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!

Extreme Networks Influencer Summit - Quick Take and Pix

Another week, another event, but I’ll be home now for the rest of April. This was my first time attending an Extreme Networks event, and this was their first one just for “influencers”, which includes analysts, consultants and media. To varying degrees, each of these groups are influencers, but that topic is best left for another time.

Just have a short window at the airport now until my flight goes, so this will be quick. My first impressions were very positive, and kudos to my hosts Tom Fitzpatrick and Wes Durow for putting on a great event. We were a small group - by design - and the time was well-spent. I may not be a networking guy, but I follow it well enough to understand how it drives business value, and as digital transformation marches on, the possibilities really open up.

In due time, I plan to write a few pieces to explore that, both overall, and for specific use cases, such collaboration and hybrid work. There are strong parallels between what they’re envisioning in terms of outcomes with all this hyper-connectivity, and Future of Work, which is one of my cores areas of focus. More coming on that soon, and until then, here are a handful of my photos.

CEO Ed Meyercord talking about how the network has become strategic now - definitely - and what really turned Extreme around was shifting from being engineering-focused to being customer-focused. Good plan. Next - Amy Aylward, VP Corp. Marketing (off camera, sorry), moderating a panel with Extreme execs about how the market has changed with exponentially more data now to manage - “new ways, better outcomes”. Last - demo session on opening night.

Yes, it’s true - everything is old in Boston - well, almost. The ballpark may be well into its second century, but there’s lots of cool innovation happening here. We got a great tour of the stadium, but also a closer look at the technology Extreme provides; and to tell us about it, we had Randy George on hand, VP Tech Operations with the Red Sox. More specifically, fellow SCTC colleagues Scott Murphy and Tom Brannen pointing out one of the 800 access points Extreme has running at Fenway to provide incredibly rich data about everything going on there via our mobile devices. A bit scary, but a data geek’s playground.

Purple is the color scheme here - nice touch. Things never stand still in our world, so during the briefings yesterday, I managed to work in two video spots - both to review highlights from last week’s Enterprise Connect. First, Steve Leaden, hosting his regular live Fireside Chat - Wednesdays at noon - so being onsite, I joined him for the segment. This is for SCTC members - Extreme is one - and replays are available for members on our website. Finally - I did a segment with Zeus Kerravala for his ZKast video series, where we also talked about Enterprise Connect takeaways. Here’s Zeus setting up the camera before doing our chat. If you don’t follow Zeus, you really should, and I’ll share this once it comes out.

Enterprise Connect Preview on No Jitter - My Enterprise Speech Tech Roundtable

It’s time for my latest contribution to No Jitter - as part of the BCStrategies team - and it’s a preview for my upcoming session on enterprise speech tech at Enterprise Connect. Am looking forward to attending the 2023 edition, and this time around, I’ll be joined by speakers from LumenVox, Dialpad and Zoom.

If you don’t know, this is my fifth year speaking on this topic at the conference, and it’s become an ongoing focus in my work. I don’t know if ChatGPT is the next big thing or just a passing novelty, but am sure it will still have legs by the time we do this session on March 29, and it will be on the agenda. I hope you can join us, and my latest article, here on No Jitter, tells more of the story.

Big UC News - Latest Episode - Avaya Ch. 11, Zoho and UC, State of Webex

Never dull in the collaboration space, where UCaaS is really just the start for where the market is going, and where tech is evolving. I was one of several voices on the latest episode of Big UC News, where we covered these trending topics. Hope you give it a view, and look forward to being on another episode soon.

New Guest Post with Ooma - 2023 Business Market Outlook

I’ve started doing some work with Ooma, a company that I have been close too since its earliest days. By earliest, I mean back when they were strictly a residential landline offering, just like Vonage. Way before cloud, way before social media, even before smartphones. That’s a long time ago, folks, but guess what? They’re still here, and have a made a nice transition to the business market, and not just SMBs.

Just did my first guest post for them, and stay tuned for more on other topics. This one is a bit tricky to find on their site, but here’s the link, and I hope you like it.

