New Video Segment - About Me, With Juan Vides

This is my first blog post of 2024, and I’ve got a new segment to share that’s a bit out of the norm.

Juan Vides is an entrepreneur I’ve known for a long time, and he has a great interview series called Winning on Wednesday, focused mainly on small businesses and entrepreneurs. The focus is for each of us to tell our back story, and from there, network among others in this circle for business opportunities.

So, instead of hearing me talk about my 2024 predictions in tech, this interview is a chance to hear my story for how I got to where I am today. Hope you’ll find it interesting, especially for helping the next generation of entrepreneurs find their way. Here’s the link to our interview, and if you like it, maybe you’ll check out the others, and explore more about what WOW is about.

Something Different - Judging for the Epica Awards

I enjoy wearing lots of hats, and there’s more to analyst life than endless writing and semi-glamorous travel. Judging awards events is one of those hats, and I recently got invited to be a judge for something different but very cool.

This one is for the Epica Awards, an EU-based group focused on recognizing creativity in the world of marketing and advertising. Their domain is mostly for consumer brands, and of particular interest to me is the central role that technology plays in many of these campaigns.

One of my mantras is that “consumers lead and enterprises follow” - meaning that innovation from the consumer world increasingly finds its way into the business world. I’ve been writing/speaking about this for years, and the creativity I’m seeing from these entries only validates my view. If you want to see what’s coming next for the workplace and contact center - AI, mobility, AR/VR, customer engagement, etc. - I’m seeing lots of it here.

I’m a marketing guy at heart - and an MBA to go with that - and a key way I help my clients is with their messaging and go-to-market strategy. Consumer brands are very good at this sort of thing, and I hope to take inspiration from these entries to help my tech clients sharpen their edge.

In terms of the judging process, the first cut is over, and now it’s time to evaluate the short list entries. Now I get to see the best of the best, and I’ll be taking notes for what might translate well in my back yard. Curious? Drop me a line any time!

Next Stop - Five9 Analyst Summit - Porto, Portugal

I haven’t done a “next stop” post in ages - kinda went away with the pandemic. In-person events are definitely back, and I need to get back into the habit of doing these shout-outs for upcoming events.

Next up for me will be for Five9, and this will be my first time visiting Porto, Portugal. Am sure will be a great experience, and I’ll share along the way, as well as after, of course.

Until recently, these were called “analyst events”, but as social media becomes more pervasive, and as demographics trend younger, they’re now called “analyst and influencer” events. I’d be swimming upstream trying to parse this out - maybe a topic for a future podcast - and for now, let’s just say I’m happy to be part of this group.

To stay totally connected, follow the event using the hash in the visual below, and if you want track what I’m sharing, my Twitter handle is #arnoldjon.

Spring VON3 - Virtual Event Next Week - Web3, Creator Economy and Future of Communications

If you don’t know Jeff Pulver, then, well, that’s your homework. Nobody explores what’s next like Jeff, and all of a sudden, it’s VON3 next week. Apologies for not getting the word out sooner, but it’s a packed lineup, and all the details to register and attend are here on the event website. Hope to see you there!

I was part of the last VON3, which ran in January, and several of those speakers are back, along with many new faces. This time around, I’ll be speaking on three sessions, one for each day:

Monday - 3:30 PM - 3:45 PM - Workstream Collaboration: A New Approach to Serve the Modern Workforce, in conversation with JR Guerrieri, CEO of Nynja

 Tuesday - 3:40 PM - 4:10 PM - Future of Work, back again with long-time podcast partner Chris Fine, Founder & CEO, Integrative Technologies

 Wednesday - 3:40 PM - 4:05 PM - Voice in the Metaverse Roundtable, with Bret Kinsella, Founder & CEO of Voicebot.ai & Roger Kibbe & David Colleen, CEO SapientX

New Onalytica Report - Who’s Who in Telecoms?

Onalytica is a UK-based firm that produces influencer lists, and this is their latest edition in our space. This is fairly new territory for me, and as they explain, their lists are based on a “4Rs” methodology - Reach, Resonance, Relevance and Reference.

I’m happy to say that they included me in the cohort of UC “influencers” - page 14 - along with other colleagues you’ll likely be familiar with. Beyond that, there are other categories segmenting the telecoms space - I know, that word seems a bit quaint these days - so this is a great resource for tapping people in the know. Now that you know about it - and it’s free, BTW - you can download a copy here, and if I can ever be of service at some point, now you’ll definitely know how to find me.

The Hybrid Workplace - New Opportunities for Collaboration: My Latest on No Jitter

Future of work is a growing part of my focus as an analyst, and the hybrid workplace model is right in the middle of all that. It’s a big topic, and every thread of research leads to more threads. My latest post for No Jitter views this through the lens of opportunities for collaboration vendors. They’re very good at enabling communication and collaboration, but enterprises face bigger challenges to balance work from home with return to office.

Both trends will be big in 2021, and my take on this will cover two posts. The first one looks at return to office, and it’s running now on No Jitter. I’ll be following that up in my next post, looking at the work from home scenario. Enterprises have to do a lot of things right to make this hybrid model work, and I hope these posts will help them get there.

Live Twitter Chat - The New Telecom Economy

I was invited to be part of a group of analysts for a Twitter chat event last week on the theme of “the new telecom economy”. This was a live chat, held last Thursday, and just realized I didn’t post about it here. The driving force behind this particular event was Futurithmic, a Nokia portal focused on the impact of technology on our lives. This is just the second Twitter chat that I’ve done, and since it’s different from the regular channels I use, I thought it was still worth sharing.

The event may be from last Thursday, but the topic and the commentary hasn’t lost any relevance or timeliness, so if it’s of interest, or you’re just curious about how this format works, here’s the link for the complete thread. The moderator worked through a series of questions, and as you scroll through the thread, you can see the analyst responses, as well as the sub-threads for side conversations.

This format can be a bit of a free-for-all, so the moderator has to keep things in line and moving along. If this is new for you, perhaps this post will pique your interest as another way to engage analysts for thought leadership.

May Writing Roundup

Not as busy on the public writing front last month, but plenty else keeping me engaged, and that will be reflected in my next roundup post.

Why SMBs Need to be Thinking About Hosted VoIP, Toolbox. com, May 31

How UC Supports the Needs of Mobile Workers, Toolbox.com, May 24

Contact Center Agents - the Original UC Users, Toolbox.com, May 23

NEC Advantage 2016 - Quick Take, my blog, May 20

How Different Job Functions Utilize UC, Toolbox.com, May 11

Context - the Real Driver for Customer Care, Toolbox.com, May 9

Energy Thought Summit Redux - Video of my Open Mic Session, my blog, May 3