New White Paper on Enterprise Mobility - for Enreach

I’ve got another white paper update to share - this one was done for Enreach, a leading EU mobility and platform provider.

Mobility has long been a challenge in the collaboration space, but more importantly, Enreach feels what’s really needed is an integrated approach to manage all forms of enterprise communications. That’s their strong suit, and my white paper examines the trends that drive the need for this approach. Mobility is a big part of the story, but it’s not the whole story.

The white paper was published yesterday, and I hope you give it a read. Here’s the press release they issued with the backstory, along with a link to download the paper. Would love to hear your thoughts, and am sure Enreach will too!

May Writing Roundup

I had a heavier-than-normal travel schedule in May, so writing was on the light side. Still managed to get a few things out, and here’s the digest.

Re-Thinking the On-Hold Experience, white paper for Aizan, May 31

3 Best Practices for a Successful UCaaS Migration, TechTarget, May 23

Are We Moving Too Fast with AI?, No Jitter, May 23

How to Manage Telecom Fraud, Contact Center Pipeline, May issue, May 4

New Podcast - Talking Generative AI with Cresta's CMO

I told you I had a lot of new content to share, and am slowly getting all of it out now.

This post is the first of a two-part podcast series with Cresta, a company that has been doing a lot in the contact center space with Generative AI. The series is being hosted by UK-based EM360, where I’m a regular contributor. For Part 2, I’ll be in conversation with their CEO, Ping Wu, and that should be out in the next couple of weeks. Until then, I hope you check out Part 1 with CMO Scott Kolman - it just went live yesterday.

My Latest White Paper - Re-Thinking the On-Hold Experience

We all know what being put on-hold feels like, and it’s never good. While it may be a necessary evil for customer “service”, there’s also an opportunity for contact centers and brands to use that time in a more constructive, engaging fashion. Annoying music can certainly make the experience even worse, but imagine providing content that customers would actually want to hear while on-hold.

When it comes to personalizing customer experience, this is just one more form of interaction that is fully in the control of the contact center. If you’re amenable to thinking more broadly about what on-hold can look and sound like, I think you’ll find my latest white paper of interest.

The paper was sponsored by Aizan Inc., an innovative company solving some pretty daunting problems in the communications space, especially around telephony and messaging. Usually, my white papers are gated, where registration is required, but this one is public, so it’s available for all. Here’s the link, and I’d love to hear your thoughts - as would the folks at Aizan.

Are We Moving Too Fast with AI? My Latest on No Jitter

I’ve had three big trips over the past three weeks, and while I have a lot of new writing and speaking to share, I’m way behind getting things posted. Am hoping to get that backlog cleared up over the next few days.

This blog post is to share my latest No Jitter article, which ran last week. I’m part of a rotating group of analysts under the BCStrategies umbrella that contribute to No Jitter, and this time around was my turn.

If you follow me, you’ll know I write a lot about AI in its various forms, and for this article, I’m drawing on some data from a new research study commissioned by RingCentral with Ipsos. While I only had access to a limited data set, there are some interesting comparisons between decision makers and non-decision makers about AI perceptions that I think need to be considered when moving down this path.

AI is getting really overheated now, and pumping the brakes a bit is not a bad idea - that’s the gist of my writeup, and I hope you give it a read.

UPDATE - since publishing this post, RingCentral has just made the broader set of findings from the Ipsos study available - here’s the link to download the report.

New Podcast with NICE - Fraud Detection Through Training and AI

I’ve recently completed another guest podcast with NICE, and their ongoing CX Pulse series.

Telecom fraud has been on my radar quite a lot lately, and this episode touches on how it impacts the contact center, along with how agent training and AI can help mitigate the threats.

This is a big topic for sure, so for a one-off podcast, it’s pretty high level, but hopefully this will start some important conversations about a topic nobody really likes talking about.

CX Pulse episodes aren’t searchable on NICE’s site, but having been recently published, mine is the most recent episode as of today, so it shouldn’t be hard to find, and then just click there to listen.

Another option - Apple Podcasts is one way to subscribe to CX Pulse, and they provide dedicated URLs for each episode - here’s the link for mine. Either way, I hope you check it out, and would love to hear your thoughts.

