Latest White Paper - The Supervisor Opportunity for CX

Aside from traveling to industry and vendor events, I work with many vendors to provide various forms of thought leadership and go to market support - that’s mainly how I make my living.

NICE is one of those vendors, and my latest work with them is a white paper, which was recently published. I don’t have the exact date, but was likely around late March. AI is transforming the contact center space in many ways, and there is no shortage of angles to explore.

For this white paper, the focus is on supervisors, a role that tends to be in the shadows when considering use cases for AI. Well, it turns out this is a really important use case, and to better learn why, I hope you give this a read. As with most white papers, registration is required on the vendor’s website - it just takes a moment, and follow-on comments are welcome, as always.

New Mini-Report - US Contact Center Market Review

I’m a market researcher by trade, but as an indie analyst, I don’t publish industry reports as a matter of course. However, I’m happy to produce those on a custom basis, but that’s a different conversation. On occasion, though, I will produce mini-reports, which are on a smaller scale, and often based on publicly-available secondary sources.

That’s the format used with Aizan for this review of the US contact center market. More specifically, the research was used to support the notion that the on-hold experience is a critical link in the customer experience value chain, and is poorly understood.

This is a focus area for Aizan, and regardless of what’s on offer, the main takeaway is about the opportunity for contact centers to better address this weak link. Registration is required from their website, but if this is something you’ve been thinking about, I think you’ll find it a good read.

Not April Fool's - Time for New Newsletter and Podcast

Am way behind sharing new content, including more perspectives on last week’s Enterprise Connect. For the latter, you’ll get a taste from the April editions of both my newsletter and podcast - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and my Watch This Space podcast, now in its 7th season.

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. The title in the thumb below tells you what we have on tap for this episode , and here’s the link if you want jump in right now. Hope you do, and would love to hear your thoughts!

UPDATE - changes are coming to both the website and podcast, not just for a refresh, but also to make the podcast more engaging and discoverable.

Enterprise Connect 2024 - Photos and News Items

The buzz from last week’s Enterprise Connect is still going strong, and there’s lots to share. Time is short, however, and I can only manage recaps as time allows.

In terms of what’s already been done, I posted several photos and updates on LinkedIn during the event, and included some photos in my April newsletter, which subscribers will get today.

Speaking of what’s coming this week, the April edition of my Watch This Space podcast is coming, and the entire episode is about Enterprise Connect. I really hope you check that out, and if you’re not familiar with my podcast, we’re in Season 7 now, and you can check out the episodes here.

During the event, I also recorded some audio and video segments with various folks, but so far only one has surfaced, and it was also shared in my April newsletter.

This week, I’ll be contributing to two different video recaps of the show along with other analysts, and those should publish by end of the week. I’m also writing up my own recap for a publisher, and that should run early next week. As these various updates are published, I’ll share them on my website and LinkedIn, and will include a link to this post as well.

With all of this commentary about Enterprise Connect either out there or soon coming, I don’t have any analysis to add here. Instead, I’ll share two things you may not have seen elsewhere - a summary of notable announcements and press releases from the show, and a photo gallery - mostly mine - but from a few others as well.

Notable announcements and press releases (alpha order by vendor name):

Avaya announces strategic partnership with Zoom - integrating Zoom Workplace with Aura and Avaya Enterprise Cloud

Cisco launches new devices for hybrid work - a collaboration board and a line of IP phones

Five9 announces GenAI Studio - allows contact centers to customize their own Generative AI applications

Intermedia launches Intermedia Healthcare Solutions - AI-driven collaboration platform specifically for that vertical

NICE announces Enlighten XM and next iteration of Enlighten Copilot

RingCentral announces RingEX - replacing MVP

Talkdesk announces Ascend Connect - AI-based solution for premises-based contact centers

Vonage enhances conversational commerce capabilities - using Generative AI to make customer interactions more personalized and customizable

Zoom launches Workplace - an AI-centric collaboration platform

Now let’s shift from text to images - here are some takeaway photos from Enterprise Connect:

Very photogenic blocky logo, Cisco’s Javed Khan, RingCentral’s Kira Makagon

Dave Michels and his annual Innovation Showcase, my annual state of speech tech and AI in the enterprise session, with speakers from Cognigy, Sprinklr and RingCentral

Amir Hameed at the RingCentral booth, Zeus Kerravala and his networking session, Kevin Kieller (wearing his BCStrategies hat) with a deep dive on MSFT Copilot