My Next Webinar - Feb. 28 at 2ET - The UCaaS Opportunity with SkySwitch

Sorry for the short notice, but I’ll be presenting on webinar tomorrow about the value of white label UCaaS to help channels grow their business. I’ll be joined by speakers from sponsor SkySwitch, and the webinar is being presented by Channel Futures. Here’s the registration page, and hope you can join us.

Future of Work Expo Recap - Review and Pix

Last week was my fifth go-round as Chair of the Future of Work Expo in Ft. Lauderdale, and given my travel schedule, this is the first chance I’ve had to get this recap done. As good as the 2022 edition was, this was even better, and am expecting nothing less for 2024. Speakers are already asking about coming back, and am keen to start mapping out the program.

Sorry to say that the sessions were not recorded, so you kinda had to be there to take it all in. A few speakers, though, did shoot smartphone video, and have shared snippets on social, but I don’t have direct access to their clips.. Otherwise, the next best thing will be this post, where I’ll share some of my photos (and shots from others), along with a review article that I wrote, and was just posted today on EM360 (log-in required there, but it just takes a moment).

Finally, kudos and thanks to my long-term partners at TMC, for all their support to make FOW Expo happen. If you don’t know - their flagship event, ITExpo, ran its 40th edition last week as well, so clearly, they must be doing something right. If any of this stokes your interest in speaking or sponsoring for 2024, just drop me a line any time!

Managing the endpoints session, with Poly, Sangoma and CDW (photo: Ashley Battle); Making hybrid work session - moderated by David Jodoin, with Cisco, Jeff Pulver and Vizetto; full room during the ChatGPT session.

Barbara Steel from EY - new study on AI and workforce management; AI in the contact center session, with IntelePeer, Quantanite and Twilio (photo: Nadia Ciaravino); Chris Fine moderating quiet quitting session, with Mission Cloud, Premier Virtual, Focus Global Talent, Instawork.

Glenn Goldberg moderating the managing hybrid workforce session, with Vizetto, United Office and me - as a panelist for a change (photo: Barbel Wetenkamp); Agent experience session, with Upstream Works, Genesys, Five9; David Jodoin moderating the employee engagement session, with CDW, Avaya and Prodoscore.

Agenda for Day 1; group photo with some attendees and speakers (photo: unknown, but thanks Jennifer Hotai!); David Jodoin

Enterprise Connect Update #2 - Roundtable Session on Enterprise Speech Tech

Last week, I posted my first Enterprise Connect shout-out - am one of the judges for the Innovation Showcase, so if you’re a rising star in this space, you should check out my post.

Now it’s time to get my Enterprise Connect session on your radar. If you don’t know, this is the 5th year doing my update talk on the state of speech technology applications for enterprises. This time around, we’ve varied the format, now going to a roundtable.

Previously, I’ve done a standalone 45-minute talk, but now it will be a short update talk, followed by a roundtable discussion with three speakers. Joining me will be Dan O’Connell from Dialpad, Mahesh Ram from Zoom, and Edward Miller from LumenVox. By design, it’s a varied mix of voices, and I hope you’ll join us - Wednesday, March 29 at 4pm. I’ll update this post when I find out which room we’re in, but all the other details are here.

Also, below, feel free to use my special code to get $400 off your registration fee!

New Podcast with NICE - AI in the Contact Center

I’ve got a new podcast to share, this time with NICE. Am back for another episode of CX Pulse, hosted by Amelia Earhart, and this time we’re talking about the bigger picture for how AI is - and can be - deployed in the contact center.

There’s no direct link to specific episodes, so you have to scroll through their web page, but since mine is recent, it’s near the top - “AI in the Contact Center”. Also, there is a direct link for Apple Podcast subscribers, or here on Spotify, so those are other ways to access it.

Enterprise Connect Update #1 - Innovation Showcase

Calling all innovators! This is the first of two updates for Enterprise Connect 2023, and it’s shaping up to be pretty big. Another post is coming about my panel session, but this one is for the Innovation Showcase, which has been hosted by colleague Dave Michels for a few years.

I’ve been invited to be a judge for the submissions, so I have a small role to play here, albeit behind the scenes. The theme for 2023 is “Collaboration Reimagined”, so if that’s you, your application needs to be in by March 1. To learn more, here’s the link, and if you apply, I’ll be quietly assessing your entry along with the other judges. :-)

Otherwise, as the banner below shows, I’ll be speaking - and moderating - and details are coming on that in my next post. And… if you haven’t registered yet, feel free to use the code showing there to save $400.