New Kudo - Top UCaaS Influencer to Follow from 8x8

Been off the grid for a bit, and finally back to things here. Here’s a new kudo from earlier this month from 8x8. They do a top list of influencers for various spaces each year, and in March, I was on their influencer list for CCaaS.

This time around, I’m on their UCaaS list as well, so am on a bit of a roll with them. Last year, I was also on both these lists, along with another one for CPaaS - let’s see how the rest of 2023 unfolds, and I may yet have another update on that front.

Next Stop - Five9 Analyst Summit - Porto, Portugal

I haven’t done a “next stop” post in ages - kinda went away with the pandemic. In-person events are definitely back, and I need to get back into the habit of doing these shout-outs for upcoming events.

Next up for me will be for Five9, and this will be my first time visiting Porto, Portugal. Am sure will be a great experience, and I’ll share along the way, as well as after, of course.

Until recently, these were called “analyst events”, but as social media becomes more pervasive, and as demographics trend younger, they’re now called “analyst and influencer” events. I’d be swimming upstream trying to parse this out - maybe a topic for a future podcast - and for now, let’s just say I’m happy to be part of this group.

To stay totally connected, follow the event using the hash in the visual below, and if you want track what I’m sharing, my Twitter handle is #arnoldjon.

UC Awards 2023 - It's On Now - Time to Meet the Judges

UK-based UC Today has been running their UC Awards for a few years now, and I’ve been invited back again to be part of the cohort of judges. It’s a fun process, and as an analyst, I talk to a lot of vendors, which helps provide the industry-based perspective needed here.

The awards program itself is underway, and applications can be submitted until June 9. If getting industry recognition is on your to-do list, more detail can be found here, including the 12 different awards categories.

How to Manage Telecom Fraud - Guest Article for Contact Center Pipeline

That’s the title of my latest article for Contact Center Pipeline, where I’m an occasional contributor. Telecom fraud takes many forms, and while we all know what those calls sound like, it’s likely far more insidious than you might think. I’ve been delving into this space recently, and my new article here is one facet of what I’m coming across.

If that’s of interest, you should check out the rest of the May 2023 issue, as cybersecurity is the editorial theme, so there’s lots of other good analysis here relating to the contact center. Here’s the link, and if you like the writeup, comments are welcome, and feel free to share. Visual below, btw, is from the article, from the folks at Contact Center Pipeline.

Newsletter Time, Podcast Too - May Editions Out Now

The May editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and Watch This Space podcast are out now.

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.

Our focus this month was on current industry events, along with growing concern about AI, and how technology is reshaping the fan experience at sporting events - and not necessarily in a good way.

On my website, there are now archives for both the newsletter and the podcast, so it’s easy to find earlier editions of each there. We’re into Season 6 of the podcast, so there’s a lot on offer in the archive if you want to check out earlier episodes.

April Writing Roundup

Been plenty busy on many fronts lately, and during April, some of that work turned up in my public writing. Here’s a digest of that, and I hope you check some of these out.

Enterprise Connect 2023 - My Analyst Perspective, April 24, EM360

How Generative AI for Business Enhances Collaboration, April 18, TechTarget

POTS Replacement - More Complex Than You Might Think, April 11, No Jitter

The Year of AI: Impacts on UCaaS and CCaaS, April 4, RingCentral Blog

Next Webinar - Contact Center Market Update for CCSC

I’ve recently connected with John Heiberger, and one of his hats is running the CCSC - Contact Center Solutions Consortium. This community serves to share knowledge that helps contact center leaders make better buying decisions. They run regular virtual webinars, and I’m going to be the presenter for the next one, which is this week - Thursday, April 27 at 1pm ET.

Basically, I’ll be providing an overview of the state of play in this space, which we all know is being transformed in a variety of ways. The webinar is generally for members-only, but am sharing here because John will consider non-member requests on a case-by-case basis. The details are here, and maybe I’ll see you there.

