New Guest Post for Aizan - My Take on the EU AI Act

AI may be the most transformational technology we’ll see in our lifetimes, and I’m keenly interested in how we can strike a balance between the classic push-pull of innovation and regulation. We’ve been down this path before - notably VoIP - and the story with AI isn’t much different.

I recently wrote a guest post for Aizan Technologies on this topic, specifically for the EU AI Act, which was just put into law last month. The EU has taken the lead on developing a regulatory framework for today’s digital technologies, and the AI Act is the latest chapter.

There’s a lot to unpack here, and it should serve as a template for the US to follow, but that’s another - messy - topic for another time. That aside, I hope you give the article a read, and would love to hear your thoughts - here’s the link - and while you’re at it, feel free to check out the other articles on their site.

New Podcast - Impact of Latest FCC Rulings on Telecom Fraud

Telecom fraud is a secondary focus for me, but every time I go there, the rabbit holes get deeper and issues get even uglier. The engineers at Bell Labs could never have envisioned the PSTN being essentially reduced to a toxic minefield of spam and scams, first from the Internet, and more recently, AI.

This topic has no end of angles to explore, and I do that on occasion in different forums. One of them is a podcast series hosted by Caller ID Reputation (CIDR), and our latest episode is out now.

For this episode, the focus is on two recent FCC rulings to combat telecom fraud, one of which is specific to AI, where it poses a nightmarish threat to consumers if not nipped in the bud. I’m in conversation with Gerry Christensen, CIDR’s Head of Partnerships and Regulatory Compliance, and if you’re not current on this topic, I think you’ll find the podcast time well-spent - here’s the link to give it a listen.

How AI is Transforming Voice Comms - My Latest for Aizan

I’ve been writing a series of guest posts for Aizan, and this time, the focus is on the impact of AI on voice communications, which of course is substantial. ChatGPT is just one flavor of this, and my post outlines key use cases and applications for both workplace and the contact center. I hope you give it a read, and while you’re there, you might want to check out their Voice Marketplace.

POTS Replacement Challenges - My Latest on No Jitter

Am on a roll with my writing at the moment, including some guest posts that are coming to market around this time. My latest is on No Jitter, where the focus is on POTS replacement - something pretty much every business will have to deal with as Copper Sunset unfolds.

As you may know, switching over to VoIP for desktop telephony is fairly straightforward, and most businesses have done that already. Mission-critical applications, however, is another story - fire alarms, elevator phones, etc. - and this needs an entirely different solution.

The good news is that there are vendors with viable offerings, but they’re harder to come across than VoIP providers. Before getting to that, though, businesses need to understand the nature of mission-critical communications, and risks that arise, both for simply staying the course with POTS for as long as possible, or trying to cobble together a solution from parts unknown. That’s the gist of my story - I’m sticking to it, and I hope you read the rest here on No Jitter!

December Writing Roundup

With 2022 coming to a close, I just have one public writing piece for December, and it starts an exploration of a new topic for me - more to come in future writeups.

Telemarketing Fraud Presents an Unacceptable Risk to Businesses, No Jitter, Dec. 20

Next Speaking Opp - VON3 Summit, Next Tuesday - Discount Code Here

We’re all still trapped in our virtual worlds and bubble spaces, but the work continues. For now, all the industry events are virtual - at least for me - and I’ll be speaking at one next week.

This will be for Jeff Pulver’s VON3 Summit, a re-boot of sorts for his ground-breaking VON events back in the aughts. That was a big part of my world, and pretty much anybody else in telecom, as VoIP ushered in the digital era that has revolutionized all forms of communication and beyond.

I’ll hold off on going down that important rabbit hole any further, and will instead steer you to VON3, which runs virtually next Monday-Wednesday, January 24-26. Jeff has a terrific lineup - as always - and am happy to be part of it. I’m doing a session on Tuesday the 25th at 1:50 ET, and will be joined by my long-time podcast partner, Chris Fine, and Jeff. We’ll be doing a fireside chat format where we’ll discuss the evolution of communications technology since the VON days, and what we see coming for 2022.

