Enterprise Connect Update - New Speaking Spot Added

I recently posted about my Enterprise Connect session on enterprise speech tech, and since then, I’ve now been added to another panel session, which happens to follow right after mine.

The new session is titled Where is Technology Taking the Employee Experience?, and I’ll be joining panelists Beth Schultz from Metrigy, and Robert Harris from Communications Advantage. No Jitter’s Lisa Schmeiser will be moderating, and I hope you can join us. Full details are here, and we’ll be going at 10am on Thursday, March 28.

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!

Enterprise Connect Time - State of Enterprise Speech Tech

Time flies, but we’re now about a month away from Enterprise Connect 2024, at the usual spot in Orlando. I’m back again doing my annual session on the state of enterprise speech tech, and I’ll be joined by Alan Ranger from Cognigy, Abhishek Priyam from Sprinklr, and Ram Rajagopalan from RingCentral.

Speech tech and AI go hand-in-hand these days, and while the use cases are well-known in the contact center - and of course the consumer world - lots is happening in the enterprise, and not just for collaboration. I’ve been exploring this space for six years now at the show, and while much of the innovation is incremental improvements on existing AI apps, there are certainly new frontiers being opened up.

If that piques your interest, you’ll have to stick around to the last day, Thursday - our session is at 9am, and you can get more detail here. I hope you can join us, and if you haven’t registered yet, feel free to use the discount below to save $400.

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.

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 Month, New Year, New Newsletter and Podcast

Hitting the ground running for 2024, and the January editions of my newsletter and podcast are both out now. For the podcast, btw, this marks the start of Season 7, so Chris and I have been at this for a while now.

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. Whereas my newsletter included a 2023 year in review for my activity, the January episode is a look ahead to how IT leaders need to be thinking about adopting AI in 2024. There’s a lot to like, but a lot to be cautious about. I hope you give it a listen, and perhaps explore earlier episodes.

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

Future of Comms - 2024 Predictions with EM360

Been doing a variety of 2024 year-ahead pieces - writeups, videos and podcasts. Here’s the latest one - a podcast I recorded with Matt Harris at UK-based EM360. Much to discuss for what I think is coming for 2024, and I hope you give it a listen - it just went live today.

December 2023 - Time for My Newsletter and Podcast

Going into the last month of the year, it’s time for the final 2023 editions of my newsletter and podcast, both of which went live yesterday.

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. The topics Chris and I discussed are timely, and hopefully thought-provoking, and we hope you check all of this out.

November Writing Roundup

Much less travel last month than October, and that gave me a chance to recap some of my recent events, which drove a lot of my current writing. Here’s a digest of my public posts, and hope you check these out.

Everyone Thinks AI Will Change Communications Tech - and Understanding How is Key, No Jitter, Nov. 30

AI Speech Technology Offers Enterprise Benefits, Risks, TechTarget, Nov. 30

Cisco WebexOne Event - Three Takeaways, JAA blog, Nov. 10

VON Evolution - What You Missed, JAA blog, Nov. 9

NICE Analyst Summit 2023 - What Leadership Looks Like, But Some Cautions as Well, BCStrategies, Nov. 6

Enhancing CX with Integrated Messaging Apps, Aizan blog, Nov. 6

New Month - Time for Newsletter and Podcast

Am a bit off schedule for November publishing, but new editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review newsletter, and the Watch This Space podcast are out now. If you don’t know, October was a very travel-heavy month for industry events, and covering that was the main focus of the podcast. We also talked about the state of hybrid work, and why this is a great time to be an entrepreneur - I hope you check out the latest episode.

If you’re 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 click to listen to the current episode here. Hoping you’ll check both out, and would love your feedback any time.

Avaya Rejuvenation - Can They Do It?

This post is a companion to my analysis and takeaways about Avaya, following my recent trip to Dubai for the massive GITEX show. My writeup has been posted here on EM360, which I feel is a good home given given their focus on regions outside the Americas. I hope you give it a read, and likewise enjoy a few of my photos below from the event. As always sharing and comments are welcome!

Below - CEO Alan Masarek in our analyst-only briefing, a nice group shot (photographer unknown, sorry), and Avaya’s ever-present desk phones - in my hotel room.

Some demos at the Avaya stand - Sestek, showing speech-to-text in Arabic, an agent wellness demo where AI tracks sentiment, not just with video but analytics for customer dialog, and keeping customer data secure with Journey.ai.

Not sure if the flashy cars draw the big crowds, but big players spend big dollars here for sure.

Various manifestations of AI on display - too cute robots, Spot - the prancing robot dog from Boston Dynamics, and ever-present drones. Anything is possible in this part of the world, and there’s no way to tell how these “devices” will be deployed, but they’re definitely here now.

Metaverse demo from DEWA - Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, Abu Dhabi government stand - one of seven emirates that make up the UAE, Extreme Networks stand - yes, there were plenty of familiar Western vendors on hand.

On the other hand, this is the Middle East - crossroads of commerce - and you don’t to have walk far to see players you’ll almost never see in the West - MCI - Iran’s largest mobile provider, China Mobile, and Huawei - with a model display showcasing their data center of the future.

Not surprisingly, Dubai is super-modern and built to impress - high noon shot of Jumeirah Emirates Towers - left tower was our hotel, nearby the Museum of the Future, and a skyline shot at night.

