’s more to life than chatbots and video calls – and we’ll get back to that soon enough.

JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - May Edition

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

For this episode, we explored what technology innovation looks like both in physical and virtual spaces. Just back from the ISC West event, Chris shared how technology is now being applied in the physical security space, and how commercial property managers are thinking about smart buildings. Following that, we reviewed a recent demo I had with Welo, illustrating use cases for virtual workspaces and new forms of visual collaboration. To better envision this, please see the visual in the Hey, Did You Know? section below. Welo isn’t the only player in this space, but this is a good starting point to re-think workspaces as the physical and virtual worlds further overlap.

  • 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 April

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 – no travel during April – there were five events on tap that I had to decline, as I was grounded recuperating from foot surgery – life happens, but I’ve got others lined up for May and beyond, so April is really just a blip on this front

  • Video segments – recorded and published:  

    • LinkedIn Live – in conversation with Jeff Pulver

    • LinkedIn Live – in conversation with Doug Green on his Telecom Reseller podcast

    • LinkedIn Live – Enterprise Connect review with BCStrategies

    • Big UC News – Enterprise Connect and other news topics, April 9 

    • UC Today – State of AI in 2024 – interviewed by Kieran Devlin 

    • UC Today – in conversation with Valerie Berezuk of Intermedia

  • Video segments – recorded but not yet published:

    • CX Today – in conversation with Content Guru about barriers to cloud adoption - recorded April 23 

    • Big UC News – news roundup, including NEC, Intermedia and Microsoft Copilot – recorded April 25

  • Webinar – with Enghouse Interactive, about cloud migration for contact centers, April 30

  • Podcast – in the current edition of NICE’s Ignite CX Newsletter, two of my recent podcast interviews were featured

  • Industry awards judging – am back as a judge for the 2024 UC Awards, and registration to submit entries opens April 29, so the process is underway now – details here

  • Writing roundup for April – details here – and if you were to read just one, this would be my choice – The EU AI Act – the Shape of Things to Come

  • Media citings – two citings to report for April

  • 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 April:

    • I had 25,727 views and 36 posts – about half of March’s tally, largely due to not travelling to any industry events during April

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 1,006 views

    • Overall, 14 posts had 500+ views 


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for May

  • There are two industry events on the May calendar:

    • Zoom Perspectives, May 20-21, New York City

    • Verint Analyst Days, May 22-23, Dallas

Active work to keep watch for:

  • One new white paper will be publishing soon, and another one is in the works now

  • Three new speaking gigs are in place now, and two others are pending

  • Every so often I get approached to write and publish a book – the latest pitch is getting me thinking about it again – hmm…

  • 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


Hey, Did You Know?

… visual collaboration and virtual workspaces are things now? Tech never stops evolving, and here’s the screenshot from my recent briefing with Welo, and their approach to this 2D+ form of working. If you give the latest Watch This Space podcast a listen, this image will help you visualize what Chris and I are talking about.

While not as immersive as 3D, it’s richer than 2D, and not as clunky as the Metaverse, which requires annoying headgear and often legless avatars. That world still has a long way to go, at least for enterprise use cases, but players like Welo are here now. First generation platforms like Second Life and web.alive were 10 years too early, but the technology is so much better now, and it’s time to give platforms like Welo a closer look.

’s Communications and Collaboration Review - April Edition

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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

  • 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!

’s Communications and Collaboration Review - March Edition

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

For this episode, Chris and Jon reflect on key highlights from the recent Future of Work Expo, where Jon serves as event Chair, and Chris was both a speaker and a moderator. The event provided much food for thought, with insights from an eclectic mix of speakers from both mainstream and lesser-known companies. The overarching theme for this episode, however, was AI, and we explore why it’s become so pervasive, and why it’s on par with the Internet as being the most transformative technologies of the digital age. We further explore AI’s impact on FOW, along with the fit we see for big consumer players like Meta and Apple.