The overall agenda is pretty packed, not just with communications topics, but other areas of interest that are kinda/sorta related to comms, namely Web3, the Metaverse and NFTs. As always, Jeff draws a diverse crowd, and if you care to join us, details are here, both to review the agenda and to register. Any questions, just drop me a line!

UPDATE to my original post - am adding here a discount code you can use to save 13% on the registration fee - it’s VON3W22. Just apply that when registering for the price break, and if any questions, let me know.

Copper Sunset - Was Guest on Channel Futures Podcast - Coffee with Craig and James

One more item to share before Thanksgiving. I was a guest on this long-running Channel Futures podcast - Coffee with Craig and James - Craig Galbraith and James Anderson. The topic was a current one for me - Copper Sunset - talking about the implications for when copper telephony networks are finally decommissioned.

I was interviewed by Edward Gately, and our conversation begins at the 8 minute mark. I hope you enjoy it, and for more on this topic, you can check out the current episode of my Watch This Space podcast.

An Enterprise-Wide Approach to Connected Customer Experiences - My Latest White Paper for Cisco

Sometimes my thought leadership outputs are publicly shared right away, sometimes never at all, and yet other times only after a delay in time. This last scenario applies to my latest white paper, and most recent white paper done for Cisco.

The topic speaks to the growing need for businesses to think about CX in broader terms than the contact center. Things are changing quickly in this space and this white paper is a good example of how vendors are trying to educate the market in terms of how to respond.

My white paper was published back in April this year, but was only used internally by Cisco, and wasn’t promoted to other circles. That has recently changed, however, and during last week’s high-profile Webex One event, Cisco included the white paper in their set of resources for channels and end customers.

If you attended the event, you can access the white paper by logging in and going to the Resources section. The white paper is listed there, along with a public link where no further registration is required.

For everyone else - or those who can’t be bothered to log in again to Webex One - here’s a direct public link to the white paper. If you give it a read, I’d love to hear your thoughts, as I believe the contact center is on the verge of some major transformation, and this is an example of what’s coming.

Voice - Bigger Than Ever - My Latest on No Jitter

Voice has long been one of my core focus areas as an analyst, and while it’s easy to take for granted, the technologies behind it have evolved substantially over the years. There’s still a lot of telephony-centric thinking about voice, and while that remains a valid connection, with today’s technologies, voice has become so much more.

I explored that recently with colleague Chris Fine in our History of Telephony micro-course with PulveREDU, but there are many tangents that need their own track. One is the idea that voice is bigger than ever, and while it’s a big claim, I believe it’s warranted. My latest No Jitter post helps make the case, and if this piques your interest, I’d love to hear back.

Back to School - Our First PulveREDU Course: The New Voice

Jeff Pulver is a long-time visionary, entrepreneur and community-builder in the communications technology space; especially around VoIP, which he had a direct hand in establishing as the successor to TDM. He keeps moving with the times, and PulveREDU is his latest venture. In short, he’s developed an accessible, affordable platform for learning and knowledge-sharing - think along the lines of The Learning Annex, but online.

PulveREDU’s model is to offer one-hour courses/programs, led by established experts, and at a $20 price point, it’s an affordable way to get up to speed on a topic and engage directly with the educators. This isn’t about earning credits or completing a curriculum, but it provides richer learning than just consuming content from the Web. Plus it’s live and interactive, so there’s lots of room for dialog.

The programming calendar is a work in progress, as this is still pretty new, but as the track record builds, enrollment for courses will grow, as will the roster of educators. That’s the leadup, and here’s the pitch.

Our inaugural PulveREDU course is coming soon - it runs live, on Thursday, May 13 from 11:30-12:30pm, EST. I’ll be co-presenting the course with long-time colleague and Watch This Space podcast partner, Chris Fine. Our topic is close to home for us, titled: The New Voice - Exploring New Worlds Beyond the Phone Call, and registration details are here. We really hope you’ll join us, and if you think others will be interested as well, please pass this along.