Next Speaking Opp - UCaaS/CCaaS and AI with Rosenblatt Securities

This Friday, I’ll be in conversation with long-time colleague Catharine Trebnick about AI-related trends in the UCaaS and CCaaS spaces. Cat is the cloud comms and cybersec analyst at Rosenblatt Securities, so we’ll bridge the worlds of financial and technology analysts.

I don’t control who can register for our session, but all the details are below, and am sure you’ll find out soon enough if you can join us. Our session will be live, this Friday, Oct. 27 at noon ET.

Global Tech Research - Cloud Comm/Cybersecurity | Expert Access

Friday, October 27th | 12pm ET

Join us for a conversation on UCaaS/CCaaS and Voice AI with Jon Arnold, Principal of J Arnold & Associates 

 Hosted by Rosenblatt Cloud Communications & Cybersecurity Analyst Catharine Trebnick

Request Attendance

Reasons to Join

• Explore the communication, collaboration, and contact center areas that are experiencing sustained demand in the current landscape.

• Get a comprehensive overview of the macroeconomic conditions affecting spending and changes in priorities for communication and collaboration technologies.

• Delve into the world of CAI and discuss chatbot's reliability for basic communication and collaboration tasks, such as dictating emails, calendar updates, and meeting invites. Additionally, learn about emerging enterprise use cases for CAI.

• Receive company read-throughs for RingCentral, 8x8, Dialpad, Five9, NICE, Twilio, Cisco, Genesys, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and others.

Next Stops - SCTC in Raleigh, WebexOne in Anaheim

My run of travel for fall events continues, and I’ve got a back-to-back coming for next week.

First stop is SCTC, for our annual conference, which this year is in Raleigh. For the most part, it’s a member-based event, but certainly open to consultants and members who might consider joining. For those who know me, one of my SCTC hats is being in the SIPtones band, and we’re playing a set or two on Sunday night - that should be reason enough to come! On Monday, I’ll be speaking as well as moderating a panel session, so I’ll be earning my keep there.

My time at SCTC will be abbreviated, though, as I’m flying out on Tuesday to LA for Cisco’s WebexOne event. They’ve got an impressive list of celebrity speakers to draw a crowd, and an analyst-only program for our tribe. I’ll also be speaking on a panel session on Wednesday, so this will make for a busy week. I’ll share quick pix on LinkedIn for both events as time allows, and soon after a recap post here.

Jeff Pulver is Back - VON Evolution, New York City

Jeff Pulver’s VON event has gone through many iterations, and if you really want to know where voice is heading, you might want to mark this on your calendar. Having tracked telephony and voice for 20+ years, I’ve seen a lot, and Jeff has a knack for being on the leading edge for what’s next.

This edition takes place at City Winery - Hudson River Park location - running Oct. 31 - Nov. 2, and all the details are here on the event site. If I’m not reason enough to come - check out the eclectic list of speakers - it’s pretty rich. :-) Would be great to see you there, and no doubt Jeff will feel the same way too.

Next Stop - Dubai for GITEX and Avaya

From London to Lima to Dubai - not my normal routine, but this will be my third straight week of international travel - yeow. If I sound confused about what time it is or where the hell I am, now you’ll know why.

This is my first trip to Dubai, and yes, I’m a little anxious about going to the Middle East right now. Nothing is certain these days, but Dubai is pretty far-removed from the realities of everyday life just about everywhere, and am hoping that extends to the next few days.

Many thanks to Avaya for hosting me, and this is the first time the stars have lined up for me to attend GITEX. There’s a lot of buildup for GITEX, and given how large this event is, I know I’ll only see bits and pieces, and am sure all of it will be great, if not over-the-top.

I’ll do my best to share on LinkedIn and here as time allows, and will definitely follow on with a review article soon after. More details here about Avaya’s presence at the show, and if you’re there, please drop me a note and maybe we can meet!

UC Expo London - Quick Take and Photos

Am totally on the go these next few weeks, so blogging kinda has to be on the fly.

Last week was London and the UC Expo, and all told, it was a worthwhile event. Crowds were sizeable, the exhibit hall was pretty full, and the vibe seemed good. It’s always hard to gauge these things, as it all passes pretty quickly, and I didn’t have many quiet moments.

In terms of sessions, there were three for me - moderated one, was a speaker for one, and I facilitated a private roundtable with customers for a sponsor, but I can’t do any sharing for that one. Also did two on-the-floor video interviews - with EM360 - see below (click to view), and UC Today - coming soon.

Otherwise, plenty of good networking, and making more in-person connections with EU companies, both clients and prospects.

Not much else I can say for now, but maybe you’ll find some other takeaways from the interview below. Following that are some photos from the trip.

Rob Kurver leading the CPaaS panel, group selfie from Dave Michels for the analyst panel, and a full room for the session I moderated with RingCentral about AI and the contact center.

Very fun - had VIP front-row seating for this special session with math whiz Hannah Fry and famed Irish comic/tech guy Dara O Briain, Storm Troopers taking over the 8x8 booth, and a race car that really can’t go all that fast here.

With Chris Bain, in front of signage for my panel session, with Jeff Pulver, being interviewed by EM360

Kinda cool hardware of a different kind, start planning now for 2024, and my parting shot leaving the venue after the show.

London town - endlessly spectacular views from the Shard, very familiar touristy spot that’s just about everywhere, and a typical alley entrance to a courtyard where it’s nice and quiet.