  • 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 February

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 - after a quiet two months with no event travel, I had travel every week during February, with five industry events:

    • Zoho analyst event, McAllen, TX, Feb. 6-8

    • Future of Work Expo, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Feb. 13-15

    • Cognigy CX Summit, Dusseldorf, Germany, Feb. 20-21

    • RingCentral 2024 Analyst Event, San Jose, CA, Feb. 26-28

    • 8x8 Analyst Summit, San Diego, CA, Feb. 28 -29

  • Video segments - was featured in two last month, both during FOW Expo:

  • Podcasts - did three very different segments during February:

  • 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 February:

    • I had 162,938 views and 66 posts – by far the most monthly views ever – over 10X from last month - driven by all the event travel, but also for exceptionally high traffic from one post during the Zoho event

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 92,747 views – definitely the most ever for me

    • Overall, 9 posts had 2,000+ views, and 22 posts had 1,000+ views 


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for March

Just one industry event for March, but it’s the biggest event in my line of work:

  • Enterprise Connect, Orlando, March 25-28

  • Details coming, but I’ll be speaking on two sessions, both on Thursday – the main one is my annual update on enterprise speech tech

Active work to keep watch for:

  • Two new white papers will be publishing soon – both for Tier 1 vendors

  • Article previewing my Enterprise Connect speech tech session – will run on No Jitter first week of March

  • 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


Hey, Did You Know?

…travel definitely has its upsides. Aside from all the great learning and networking during last month’s events, the experiences around that alone made it a pretty special month. You can get the gist of the former from my updates herein, but for the rest, here are some nice visuals.
Below: our visit to SpaceX during Zoho’s event in Texas; with Rich Tehrani, CEO of TMCnet during Future of Work Expo in Ft. Lauderdale

From the US to Germany for Cognigy’s Experience Summit in Dusseldorf – with new bestie Victor Belfor from 8x8 during a bier Haus outing, and our server showing how Pork Knuckle is done, German-style

Back to the US, first for RingCentral’s Analyst Event in San Martin, CA: posh hospitality in my “room” – bungalow would be more accurate - and beautiful view from the Clos LaChance Winery during our tasting dinner

Second stop while in California – San Diego for 8x8’s Analyst Summit: the classy and eclectic US Grant hotel, and under the big lion with colleague Derek Top at the San Diego Zoo – thanks for the photo, Blair!

’s Communications and Collaboration Review - February Edition

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

We continue with Season 7 for Watch This Space, where the focus is my upcoming Future of Work Expo in Ft. Lauderdale. Our sessions will cover a lot of timely topics that should be familiar to our regular listeners - but some new ones too - including privacy, identity, immersive tech, large language models, endpoint usage, evolving role of IT, collaboration trends, agent experience, organizational structures, and workspaces for FOW. To set the stage for all this, we took a broader view for FOW through our analog lens, raising fundamental concerns about the very nature of work as our world becomes more digital and more virtual, and as we work increasingly in isolation from each other.

  • 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 January

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: as with last month, there was no event travel, but very different story for February – see next section

  • Video segments: did six last month, so this activity kept me busy

    • Big UC News - latest episode on current news with UC Today, Jan. 31

    • Cognigy - was interviewed as part of their CX Disruptors series, Jan. 26

    • BCStrategies - LinkedIn Live segment - What to Expect from AI for UC and CC in 2024, Jan. 25

    • Evan Kirstel - LinkedIn Live/Facebook segment - Future of Work Expo preview, Jan. 12

    • Winning on Wednesday podcast - in conversation with Juan Vides, Jan. 4

    • SCTC Fireside Chat, episode 176 - was Steve Leaden’s guest - Major Trends for 2024, Jan. 3

  • Awards judging: details coming soon, but am returning as a judge for the 2024 UC Awards, run by UK-based UC Today      

  • Media citings – just one to report for January

  • 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 January:

    • I had 14,651 views and 20 posts – similar numbers to December, and both lower than normal due to no event travel during these months

    • My top LinkedIn post registered 1,507 views 

    • Overall, 4 posts had 1,000+ views, and 14 posts had 500+ views 


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for February

In terms of industry events, I’ll be in constant motion for all of February, with five events:

  • Zoho analyst event, McAllen, TX, Feb. 6-8

  • Future of Work Expo, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Feb. 13-15

  • Cognigy CX Summit, Dusseldorf, Germany, Feb. 20-21

  • RingCentral 2024 Analyst Event, San Jose, CA, Feb. 26-28

  • 8x8 Analyst Summit, San Diego, CA, Feb. 28 -29

Active work to keep watch for:

  • Two new white papers will be publishing soon – both for Tier 1 vendors

  • Will be recording a new podcast about telecom fraud on Feb. 23

  • 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

  • My Future of Work Expo agenda is now firm - February 13-15 in Ft. Lauderdale – and we’re done recruiting speakers. I’ll be posting as time allows, and maybe I’ll see you there!

  • Looking ahead to March, Enterprise Connect will be my next big event, where I’ll be doing my annual enterprise speech tech session – details here

Hey, Did You Know?

… I didn’t get a lot of public writing done last month, but I did my share of video segments. Being a visual medium, a good way to illustrate this is with a set of visuals from those recordings last month. Links to some of these can be found on my website or my blog, and otherwise, drop me a line to check them out.