Spotlight on SBCs with Ingate - my Latest on BCStrategies

Every so often I’ll do a spotlight piece on a trend or technology, especially ones that are not well-understood. I’ve been following the session border controller space since inception - 2004 - and it falls squarely into that bucket. Ingate Systems is one of the early players, and they’re still going strong, so that makes them a good partner for this exercise, and recently I’ve been working on this with their President, Steve Johnson.

The output is a fairly long Q&A, where we discuss the evolution of SBCs, why they’re important and what to look ahead for in 2021. Our discussion has been posted now to the BCStrategies portal, where I’ve been a contributing BC Expert for ages. I hope you give it a read, and would love to hear your thoughts.

My Next Webinar with RingCentral - the Case for Cloud Telephony in 2021

Got a new webinar shout-out here - am back with another RingCentral engagement, and it’s on Tuesday, December 8 at 2pm ET.

Heading into the last month of the worst-year-ever, we’re all looking ahead to hopefully better things in 2021. For businesses still going with their premises-based phone systems - the value proposition is weakening, and with many workers happily entrenched at home, it’s going to be difficult to keep supporting them this way in the year ahead.

That’s the gist of the webinar, and I’ll be addressing it at greater length then. I’ll be joined by a RingCentral customer who will tell their story first-hand - and will update you once they’ve been added to the roster. Details are here, and if you want to join us, it just takes a moment to register.

New Series on Migrating Legacy Telephony to Cloud for Digitcom

Digitcom is a leading Canadian MSP, and the company is doing some interesting things to help businesses migrate from legacy telephony to IP services like SIP trunking, cloud telephony and UC. I’ve been working with them since last year, and in partnership with France-based Centile, they just launched the first in a three-part series of thought leadership pieces I wrote for them.

The first writeup is available now, and the next one is coming very soon. This is gated content, and to access it, here’s the registration page they’ve set up. The target audience would be Canadian businesses looking to make this migration, so if that’s you, I think you’ll find these writeups time well-spent.

My Latest EM 360 Podcast with Speechmatics - Cloud and the New Voice

The folks at Enterprise Management 360 have been keeping me busy lately, leading a variety of podcasts with sponsors. This time around, I was paired with UK-based Speechmatics, and VP of Products, Ian Firth. We covered a mix of topics related to voice, and how it’s evolved in the digital age, leading up to today’s cloud-based and AI-driven applications, which I’ve dubbed as the New Voice.

The company has a strong speech-to-text offering, and we talked about how applications like this and other variants of speech recognition are providing new forms of business value, both in the enterprise and in the contact center. I don’t get to the UK much, so our paths hadn’t crossed - until this week at the Vonage analyst event, where they were exhibiting as a partner. Small world.

You can check out the podcast here, which has just been posted to the EM360 site. As always, feedback and sharing are welcome.

My Next Webinar - Death of the PBX

October is zooming along, and this will be my third webinar for the month, so things have been pretty busy lately.

This time around, it’s another Ziff Davis/Toolbox.com webinar, with a topic that anyone in the telephony space should be interested in. For digital natives, the PBX has about as much utility as a fax machine or a home phone line, so Captain Obvious isn’t needed here. For everyone else, however, the PBX is still a mainstay, and the installed base - for better or worse - is still pretty large.

While the vendors aren’t making ‘em any more, the IP phone business is still going strong, so the “death” thing is a bit overstated. That’s the setup for my webinar, and if you want in, here’s the registration page. We’re doing this next Tuesday - Oct. 30 - at 2pm, and hope you can join us.

Mavenir Analyst Day - Quick Take and Pix

It’s been quite a week - or two, actually. Last week, I drove to - and back - from Florida for a much-needed family visit. A day after that, I was off to Dallas for Mavenir’s analyst day, then to San Francisco for Twilio’s SIGNAL conference. Both events were first-timers for me, and Mavenir was of particular interest since I’m not that strong on wireless, so this was a good way to get caught up.

