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With all the travel this month, not much writing got done, although I did share several posts with short commentary and photos on my blog, so those might be worth checking out as well. I did write a few articles, though, but only one was published on a public site this month, so this roundup will be pretty, pretty short.
Balancing Remote Work Privacy Vs. Productivity Monitoring, TechTarget, Oct. 21
Three more travel stops to go before the Fall event-a-palooza is done. Crazy time for industry events, but I’m over the hump, and the next trips are just one stop at a time, yay.
Flying this aft to San Francisco - again - and I go back yet again next week too - for the Twilio SIGNAL event. I’m not a developer, but have always loved this event, especially because they often do it with creative flair. There are actually two parts to SIGNAL, with a one-day analyst-only program tomorrow, and then the much larger-scale virtual event for everyone the next two days after that. I’m just there for the analyst program, then flying back home.
I’ll share what I can while there, and will follow on with more thoughts soon after. Still back-logged from last week, so there will be a post or two coming about that when time allows. Until then, I need to get my newsletter done - podcast is already done - and if we don’t publish tomorrow, they’ll be out on Wednesday for sure. Busy, busy….
Just have time for a quick photo mashup before flying home to Toronto. This is the end of my 9-day, 3-event road trip, and will catch up on blogging from other events next week. I’ve just finished attending the RingCentral analyst event, in posh Napa Valley.
Pretty nice place to get spoiled, but it’s rather isolated for such a short event. No complaints, though, and they gave us a pretty extensive update on the state of their business, along with lots of NDA updates coming later this year and into 2023. I’ll have more to say soon, but it’s almost time to board my flight.
Below - one of my industry favorites, CIO Kira Makagon leading off Day 2. Two panel sessions - with customers, moderated by Blair Pleasant, and the channel panel, led by Zane Long.
The Napa vibe - a few photos from walking around the venue - what’s not to like?
But wait, there’s more! They had the NBA championship trophy on display, so I had to get next to it and make sure all the Celtics titles are there - yes they are, phew. Napa = wine, so they took us to Tamber Bey Vineyards for a wine tasting meal - it was every bit as good as it looks. The owners are also seriously into horses, so this made for a really great mix, wow. Finally, a 5-minute diversion to get a photo after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. Yeah, it’s been a good week!
This is stop two of three during my current travel run, and it sure has been good. I’ve been involved with SCTC for a few years now - Society of Communications Technology Consultants - and even though I’m an analyst, there’s a lot in this community that’s good for my business.
Their annual conference is mostly for members, so it’s not really a public event, but the challenges facing consultants aren’t all that different from mine as an independent analyst. The trends that I follow in my research, are the same ones they’re living with as they try to get their clients to adopt new technologies. Lots of good learning here, and the caliber of speakers and panels sessions has been very high, as always. If you’re an independent consultant working with communications technology, this is a community you should be part of - and if you want to learn more, just drop me a line.
That’s the story from the conference here in Dallas, and I’ll leave you with a few photos.
Below - SCTC President, Denise Munro, and our Bitrix guru, Bobra Bush. Later, my lock note talk.
Definitely the most impactful session - 911 guru/advocate Mark Fletcher brought Hank Hunt to speak and share his story for how Kari’s Law came into being. Mark is the driver who made this happen, and Kari’s Law is named after one of Hank’s daughters, who would still be alive today if 911 service worked the way it’s supposed to. Photo on right - at the White House in 2018, when Kari’s Law was signed into law.
Best for last? Maybe. I’m part of the SIPtones (mainly for keyboards), and we got to play on Monday night. Fun, yeah - wish we could do this at every conference, but we’re not quite ready for that. Pictured on right - it was a two-band bill, where local band Southern Flight opened, then joined us at the end for a lively jam. Photo credits - on left, Cyndi Crews, and on right, Donna Leaden - thanks!
If you don’t know us, the SIPtones are led by Rick Hathaway on sax, Steve Leaden on drums and Chuck Vondra on guitar. We were also lucky to have Rebecca Cihak - long-time musical comrade of Chuck’s - be our vocalist, and we hope can do this again soon. Also, missing in action was Joe Rubio, our regular bassist, who wasn’t able to make it this time. In due time, I’ll have more pictures and video to share, and otherwise, I keep an archive of photos and video clips from earlier shows on my website - here and here.
