RingCentral Analyst Summit - Quick Take and Photos

Am back now from RingCentral’s 2025 Analyst Summit, and it was time well-spent. Hosted at the upscale Bardessono hotel in Yountville - the heart of Napa - the setting was more than comfortable, making the almost two-hour drive from SFO a small inconvenience. More importantly was the intimate setting with a small group of analysts and pretty much all the key people we need to know and hear from at RingCentral.

Momentum is strong on many fronts, and it adds up to continued growth through 2025. There were many updates to keep track of, most notably:

There were other updates of note as well, but I’m not doing a full-on review here. I posted commentary and photos regularly during the sessions on my LinkedIn feed, and with longer analysis coming on two video segments.

One is with UC Today on their Big UC News roundup, and another is a similar roundup with our group at BCStrategies. Both should run publicly next week or soon after, and I’ll share the links in case you don’t catch them.

To complement those takeaways, here are some of my photos, some of which you may have seen in isolation from my LinkedIn posts.

Below - nice overview visuals here. It’s easy to forget that RingCentral has been going for 25 years, and the first photo is a great timeline for their innovations and milestones. Second visual emphasizes a key message from the event - they have a complete, “multi-product portfolio”, and have a come a long way from from being a VoIP provider.

Some of the bright stars on their team, ball-hockey guy/MC/Mr. Canada - Amir Hameed, Kira Makagon, and Kristen Koenig (from their Hopin acquisition - another good growth story)

Zane Long leading the partner panel; RingCentral brain trust for the Exec Q&A, including Vlad Shmunis

More smart people, especially on the AI front - Jim Dvorkin, Dr. Antonio Nucci, John Finch

AI Receptionist demo (hard to see, but the 8 avatars on the screen represent the different personas that AIR can take on); the Two Mikes - Mike Stowe and Michael Brandenburg talking about what makes their platform distinct.

Thought you’d never ask - the hotel was right out of Central Casting for what you’d expect in Napa; world-famous, we-are-not-worthy French Laundry restaurant; and of course, an organic lemon tree in the garden area of the property.

This is how you do Zen at Bardessono; the personalized welcome screen in my room - nice touch, and it’s fair to say this hotel gets it with CX.

New Month, New Year, New Newsletter and Podcast

I’ve definitely hit the ground running for 2025, and being the first full week of the month, the latest editions of my podcast and newsletter were published yesterday.

If you’re not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - the signup page is here.

For my Watch This Space podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or listen to any episode directly here on my website, or here on the dedicated WTS website.

This marks the start of Season 8 for my podcast, and as you can see below, it’s got a new look. I hope you like it, and same for the episode itself, which you can listen to right here.

Finally, a quick heads-up - soon, you’ll be seeing an animated version of the WTS banner. It’s kinda fun, and better reflects the vibe we’re after. Watch for it on LinkedIn and on my website.

Getting Past the AI Hype - My Latest Contact Center Pipeline Article

I’ve been a guest contributor to Contact Center Pipeline for some time, as well as being a member of their Advisory Board.

Getting Past the AI Hype is my latest article, running now in the January 2025 edition.

There’s great content in the current issue, which covers a lot of ground for the big themes and challenges facing contact centers in 2025. I hope you read my article, and here’s the link to explore the rest of the issue. If you like what you see, you can easily sign up for free to get the digital edition.

A good starting point would be long-time colleague Brendan Read’s overview - What Will 2025 Bring for Contact Centers? It’s a compilation of insights from various thought leaders - myself included - thanks - and here’s the link to read it. Plenty to digest in this issue, and am sure the CCP folks would love to hear from you.

Next Webinar - with NICE - AI, Automation and the Customer Journey

I’ve been working on a few fronts with NICE about this topic, and we have a webinar coming up on Dec. 12 to talk it through. I’ll be leading with a presentation, and will be in conversation with Elizabeth Tobey. We make a good team, and hope you can join us! Details are here, along with the registration form to attend.

Next Stop - Talkdesk - Charleston, SC

Today I’m off to Talkdesk’s analyst event - it’s been a few years since the last one, so there’s a lot of catching up to do. Am keen to get the latest updates and roadmap, and will post on LinkedIn as time allows during the event - hashtag is #TalkdeskAnalystSummit. Never been to Charleston - that will be a treat, so it should be a pretty good next few days.

Next Stop - NICE Analyst Summit - Destination...

NICE doesn’t do anything in half-measures. If you follow me, you’ll know that they keep raising the bar each year, and clearly, they value what analysts bring to the table. Being a public company, they're pretty transparent about things, and if they choose to take us to an exotic location - not just to share their roadmap, but to nurture important relationships - so be it. With that backdrop, they’re taking us to….

Zambia. You heard right - Zambia. I’ll leave it to your imagination and Google searches to figure out what that might look like, and am sure it will be all of that and then some. As always, I’ll share updates and photos as time allows, and a whole lot more once back. Time to pack now…