That said, the event was pretty much under NDA, so I don’t have a narrative to share. There certainly is a good story here, especially to give carriers an alternative to the Tier 1 mobile vendors, and Mavenir is one of those “best kept secrets” kind of players. Over time, my learnings will come out in other ways, so for now, I just have some photos to share.

First, some pix from the event, both during the sessions and the demos. And then, there’s this fantastical “George” poster. Take a close look - “master of magic” - and deep in the heart of Texas - kinda has that travelling medicine show look, and it’s not a stretch to say that sometimes applies to tech companies selling complicated solutions that buyers don’t really understand. But no, not here at Mavenir, right? :-)

The event was held at the hotel - Zaza - and it’s one of the most eclectic hotels I’ve been to. Definitely gotta come back here for fun. All kinds of quirky sculptures, paintings, photos and knick knacks. Check out their shuttle vehicle - soooo Texas. And then, my friendly man at the front desk. This hotel has a cool, retro vibe - really - really slow elevators, and on the desks in our rooms - pencils (not pens), paper clips and staplers - when was the last time you saw or used those? And for the topper, he’s showing off their manual credit card imprinter, which they actually use. Millennials have probably never seen one of these analog relics, but hey, they still work - even if the broadband is slow!

Next Webinar - IP Phones are Hot - Who Knew?

Another month, another webinar. My busy-ness continues, and I've got another Ziff Davis webinar coming up. The date is Tuesday, June 27, and based on the title above, the topic should be self-explanatory.

It's easy to say we're in a post-PBX world, and if you've moved on to other things, you might be surprised to see that innovation is alive and well with desk phones. That's what I'll be addressing during the webinar, and with interest already strong, thought I'd start getting the word out now from my end. For more detail and how to register, here's the link, and I hope you can join us.

ITExpo - Quick Pix

Will have more to say later, but for now, I just have time to share a few photos from the ITExpo, here in Fort Lauderdale. The show definitely looks and feels bigger than last year, and I see two reasons. One would be the ramped-up IoT conference that is co-located here. It's really taking a life of its own with a pretty substantial exhibitor roster that stands apart from the main show floor.

These exhibitors don't have much in common with the UC/VoIP crowd, and it's a reminder that communications is just a small slice of the IoT pie. It's also very interesting stuff, and I loved the drone on display - see last photo below. With a 10 mile range from the ground, powered by IoT - note the PC at the bottom of that photo showing the tracking data - you sure can do a lot of interesting things that are much more effective than using conventional approaches.

Another reason for the show being bigger is the larger number of regular ITExpo exhibitors. There just seems to be a greater variety, although still largely from the same categories we see every year. Most of my time has been spent in the press room doing briefings, , but the few sessions I've seen so far have been quite good. Friday is the last day, and I'll be busy moderating back-to-back panels, so this is my only window to post while I'm here. Below are a few photos to give you a flavor for this year's edition of the ITExpo.

My Next Webinar - 2017 VoIP Opportunities

VoIP may be old hat for some, but it's still new for a lot of businesses, and there's a bigger picture to consider.  Technology is moving quickly, and as we see more from UCaaS, CPaaS, IoT, AI and the like, VoIP will become more than just cheap telephony.

That's the ground I'll be covering on my next Ziff Davis B2B webinar, and I've piqued your interest, I hope you can join me. The webinar is next Thursday, December 15 at 2pm ET, and all the details for registering are here.

Nextiva - Kawasaki and the Woz - My Conference Takeaways on UCStrategies

Last week's Nextcon16 was Nextiva's coming-out party for analysts, and they did a great job. They have ambitious plans with their NextOS platform, and we'll be watching that closely as it comes to market.

Aside from getting to know the company a lot better, there were great keynotes, most notably from Guy Kawasaki and Steve Wozniak. Both had strong messages that speak well to where Nextiva is going, and wearing my UC Expert hat, I pulled all that together in my latest UCStrategies post. It's running now, and I hope you like it. Sharing is encouraged, and your comments are welcome as always.