All in a week’s work, huh? Last week was Marrakesh and London, and now some US-based travel. Never done 3 events in a row, but starting today, it’s Cisco’s analyst event in San Jose. From there, off to Dallas for the SCTC annual conference, where I’m giving the locknote talk on Wed. Also, we’re doing another SIPtones gig on Monday night (you can check out some of our clips here) - woo hoo. Then, it’s back to San Francisco for RingCentral’s analyst event in Napa. Never dull!
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….
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!
Before the moment passes entirely - this is my first chance to share some photos here from last week’s CCTC networking event in Toronto. Canadian telecom and tech consultants rarely have events where all can gather, so this was a welcome development, led by long-time consultant Cheryl Helm.
We had a decent turnout, including a handful who participated virtually. Probably most importantly, the content was top-notch, from beginning to end. The networking was good too, but I think everyone went home feeling a bit smarter about that state of things with communications technology.
Oh, and I’d be remiss in saying to all my Canadian colleagues - happy Thanksgiving!
Below - Cheryl Helm leading things off, and Scott Murphy and the interoperability panel.
Below - the Foxhole - Roberta and Steve running their command center to keep everything moving. My locknote talk - if you’re attending the SCTC conference later this month in Dallas, my locknote there will be based on this, so not to worry if you didn’t catch it here.
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?
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.
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
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.
Busy week - I’ve been doing a lot of writing recently, and much of it is coming to market around now. Here’s the next one - another guest post for the NICE blog. The company is doing good things with CXi and their new branding, but the bigger message is how providing customer service now goes beyond the contact center. Lots more to explore here, so watch for more from me with NICE, as well as other places.
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.
Analysts get all kinds of swag - much of it is the same, and some is better than others. Here’s one, though, that I won’t be getting traders of. We graciously accept all of this at face value, but it’s always great to see creativity and fun, and NICE really stands out for me in that department.
October is going to be a full month of travel, so there’s a lot to prepare for. One of these stops will be for NICE’s 2022 Analyst Summit, held in Marrakesh, Morocco of all places. This is one of those times where we get spoiled a bit, but in return, they’ll have our full attention while we’re there.
Most travel can become a grind going to familiar cities and airports, but this one falls more in the adventure category, at least for me. So, to help build that anticipation of going to an exotic locale, I got a small package at the post the other day.
Can’t say I already have a magic lamp, but yup, I’ve got one now. More aptly, it should be called Barak’s lamp, after NICE’s CEO, Barak Eilam. I know he’s in there - I can hear him “wishing” me a good trip to Morocco, but I don’t have the secret password yet to release the genie. If that magically happens and my three wishes are granted, I might update you - or not. :-)
Got another guest post to share - this one is with NICE, where I’ve written about how their new “make experiences flow” branding reflects the thinking behind their CXi approach to today’s contact center challenges. It’s a two-part series on their blog site, and you can read the first one here now; and I’ll post again when the second writeup runs.
Back to work, back to school, and now back to podcasting and my newsletter!
The September issue of JAA Communications and Collaboration Review went out to subscribers yesterday, along with the latest Watch This Space podcast. Chris and I touched on the trend du jour - quiet quitting - and examined if there’s any connection with tanking tech stocks, especially those in the collaboration space. Never dull, and the newsletter provides a glimpse into how busy the Fall is going to be for me.
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.
Two new things to share as we slide into what’s going to be a very busy Fall.
First, I have a new article out, running in the September issue of Contact Center Pipeline magazine.. You can read it here, and after that, feel free to peruse the rest of the issue.
Related to that, I’ll be an occasional contributor to Contact Center Pipeline, so expect to see more articles from me, and possibly other forms of involvement.
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
Got another guest post writeup to share. This one is running on tekVizion’s blog site, and examines the value of continuous testing for UCaaS. Managing all these applications is harder to do than appears, especially since many of them are real-time.
IT cannot possibly keep up with all the updates and performance testing, and when things don’t go to plan, the user experience suffers, and that can really impact UCaaS adoption. The post is running now, and I hope you give it a read. No doubt, tekVizion would love to hear from you as well - they’ve been doing this for a very long time.
J Arnold & Associates is an Independent Technology Research and Analyst, helping businesses understand the strategic value of communications technology as they adapt to the digital transformation of work
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