New White Paper for NICE - Business Value of AI Beyond the Contact Center

Got a new white paper to share - this one is for NICE, and is a bit of a sequel to an earlier white paper I did for them. I touched on it briefly during a webinar last week, and to get the full story, here’s the registration link for downloading.

January Writing Roundup

January ended up being more about video and podcasting than writing, so I only have one public article to share. I did, however, write four other articles last month, two of which are ghost-written, and two will run sometime this month.

Weighing the Pros and Cons of Asynchronous Collaboration, TechTarget, Jan. 4

Next Webinar - with NICE - Tapping AI Beyond Chatbots

Got another webinar to share here. This one is with NICE, and it draws on a recent white paper I did for them. As the title in the visual below shows, we’ll be exploring the bigger picture for AI in the contact center, and why it’s much more than chatbots.

I’ll be joined by Lauren Maschio from their Product Marketing Team, and the early response has been really great, so it should be well-attended. It’s happening next Thursday, January 26 at 11 ET, and here’s the link to register.

Next Webinar - Jan. 12 - 2023 Crystal Ball for Collaboration with IR

That’s the next webinar on my schedule - running next Thursday, Jan. 12 at 11am ET. I’m one of three analysts talking about the big trends we see happening this year around collaboration, along with IR’s CEO, John Ruthven. That would be fellow BCStrategies colleagues, Blair Pleasant and Kevin Kieller.

I hope you can join us, and the registration details are here.

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

Telemarketing Fraud and Risks to Businesses - My Latest on No Jitter

This week was my turn to contribute an article to No Jitter from the BC Strategies team, and it’s a big topic - telemarketing fraud. As consumers, we all know what that looks like, but since we’d rather not think about it, the rest of the story tends to live in dark corners where there’s a constant struggle to stamp out or mitigate the damage done by bad actors.

There are a lot of moving parts here, and many have a direct impact on the telecom ecosystem. I’ve been researching this space recently, and the challenges are more daunting than you might think. This is my first analysis of telemarketing fraud, and there’s lot more to explore, and I hope you give this a read here on No Jitter.

Big CX News, Episode 3 - AWS, RingCentral, and Salesforce

Last week, I was a guest analyst on UK-based Big CX News, hosted by Charlie Mitchell. He had a full panel of thought leaders, and it was fun sharing all of our perspectives on some recent big news items. Hope to do it again soon, and hope you check it out - here’s the link.

My Latest Insight Report - for Upstream Works Software

Longer-form writing takes, well, longer to do, longer to be reviewed, and longer to be published. I do a lot of writing for all lengths, and here’s a current example of what I call an Insight Report. This would be longer than an article, shorter than a white paper, but substantive enough to be gated content.

I’ve been working with Upstream Works Software for a few years now, and when the stars line up, we do a couple of these annually. The latest one has been posted to their website, and here’s the registration page to get it.

The title is pretty self-explanatory, and speaks to a key trend driving just about everything in the contact center space these days: The AI Opportunity - Enhance the Agent and Customer Experience with AI Application Integrations. I hope you like it, and if any questions, just drop me a line.

November Writing Roundup

Another busy month with travel to events, but three public things I’d been working on were published last month, so here they are if you haven’t seen them yet.

AI for the Contact Center - It’s So Much More than Chatbots, NICE, Nov. 30

Vendors Use AI to Boost Customer Experience in the Contact Center, No Jitter, Nov. 15

The AI Opportunity: Enhance the Agent and Customer Experience with AI Application Integrations, Upstream Works, Nov. 4

New White Paper - AI for the Contact Center, with NICE

With the sub-title being “It’s so much more than chatbots”, you should get the gist pretty quickly. AI has become a must-have for contact centers, and while chatbots are often the entry point for getting on this path, the use cases are much richer.

My analysis examines the drivers for embracing AI, but also for taking a practical approach that gets beyond the hype. The white paper has been featured now on NICE’s website, and here’s the registration page to download a copy.