Wearing my SCTC hat along with Fran Blackburn at the SCTC booth, at the Cisco booth doing a cool demo for automating my double espresso order using CPaaS - thanks Courtenay Godshall and Darryl Da Silva (and Zack Taylor facing away!), with David Danto and friends

With Liam Dunne at the Klearcom booth (thanks for the Irish cap!), with Gidi Adlersberg at AudioCodes, and with Fred Hussey from Aizan and Niklas Heuveldop - Vonage CEO

The dynamic duo from NICE - Chris Irwin-Dudek and Schevone Johnson, with Zeus Kerravala, and Dan Miller by the EC sign at the atrium

And, just for fun - S’mores martini, 30 year-old Highland Park scotch, enjoying the scotch looking out at the Gaylord atrium - all in a day’s work!

March Writing Roundup

Only three posts ran publicly last month - with my byline - but I also completed a few others that won’t publish until April.

Key to CX Success: Maintain a Personal Touch, Aizan blog, March 25

February Conferences Roundup - 8x8, RingCentral and Cognigy, BCStrategies, March 20

Enterprise Connect Preview: the State of Enterprise Speech Tech, No Jitter, March 11

Next Stop - Enterprise Connect, Orlando, FL

It’s that time again - Enterprise Connect - the biggest industry event in the communications tech space, and I’ll be flying to Orlando on Sunday. As usual, it will be constant motion, but time well-spent. My calendar is plenty full, but if you’d like to connect, please drop me a line - if not at the show, after for sure.

I’ll be most visible on Thursday, where I’m leading my annual speech tech update session at 9am, and then as a panelist on a 10am session. For more detail on each, links are here and here from earlier posts on my blog.

February Conferences Review - 8x8, RingCentral and Cognigy

Time is zooming by ahead of Enterprise Connect next week, and expediency is the operative word for getting things done. Normally, I would write standalone reviews for each event I attend, but there were too many last month, so I’ve consolidated the last few into into one writeup. I’d much rather give each vendor its due with longer, separate writeups, but the time crunch is just too great with the biggest event of the year on the horizon. Ugh.

On the brighter side, well, I did manage to get a writeup done for the most recent events, and that catches me - and you - up on my latest run of event travel. That’s the preamble, and I’ll now steer you to BCStrategies, where the review has been posted. Starting with the most recent event last month, my writeup starts with the 8x8 analyst summit, followed by RingCentral’s analyst summit, and then Cognigy’s Experience Summit, which marked my first visit to Germany.

February sure was a busy time, and prior to these three, I had two other events that month - including one of my own - and if you missed those, you can read about them here and here.

New Month - Time for New Newsletter and Watch This Space Episode

Last month, I had ongoing travel to industry events every week, so I have lots to write and talk about. During February, I got to wear quite a few hats, and if you want to know what that looks like, you should check out the latest editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and my Watch This Space podcast, now in its 7th season.

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. The title in the thumb below tells you what we had on tap for March, and here’s the link if you want jump in right now.

Writing Roundup for February

Following a quiet month on the writing front, February made up for it, with four public posts, plus two that ran late last month, but not in time to be included in the January roundup.

Zoho Analyst Day - More Than Meets the Eye, BCStrategies, Feb. 26

How AI is Transforming Unified Communications, TechTarget, Feb. 7

Voice Communications Tools in the Modern Customer Experience, Aizan Blog, Feb. 2

The Future of Work is Here Now - Are You Ready for It?, No Jitter, Feb. 1

Willing and Able? Modernizing the Contact Center to Drive CX, Aizan Blog, Jan. 26

Three Big Ideas for 2024, Aizan Blog, Jan. 25

Zoho Analyst Event - My Two Takeaways

This event happened earlier this month, and my review about it is running now on BCStrategies. If that hasn’t crossed your path, thought I’d blog about it here as well, as I think you’ll find it a good read.

Zoho is an interesting company, and one that shows you there isn’t just one way to run a successful business. Here’s the link to read my writeup, and for my in-the-moment insights, here’s a digest of my LinkedIn posts during the event.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_zohoday24-spaceexploration-travel-activity-7161776091446042624-BxsL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_zohoday24-businessstrategy-culture-activity-7161436505633214464-GGT5?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_zohoday24-ucaas-ai-activity-7161399177199980544-hohU?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_zohoday24-businessforgood-sustainability-activity-7161388308252549120-uSux?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_zohoday24-activity-7161384360330354688-66us?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_zohoday24-financialperformance-leadership-activity-7161101104162738177-_hbV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_zohoday24-zoho-bigtech-activity-7161056452487303168-PLZQ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Future of Work Expo - Photo Recap and Links

It’s been a full month, with travel to five different industry events over four weeks. On a business level, the Future of Work Expo was closest to home, as this is my sixth year as conference Chair, and the event is coming into its own nicely.

