UC Expo London - Quick Pix and Video Clip

Last week sure was a whirlwind, starting with the NICE Analyst Summit in Marrakesh (blog to come, but I shared different sets of photos on LinkedIn and Facebook), then a quick exit to London for UC Expo.

I may not get a blog post out about the Expo, but I was interviewed twice, including a video segment on the floor with EM360, which is included at the bottom of this post. Otherwise, here are some quick pix, both of the show and a few while about in London, albeit very briefly.

Below - show floor entrance and some of the activity, including a drone zone to test your skills.

With Chris Bain of Avaya, SCTC colleague Dave Mailer, and the Ask the Analyst panel session (photo credit - Anna Plavinskaja - thanks!).

Quintessential London, right? Phone booth, Sherlock Holmes, the Tube and the Thames!

More of the same - cable cars, the O2, London Eye, Big Ben, and the Docklands by the ExCeL Centre

Last, but not least, I was interviewed by Matt Harris from EM360 about the event, so here’s the four minute takeaway….

UC Expo London - Second Panel Session

Finally getting a chance to post about the second session I’m on at UC Expo this week. I’ll be in London over the next two days, and this session runs at 12:05pm on Thursday.

Titled “From Beach to Boardroom”, we’ll be exploring what it means to have a flexible work model, and what it takes to make this viable. I’m the moderator, and joining me will be Magnus Falk from Zoom, and Isaac Durno from Oxford City Council. Full details here, and hope you can join us!

Next Stops - the Marrakesh Express and London Calling

This is probably the only time in my life I’ll get to these two places in one run, but it’s happening.

Yup, “they’re taking me to Marrakesh… all aboard, the plane…” Well, something like that. If you got my latest newsletter, I amplified that there, along with a Youtube clip of the CSN (Crosby, Stills and Nash for those of you too young to know) classic hit - which no doubt you’re singing along to right now. And if not, then listen to the song, and then you will be.

I’ll share updates as things go along, but first stop is Marrakesh for the NICE Analyst Summit. Will we rock the casbah? That’s for me know and you to find out. The jet-setting continues with a stop in London for the UC Expo, and I’ll be on two panels on the Thursday - details here. That’s all for now - gotta get packing - and after all this, won’t you give me a smile?

Newsletter Time - Podcast Too - October Editions Out Now

Am a bit behind in posting this update. First Tuesday of the month is my usual publishing date. Both went live then, and am just getting a chance now to blog about it.

The October issue of JAA Communications and Collaboration Review is out now, along with the latest Watch This Space podcast. Bulding on last month’s topic around quiet quitting, Chris and I took the flip side with quiet firing for this episode, along with our takes on the latest hybrid work challenges, and what Salesforce might have in mind with Digital HQ.

If not a subscriber, signing up to my newsletter is easy - the signup page is here. For my podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or just pick up the current episode here. If you’re not familiar with my website, there are archives for the newsletter and the podcast, and a refresh for each of these archives is in the works now.

September Writing Roundup

Getting back to a more normal writing output this month. A lot of my work goes in waves - first doing the writing, then sometimes a gap until things get published. Here’s what I was writing about last month, and with event travel kicking off next week, there will be plenty to write about during October.

NICE’s Brand Promise - Making Experiences Flow - A Bigger CX Vision, NICE blog, Sept. 21

Vonage AI Studio: Have They Cracked the Code with AI?, No Jitter, Sept. 21

3 UC User Scenarios Influence Hybrid Work Budgets, TechTarget, Sept 20

Making Experiences Flow - NICE’s Branding and the CXi Vision, NICE blog, Sept. 7

Closing the Customer Service Gap, Contact Center Pipeline, Sept 2022 Issue

UC Expo 2022, London - Speaking Shout-Out

My busy season for in-person industry events starts next Thursday, and after that, I’ll be on the road most of the time right through mid-November - yeow.

Well, we’ve all been cooped up at home for so long, this is just part of the “revenge travel” surge where we want to be anywhere but at home - plus, I guess the vendors really miss seeing us! Still, this is a lot of travel in a short period of time.

I’ll be posting updates for these various events soon, and here’s the first one. This is for UC Expo in London, which I’ve been doing virtually for a few years now. Finally, the coast has cleared for going in-person, and am very much looking forward to it.

Aside from moderating two panels - details coming on those soon - I’ll be on the Ask The Analyst session towards the end of the event, on Thursday at 2:10pm. I’ll be in good company, with colleagues Dave Michels, Zeus Kerravala and Oru Mohiuddin. If you’re attending, am sure this will be a fun session, and sure hope you can join us - scroll down here for details. Otherwise, more details are here on their site, and the main hashtag is #UCX2022.

Vonage AI Studio - Have They Cracked the Code with AI?

That’s the title of my latest article, running now on No Jitter. This builds off of last week’s announcement of AI Studio from Vonage, and I think they’ve got the right approach here for connecting the dots among AI, CPaaS and CCaaS.

You need all of these things to do CX right, and this move shows that you don’t have to have an army of developers to leverage CPaaS to make CX better. This is tricky territory to navigate, as well as come up with the right messging, and I hope you find my take a good read.