Shout-out for UCX USA Event - Guest Video Spot

If you don’t know, UK-based UC Expo is launching its first US event this September, and I’ll be speaking there. To help build awareness and interest, they’ve produced a webinar series, UCX USA Talks, and I was one of their guests recently.

The theme was “how to keep your customers and employees happy in 2023”, and serves as a preview for some of what to expect when this show runs in Austin. I hope you check it out - along with other Talks in their series - and maybe I’ll see you there. Here’s the landing page on their site, along with the direct link to watch it on Vimeo.

New Series from NICE: ChatGPT Created This Webinar

Just a heads-up about a new series that I’m part of with NICE. In case you can’t get enough about Generative AI and what-it’s-all-about, they’ve put together a four-part webinar series.

The first episode is out now, and I was a guest for the second one, where I was in conversation with John Willcutts. That episode was released this week, and there are two more coming over the next few weeks.

I hope you check them all out, and to do that, you need to register here. As always, feedback and sharing welcome.

Enterprise Connect Redux - 4 Recap Interviews

Enterprise Connect seems like a long time ago, but still plenty of buzz from what I can tell. If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I managed to post some photos just after the event, but have not had time since to write up my thoughts.

In lieu of that, I’ve been part of four different interview spots related to Enterprise Connect - one podcast and three video segments. So, if you want to hear/see my thoughts on the event, you’ve got a lot of reference points to work from here. They’re all different, and if you get through all of them, let me know, and I’ll give you a gold star shout-out! Here goes…

First - I was a guest on Doug Green’s Telecom Reseller podcast, which was recorded onsite at Enterprise Connect. Click on the visual below for the replay - and same for the next two.

Second - I was a guest on Zeus Kerravala’s ZKast video series, so this is a 1:1 segment where we discussed our takeaways from the event.

Third - the latest segment of Big UC News, where I was one of several guests sharing our thoughts with hosts David Dungay and Rob Scott.

Fourth - this is for the SCTC, where last week’s Fireside Chat was about Enterprise Connect, and I’m one of many members talking about the event. We do these chats live, and they’re all archived on the SCTC website, but you need to be a member to access them.

POTS Replacement Challenges - My Latest on No Jitter

Am on a roll with my writing at the moment, including some guest posts that are coming to market around this time. My latest is on No Jitter, where the focus is on POTS replacement - something pretty much every business will have to deal with as Copper Sunset unfolds.

As you may know, switching over to VoIP for desktop telephony is fairly straightforward, and most businesses have done that already. Mission-critical applications, however, is another story - fire alarms, elevator phones, etc. - and this needs an entirely different solution.

The good news is that there are vendors with viable offerings, but they’re harder to come across than VoIP providers. Before getting to that, though, businesses need to understand the nature of mission-critical communications, and risks that arise, both for simply staying the course with POTS for as long as possible, or trying to cobble together a solution from parts unknown. That’s the gist of my story - I’m sticking to it, and I hope you read the rest here on No Jitter!

Extreme Networks Influencer Summit - Quick Take and Pix

Another week, another event, but I’ll be home now for the rest of April. This was my first time attending an Extreme Networks event, and this was their first one just for “influencers”, which includes analysts, consultants and media. To varying degrees, each of these groups are influencers, but that topic is best left for another time.

Just have a short window at the airport now until my flight goes, so this will be quick. My first impressions were very positive, and kudos to my hosts Tom Fitzpatrick and Wes Durow for putting on a great event. We were a small group - by design - and the time was well-spent. I may not be a networking guy, but I follow it well enough to understand how it drives business value, and as digital transformation marches on, the possibilities really open up.

In due time, I plan to write a few pieces to explore that, both overall, and for specific use cases, such collaboration and hybrid work. There are strong parallels between what they’re envisioning in terms of outcomes with all this hyper-connectivity, and Future of Work, which is one of my cores areas of focus. More coming on that soon, and until then, here are a handful of my photos.

CEO Ed Meyercord talking about how the network has become strategic now - definitely - and what really turned Extreme around was shifting from being engineering-focused to being customer-focused. Good plan. Next - Amy Aylward, VP Corp. Marketing (off camera, sorry), moderating a panel with Extreme execs about how the market has changed with exponentially more data now to manage - “new ways, better outcomes”. Last - demo session on opening night.