If you’ve never attended, it’s part of TMCnet’s flagship ITExpo, which has been running as long as I’ve been an analyst - 20+ years - and is usually during the second week of February in Ft. Lauderdale. I’ve finally exhaled from the rush of getting the programming and speaker roster in place, after which, the event largely runs itself.

There’s plenty of time to plan for next year’s edition, and you can reach out any time if interested in speaking or sponsoring. For a sense of what you missed, this blog post is a photo recap - mostly mine, but some are from others. Aside from details on the speakers, I won’t be adding any commentary. For that, you can peruse my LinkedIn posts during the event - highlights below - as well as check out the March edition of my Watch This Space podcast, which is scheduled to run on March 5.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_itexpo-activity-7166093120353382401-913S?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_what-is-the-key-to-making-hybrid-work-work-activity-7163941411606704128-0CLH?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_snomattheshow-newsreel-activity-7163936981603872768-sAr7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_futureofwork-activity-7163925259056873473-UIGD?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jarnoldassociates_ftlauderdale-it-futureofwork-activity-7163288318560944128-NByV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

Below - day 1 agenda, Todd Knapp from Envision, Arturo Guzman from HCLTech

Future of Workspace session, with Chris Fine moderating - Alex Lopez from Cisco, Gentry Long from Industrious, Tomi Teikko from Haltian, and Blima Ehrenetrau from The Designers Group; Cybersec panel with Ryan Worobel from LogicMonitor, Richard Luna from Protected Harbor, Brett Shockley from Journey AI; Collaboration from Anywhere panel - Todd Knapp from Envision, Tonny Siemons from Enreach, Luiz Domingos from Mitel and Steve Forcum from SIPPIO

Role of Endpoints panel - moderated by David Danto, with Jeff Kubick from Poly/HP, Gideon Adler from CDW, Vern Fernandez from Jabra, and Brian Bradbrook from Snom; Role of IT panel - moderated by Glenn Goldberg, with Richard Luna from Protected Harbor, David Jodoin from Stackyon, and Gary Coben from Evolve IP; AI Evolution - LLMs panel - with Hardy Myers from Cognigy, Frank Fawzi from IntelePeer, Kevin Lee from NICE, and Alex Diedrich from Sprinklr

AI and Employee Engagement panel, moderated by Tomi Teikko, with Hardy Myers from Cognigy, John Chmoj from Verint, Jay Patel from Avaya, and Joe Markwith from CDW; Contact Center and FOW panel - with Rob McDougall from Upstream Works, Tod Chisholm from IFT, Khurum Shafi from Twilio, and Michael Roche from Five9; post-panel photo with Mitel - Luiz Domingos and Dave Clardy

Long-time colleague and fellow podcaster Doug Green, Apple “booth” on the show floor, and an even longer-time colleague who does it all, Carl Ford

Finale session on Evolving Role of Organizations - with Juan Betancourt from Humantelligence, Chris Fine, Dave Fox from Focus GTS and Jeff Pulver; a trio of SCTC members - Carmelo Cappuzzello, myself, and Vern Fernandez; with Bill Radford from Cisco

From the show floor - Julie Smith from Snom with Andy Abramson; with Mr. TMC, Rich Tehrani

More familiar faces - with Justin Robbins and Alan Percy - go Bills!

Next Stops - San Jose and San Diego for RingCentral and 8x8

Three down, two to go. Been in constant motion all month with travel to five events over four weeks. So far, I’ve been to Zoho and Cognigy, along with running my Future of Work Expo in Florida. All were good, and I'm writing/posting about them as time allows.

Now, we’re on to California, where I have back-to-back analyst events, starting with RingCentral on Monday in San Jose, and then to San Diego for 8x8’s event through Friday. That’s plenty of excitement for February, but very much looking forward to both of these events. Will have some home-based time for a bit once back, and then before you know it, Enterprise Connect will be on deck for last week in March. The road continues…

New Month - Time for Next Newsletter and Podcast

It’s the first full week of the month, and my new editions are out now. Both the newsletter and podcast published yesterday, so just a friendly FYI here.