August Writing Roundup

August was on the light side for writing - but it’s August after all - and many other things are in the works, for writing and other forms of thought leadership. They will turn up in due time, and the best way to keep current is to subscribe to my newsletter.

How Continuous Testing Enables IT to Manage Continuous Change with UCaaS, tekVizion blog, Aug. 31

Is Hybrid Work Working? It Depends on Who You Talk To, Workspace Connect, Aug.8 (also published on No Jitter)

Deflection Sounds Bad, But it’s Not! Here are 5 Ways Deflection Can Improve Agent Experience, NICE blog, Aug. 2

My Latest Podcast - with Patrick Sullivan, 2600Hz

I’ve been writing and podcasting for UK-based Enterprise Management 360 for several years - more updates about that soon! - and my latest piece has been published now.

This time around, I’m interviewing Patrick Sullivan, who is the co-Founder and co-CEO of 2600Hz, an innovative cloud provider I’ve been following for a few years. Over the course of our conversation, we try to demystify the cloud for SMBs, as well as make the case for using a platform that natively integrates all the core cloud applications, namely UCaaS, CCaaS and CPaaS. I hope you give it a listen, and while there, you should check out all the other content running on their portal.

Is Hybrid Work Working? Depends Who You Talk To - My Latest Article

I’ve been away a few days, but things I was working on earlier are getting posted now in bits and pieces.

This time around, it’s a two-for-one, where Informa has run my latest article in two of their publications. If you don’t know, I’m a long-time BC Expert and contributor for BC Strategies, and wearing that hat, I’m part of a rotating group that produces regular content for eWeekly, and those articles are published on No Jitter.

For my latest eWeekly article, the focus was on hybrid work, a trend that goes well beyond collaboration technologies. While my analysis profiles well for the No Jitter audience, it’s even more at home for their sister publication, WorkSpace Connect. As such, the editorial team decided to run it in both publications, initially here on WorkSpace Connect, and now today on No Jitter.

The article is exactly the same on both sites, so I’ll leave it to you to pick a link should you want to read it - and I hope you do. There’s more to come on this topic, and my regular followers will know it was the focus of my latest Watch This Space podcast. Final comment - the image below is properly credited on both sites where my article is running.

July Writing Roundup

With the month being abbreviated work-wise, public writing was pretty light. Just three pieces for the roundup, and next month, I should be back to higher levels.

My Q&A with Rob McDougall - AI and Setting Expectations in the Contact Center, Upstream Works Blog, July 22

Contact Centers Evaluate CPaaS vs CCaaS Benefits, TechTarget, July 21

The Difference Between a Traditional and Hybrid Meeting Room, TechTarget, July 19

July - Newsletter and Podcast Time

New month - same message, but new editions of my newsletter and podcast.

The July issue of JAA Communications and Collaboration Review went out to subscribers yesterday, along with the latest Watch This Space podcast. Future of Work Expo was the big thing for me last month, and that’s the focus of the July podcast - I hope you give it a listen.

If you’re interested in tracking what I’m up to in the worlds of collaboration, customer experience and future of work, subscribing to my newsletter is easy - signup page is here. For my podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or just pick up the current episode here. If you’re not familiar with my website, there are archives for the newsletter and the podcast, but please note that both of these will be getting a refresh soon.

June Writing Roundup

Not a ton of writing for June, and that’s just how it goes sometimes. So, if you have the time, you can read ‘em all! More to come for July - there always is.

It’s truth time! Legacy technology and processes impact employee retention, NICE blog, June 29

How do you evaluate UC applications for frontline workers?, TechTarget, June 23

3 use cases highlight AI and speech recognition evolution, TechTarget, June 16

3 Building Blocks for a Greater Customer Experience, No Jitter, June 7

Future of Work Expo - Quick Take and Photos

Am back now from last week’s Future of Work Expo in Fort Lauderdale, and from all accounts, it was our best one to date. I’ve been conference Chair for four years running, and we’ve got a really good mix now of familiar companies and ones you don’t know, and I think that reflects how broad the FOW moniker has become.

The first two days focused on workplace FOW themes, where we talked as much about HR, soft skills and culture as we did about how technology can support the hybrid work model. AI was a constant theme, and it’s clear that people have mixed feelings about it. For the third day, our focus shifted to the contact center, where we looked at how AI can be used to both improve CX, along with making the agent experience better, especially for those working from home.

We also had a FOW pavilion on the show floor, and on Thursday morning, many of our sponsors did live demos, which is a great way to see first-hand what’s coming to help make hybrid work viable. The speaker roster was solid, and all our sessions could easily have gone a lot longer, with plenty of audience engagement. I don’t have the luxury of time now to write a lengthy recap here, but I’ll have something coming soon. Until then, I did talk about the event highlights on my Watch This Space podcast, and the July episode comes out next Tuesday, so watch for that, or come back here on my site to give it a listen.