Yes, it’s true - everything is old in Boston - well, almost. The ballpark may be well into its second century, but there’s lots of cool innovation happening here. We got a great tour of the stadium, but also a closer look at the technology Extreme provides; and to tell us about it, we had Randy George on hand, VP Tech Operations with the Red Sox. More specifically, fellow SCTC colleagues Scott Murphy and Tom Brannen pointing out one of the 800 access points Extreme has running at Fenway to provide incredibly rich data about everything going on there via our mobile devices. A bit scary, but a data geek’s playground.

Purple is the color scheme here - nice touch. Things never stand still in our world, so during the briefings yesterday, I managed to work in two video spots - both to review highlights from last week’s Enterprise Connect. First, Steve Leaden, hosting his regular live Fireside Chat - Wednesdays at noon - so being onsite, I joined him for the segment. This is for SCTC members - Extreme is one - and replays are available for members on our website. Finally - I did a segment with Zeus Kerravala for his ZKast video series, where we also talked about Enterprise Connect takeaways. Here’s Zeus setting up the camera before doing our chat. If you don’t follow Zeus, you really should, and I’ll share this once it comes out.

New Month - April Newsletter and Podcast Now

It’s time for the April editions of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, along with my Watch This Space podcast.

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. Our focus this month was on a variety current industry events, and the current state of enterprise communications.

On my website, there are now archives for both the newsletter and the podcast, so it’s easy to find earlier editions of each there. We’re into Season 6 of the podcast, so there’s a lot on offer in the archive if you want to check out earlier episodes.

Enterprise Connect 2023 - Takeaways (sort of) and Photos

Was quite a week at Enterprise Connect, and still trying to process all the conversations and updates. Normally, I’d have time to consolidate my thoughts, but it just hasn’t happened yet.

In lieu of that, however, I’ll be sharing my takeaways via three different video segments, with the first one recorded yesterday for Big UC News. Am attending an analyst event this week, and have two other video segments lined up then, so it won’t take long to get those done and shared here, and on my social channels.

Until those come out, am sharing some photos below from the conference - all are mine unless credited otherwise. If you want to chat further about Enterprise Connect, feel free to drop me a line. It’s not usually this hectic after an event, but that’s how things are lining up right now.

Below: Dave Michels hosting the Innovation Showcase (I was a judge), Blair Pleasant’s panel on bringing UCaaS and CCaaS together, and the super-interesting UCaaS vendor breakdown session with Kevin Kieller and Brent Kelly.

My session on enterprise use cases for AI-driven speech tech (photo: Dan Miller - thanks!), panel session on Thursday about how IT will adapt to the future of work, Vonage analyst breakfast, with Savinay Berry speaking

Long-time tech journalist Doug Green - I was his guest for an episode of his Telecom Reseller podcast - coming soon! Next - very cool demo from the most interesting thing I saw at the show - from Alan Lepofsky (another Canadian!) of Mobeus. Look closely at the right screen at his hands looking like a ghost image, and as he gestures, the outline of the hands show up on the left screen, in real time. Hard to explain, but Airglass adds a virtual layer to what’s on your screen that helps make meetings more interactive and immersive. Out of the box for sure, and very cool. Last photo - Paul Ginn speaking at Mitel’s analyst update.

Hey, I got photo-bombed by “no kisscam” Zeus Kerravla - surprise! I was briefing at the time with Joe Burton of Telesign - thanks for the photo, Joe. Cool signage here as you walk into the event space - it reflects perfectly below on the marble floor. Another fun shot, with another Canadian and long-time colleague, Darryl Wilson from Kyndryl (Darryl’s selfie).

More social stuff - with my SCTC and SIPtones brothers - Rick Hathaway, Steve Leaden and son (thanks Fran Blackburn!); with Lisa Martin from Five9 (her selfie), and Carlos Cano from Talkdesk (his selfie).

Enterprise Connect after dark - very fun whiskey tasting with Talkdesk, firing up a smokey and very delicious Old Fashioned at NICE, and a very glam welcome sign from Twilio’s reception.