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 click to listen to the current episode here. With my Future of Work Expo running next week, this was a good time to provide a preview of what to expect. We also stepped back to provide our analog perspective on what “work” is going to mean in the world of digital, AI and immersive technologies. I hope you give it a listen, and perhaps explore earlier episodes.

Next Stop Update #2 - Future of Work Expo, Ft. Lauderdale

Am doing back-to-back events starting tomorrow, and just posted about the first stop - Zoho’s analyst event. Will be staying down south after that, heading to Ft. Lauderdale, home of TMC’s ITExpo. I run one of the sub-events there - Future of Work Expo - and this is my 6th year as Chair. The program is solid, and I hope you can join us.

If you’re still on the fence about going, here’s the latest update from TMC, and to learn more, just drop me a line. Also, my next podcast goes live tomorrow, and the main topic is a preview for what we’ll be doing at the event.

Next Stop Update 1 of 2 - Zoho Analyst Day, McAllen, TX

Tomorrow starts a travel run of 5 industry events in 4 weeks, so there’s a lot of packing and planning to do, not to mention delivery stops for the newspaper. I’m SO analog, I know.

First stop is McAllen, Texas - definitely a new locale for me, and it’s home to Zoho’s analyst event, which will also be a first for me. The borders for the contact center space are becoming ever-more fluid, and that applies both ways. Not just for vendors outside this space adding CCaaS, but for contact center vendors reaching into the enterprise. I’ll have more to say about that after taking in the sessions, so stay tuned.

Writing Updates - My Latest for No Jitter and TechTarget

If you follow my blog, I explained that some of my recent writing was later in January, but not published til now, so am posting about two of them.

First is my latest for No Jitter, which I do as part of a rotating group of BC Experts from BCStrategies, and I’ve been doing that for many years now. This article is titled “The Future of Work is Here Now - Are You Ready for It?”, and has been posted now. Here’s the link, and I hope you like it.

The second writeup is shorter, and is my latest contribution to TechTarget, where I have also been contributing for several years. This one is titled “10 Essential Benefits of UC”, and here’s the link (log-in required, fyi).

I’ll keep updates coming as new writing get published, but another way to track most of my public writing is the Current Writing section of my website - click here for that.

January Writing Roundup - Sort Of

Well, this doesn’t happen often, but I have no public writing to share from last month. I did write several pieces, mostly later in the month, but they haven’t been published anywhere yet, so those will carry over into February’s roundup post.

I may not have been writing that much, but kept plenty busy on the video front, so here’s a digest of that from January. Most of the clips are posted on my website, so they’re not hard to find - plus, I’ll have a tally for them in the February newsletter, which runs next Tuesday.

Big UC News - latest episode on current news with UC Today, Jan. 31

Cognigy - was interviewed as part of their CX Disruptors series, Jan. 26

BCStrategies - LinkedIn Live segment - What to Expect from AI for UC and CC in 2024, Jan. 25

Evan Kirstel - LinkedIn Live/Facebook segment - Future of Work Expo preview, Jan. 12

Winning on Wednesday podcast - in conversation with Juan Vides, Jan. 4

SCTC Fireside Chat, episode 176 - was Steve Leaden’s guest - Major Trends for 2024, Jan. 3

New Interview - Cognigy CX Disruptors

Been heads-down working on new projects, but have also had a good run lately for doing video interviews. The latest is with Cognigy, where they have a series called CX Disruptors, doing 1:1 interviews with thought leaders, hosted by Jarrod Davis.

The series is well-done, and the latest episode is my turn, just published today. I hope you check it out, along with other episodes featuring many of my peers.

December Writing Roundup

My public-facing writing was on the light side for the last month of 2023, but I was also busier than normal with videos and podcasts. Writing will always to be core to what I do, but it’s also just one mode for sharing perspectives, and going into 2024, there will be no shortage of things to both write and speak about. Here’s the digest for December:

Brace for an AI Backlash and Embrace Virtual Spaces for 2024, No Jitter, Dec. 26

2024 Customer Experience Trends, Insight Report for Upstream, Dec. 18

ICYMI - this one ran at the very end of November: Everyone Thinks AI Will Change Communications Tech - and Understanding How is Key, No Jitter, Nov. 30

Latest Insight Report - 2024 CX Trends for Upstream Works

Been doing my share of writing and speaking for what lies ahead for 2024, and here’s my latest example. This is an Insight Report I prepared for Upstream Works to help educate contact center leaders about key CX trends to be watching for in the new year. Lots to talk about in this space, and here’s the registration link to access the writeup. If you get it, I hope you like it, and welcome comments any time.