A quick shout-out to all the folks at TMC - thanks for having me back, and to their team for all the prep to make this event happen. Thanks also to colleagues Phil Edholm and Tom Brannen for helping out as moderators for some of the sessions. Extra kudos to Phil, who did a wrapup talk with me for the closing session.

Not only was it a nice way to end the conference, but Phil has told us he’s retiring after our event, so this ended up being his swan song as an event speaker. I felt lucky to share the floor with him for that, and his great insights will definitely be missed. You’ve had a great run, Phil, and you’ve enriched our understanding of this space. Am sure I won’t be the only analyst to offer thanks for all that you’ve done for such a long time - wow. With that, I’ll leave you with some photos below, and if you follow me on social, I posted during the event, so some of these will look familiar.

Below: Rethinking the Organization session, with Intermedia, Poly, Seekr, Coworks and Eleviant (photo: Tom Brannen); Barbara Steel from EY with highlights from their latest workplace study; and our panel on using AI to improve CX - with Avaya, Genesys, SharpenCX and IntelePeer

Below: Keith Sonderling, Commissioner, US Equal Opportunity Employment Commission; David Jodoin from Nynja (photo - Glenn Goldberg); FOW Expo program schedule

Below: Tom Brannen’s cybersecurity session with Journey ID and Connx; Phil Edholm’s frontline workers session with Twilio, Intermedia, United Office and Eleviant; Tom and I with Phil

Newsletter Time - June Issue, and Podcast Too

New month - new newsletter and new podcast. The June issue of JAA Communications and Collaboration Review went out to subscribers yesterday, along with the latest Watch This Space podcast. May sure was a busy month, and I’ve recapped much of what I saw, spoke and wrote about in the newsletter. The June podcast is titled The Metaverse, Innovation and Invention - Thinking Bigger About Future of Work, so that’s a pretty good clue as to what Chris Fine and I have on tap.

If you’re interested in tracking what I’m up to in the worlds of collaboration, customer experience and future of work, subscribing to my newsletter is easy - signup page is here. For my podcast, you can subscribe on all the major platforms, or just pick up the current episode here. If you’re not familiar with my website, there are archives for the newsletter and the podcast, but please note that both of these will be getting a refresh soon.

May Writing Roundup

Not much writing during May - but was plenty busy otherwise with webinars, video interviews and online presentations. In fact, only one public post this month, but it’s the most in-depth analysis I’ve done in article form in a while, and if you’re following the healthcare space, I think you’ll find it a good read.

Otherwise, May was very go-go, and all of that will be covered in my June newsletter, which goes out to subscribers tomorrow. If you want join my circle for that, here’s the signup page.

How AI is Impacting Communication, Collaboration and Workflows in the Healthcare Market, No Jitter, May 6

Time for UC Awards 2022 - Back Again as Judge

UK-based UC Today has developed a pretty rich industry awards program, and the 2022 edition is now underway. There are now 12 categories of “innovation” awards for companies, and 2 categories to recognize individual achievements. While the focus is mainly around UCaaS, there are other related categories such as CPaaS, AI and compliance, so there are many ways to seek recognition.

Am happy to say that I’m returning as a judge, alongside many of my colleagues, all of whom will be familiar to anyone following this space. You can read up on us on the event website, along with all the awards categories, and the process for submitting your entry. Cutoff date to submit entries is June 17, and the ceremony to announce the winners takes place on July 28. Are you in?

Next Webinar - with LumenVox, Talking Speech Tech, May 25

If you don’t know, I present an annual update on the state of enterprise speech tech at Enterprise Connect, and I’ll be staying on that track for this upcoming webinar. This time around, I’ll be presenting and in conversation with LumenVox CEO/founder, Edward Miller on a webinar moderated by No Jitter’s Eric Krapf.

In particular, we’ll be examining the pros/cons of going with a purpose-built speech recognition platform as opposed to using the native capabilities that all the major cloud providers have. It’s a timeless topic in tech, and with speech tech coming into its own now with AI, there’s a lot to talk about. We go live at 2pm ET on May 25, and to join us, all the registration details are here.

Latest Guest Spot on ZKast - Poly and Cisco Takeaways, Plus Hybrid Work

Am back doing another guest spot on Zeus Kerravala’s ZKast, where we review the latest trends in the collaboration space. I recently attended a Poly event, and Zeus did the same for a Cisco event - right around the block from each other, and we shared our takeaways from those events. We also talked about the state of hybrid work, mainly around what’s not working, and there’s more to come on that topic. If you want to read and see more about the Poly Experience Center launch, here’s my blog post about it.

State of AI for Communications in Healthcare - My Latest on No Jitter

Occasionally I write spotlight articles with emphasis on a particular vertical or emerging technology. Based on some current research in the healthcare sector, some interesting trends have come to light, especially around deploying newer, AI-driven applications, both for communications and collaboration.

There’s a lot to unpack, and my analysis makes for a long article, but if you’re interested in this sector, I think you’ll find it a good read. The healthcare space gets a lot of attention from AI vendors - especially those in speech tech - for many good reasons, and that’s what I’m examining in my writeup. It’s running now on No Jitter, and as always, comments and sharing are welcome.