It’s always nice to be on camera, but my bigger idea here is for all of us to expect more of this in 2024. Writing has always been in my DNA, but there are shifts for sure in how we communicate. Attention spans are shorter now, and there’s less appetite for longer articles and reports. Many of my peers are using more video and doing less writing, and the market seems to like this. 
The attention economy is a thing, and if we’re not careful, ChatGPT will be doing all of our writing, putting more writers out of work. For both content creators and consumers, video is just easier, but analog old-schoolers like me still believe that good writing belongs, especially when done by humans. Would love to get your take on that, and all I can say is that I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing, so long as the work keeps coming.

’s Communications and Collaboration Review - January Edition

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

This episode marks the start of Season 7 for Watch This Space, and as always, it’s our look-ahead into the coming year. With AI becoming ever-more pervasive, Chris and I focused on how IT and business leaders need to be thinking for 2024. Never before has a technology emerged so quickly with such far-reaching implications, and we examined not just the undeniable benefits of AI, but also what will be required from IT to effectively deploy it, along with maintaining trust with employees. With our deep roots in the analog world, the perspectives we offer may be uncomfortable for digital natives, but perhaps exactly what they need to hear.

  • 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 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. More detail and links for most of these activities can be found on my blog or posted on the website.

Industry events: after an unprecedented run of travel last fall, I’m happy to say there were no events for me last month

Video segments: did four last month, with two being 2024 predictions

Podcast:

Insight Report:

Guest writeup:

Writing Roundup for December – details here - it’s a monthly digest of my thought leadership across various channels, including Tech Target, No Jitter, Channel Futures, Contact Center Pipeline and BCStrategies   

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 December:

  • I had 16,618 views and 17 posts – each metric is about half from the prior month, which was the second-strongest month during 2023

  • My top LinkedIn post registered 1,086 views 

  • Overall, 2 posts had 1,000+ views, and 9 posts had 700+ views 


What's Coming? JAA Outlook for January

This section usually begins with a listing of industry events for the coming month, and at this time, there is nothing on the January calendar. Am not losing sleep over this, as a number of projects were booked in December that will kick-off this month, so I’ll be plenty busy. February, on the other hand, will be almost all travel, with five – possibly six – events on tap – yeow.
Active work to keep watch for:

  • Recorded a podcast about telecom fraud – details and date coming soon

  • Recording a video podcast with a leading conversational AI vendor – coming soon

  • Will be doing a live SCTC Fireside Chat episode – 2024 outlook – January 3

  • Ghost-wrote another article for a senior executive at a leading cloud comms provider – will run in a leading business magazine

  • Continued guest posts coming for two clients – Aizan and Upstream Works 

  • My Future of Work Expo 2024 – February 13-15 in Ft. Lauderdale – agenda is now firm, and we’re almost done recruiting 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?

… 2023 was good for business at my end, and to help visualize this, I do a year-end tally in the January edition. First is my social media footprint, which for the first time, will only be for LinkedIn. I stopped tracking my Twitter/X traffic mid-year, as the stats had fallen so far off that it’s just not worth doing any more. I’ve been noting for some time that all the changes and controversies once Musk took over made it less and less relevant for me, and I’ve stopped using X altogether. My profile is still there, and I’ll like take that down sometime soon. 

For LinkedIn, my 2023 tally is down about 5% from 2022, but still generating steady activity across the year, especially during travel-heavy months. The section following this is my by-the-numbers tally of JAA’s activity for 2023 overall.

Social Media Footprint – 2023 By the Numbers

Thought Leadership and Business Activity – 2023 By the Numbers

This is what I do all day when not away at events, and the outputs are very similar to 2022, with one notable difference – I did a lot more video segments during 2023. Overall, I’m expecting more of the same for 2024, as I have a number of new clients coming onstream. If there’s one thing I’d like to do differently in 2024, it would be to spread out the travel more evenly. There were several events last year that I couldn’t attend due to conflicting calendar dates, but that’s largely out of my control.

  •   8 new clients (not including new work from existing clients)

  • 19 conferences/industry events – mostly live, 11 involved   speaking and/or moderating

  • 52 published articles/guest posts/ghost written

  • 99 posts on my JAA blog

  • 23 podcasts (including Watch This Space for this newsletter)

  • 30 video segments/interviews

  • 14 webinars

  •   7 white papers/e-books

  • 12 editions of this newsletter 

  • 27 JAA citings in the media

  •   4 new industry accolades    

  •   3 events serving as a judge 

  •   1 SIPtones gig