Monage 2017 - Chatbot Challenges and New Life for UC

That's the title of my first writeup of takeaways from last week's Monage conference in San Jose. This writeup was done wearing my UC Expert hat for UCStrategies, as I wanted to  address implications for the UC/collaboration/customer care space from the conference. Most of the content was consumer-focused, and really interesting, but that's a topic for another time. 

I was a presenter at Monage, and shared some of that talk in this writeup, and will have more to say about that in a future post. So, for now, I hope you hop over to the UCStrategies site and give the post a read, and would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe you'll like it enough to consider attending the next Monage this fall in Boston - I'll be there.

If you weren't there last week, you may enjoy my photos, both of the event and my short walkabout the nice and not-so-nice parts of San Jose.

Avaya Engage - Quick Thoughts

Most of our time here has been in analyst briefing sessions, and our walkabout for the exhibitor showcase was a private tour when the hall was closed to general traffic. So, we've mostly been amongst ourselves and the Avaya team, but that's been plenty in terms of getting up to speed on their offerings and game plan during Chapter 11.  

I'll have more to say about that in a separate writeup, and for now I just wanted to share a few pix of the general vibe here, and overall, it's definitely been good.

CMO Morag Lucey

Mark Castleman, VP Corporate Strategy

Here Jimmy - that's the name of this band (I think!) - very cool. WAY better than having canned music - at 8am, it's a bit early for rocking out and not really the time for dancing, but you know it would be fun if we all just decided to do that.

A few shots from the showcase and the Avaya pavilion

One of the cool launches at the event - Surge - a new approach to network security, and this is the ONA - Open Network Adapter - its works on any network, not just Avaya's.