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A short note for navigating this section - scroll below for the most recent posts, and then for more, click on the Blog Archive box, where you can view all of my posts, going back to the beginning in March 2005.
I’ve been writing a series of guest posts for Aizan, and this time, the focus is on the impact of AI on voice communications, which of course is substantial. ChatGPT is just one flavor of this, and my post outlines key use cases and applications for both workplace and the contact center. I hope you give it a read, and while you’re there, you might want to check out their Voice Marketplace.
Did more video and speaking than writing in August, so this is a short digest. Just two public writeups to share, so hopefully you can read ‘em both if you haven’t already!
MWC Shanghai - Three Key Perspectives, RCR Wireless, Aug. 1
North Carolina Electric Cooperatives Conference - Quick Take and Pix, my blog, Aug. 15
Quiet month before summer ends, but September will be busy, and even more so for October. Got a new webinar here to pass along - I’ll be speaking with RingCentral, and it’s hosted by ICMI, so I’ll be in good company.
There’s so much to talk about in the contact center space, and I hope you’ll join us for our take. The webinar is on Sept. 27 at 2pm ET, and here’s the registration page.
Back in June, I was part of a media contingent for Mobile World Congress Shanghai, and since then, I’ve written and spoken about it in a few places, with more to come. This is the latest follow-on from that trip - a video interview with me during the event, by Nicolas Charbonnier. He’s a well-known video blogger - and posts prolifically about tech, especially endpoints, on the ARMdevices.net website.
Nicolas just published the interview yesterday, and if you want my in-the-moment take on MWC and the 5G space, you can view it via his blog post here, or directly on his YouTube channel. The blog post has a rambling preamble about the interview, and if it sounds like it was generated by AI, you’d be correct - and is cited as such. It’s a bit overdone and isn’t my doing, and yeah, is a pretty good example for why some folks push back on the likes of ChatGPT (that’s a whole other discussion). I’d rather you just watch the interview, and if you do, would love to hear your thoughts!
I can talk a long time about this mix of themes, but for this session, we only have 45 minutes, and there will be three of us. No matter - am happy to be there - and worth noting this will be a new event for me.
The event is called Digital CxO Summit - it’s a one-day virtual event on Wednesday, September 13, at 1pm EST. I’m new to this group - Techstrong - and they have several other events that may fall into my orbit later this year.
Let’s see how this one goes first, and if you want to attend, registration details are on their site. For more detail about the panel session, here’s the Agenda link, and if you scroll down to 1pm, you’ll see it there.
I recent engaged with Cresta for a two-part podcast series, talking with their executives about the growing role of AI in the contact center, its business value to them as a vendor, and how it helps improve customer service.
The latest episode was just published by EM360 - the host of this series - where I was in conversation with Cresta’s co-founder and CTO, Tim Shi. Here’s the link, and I hope you give it a listen - and if you like it, you’ll probably want to check out the first episode, which I did with their CMO, Scott Kolman.
NCEC - that’s the acronym of the day, and it’s for the North Carolina Electric Cooperatives. That’s a mouthful, but they speak my language, and represent 26 co-ops across the state - basically the customer base that Duke Energy doesn’t serve directly.
You may not know that I have a long history in the smart grid space, including my own Smart Grid Summit event some years back, and a good run being quite involved with Zpryme’s Energy Thought Summit - which is still going strong in Austin. With a bit of searching on my blog, you’ll see all kinds of posts and videos about that, but for this post, I’m just talking about where I was last week.
That would be Myrtle Beach - first time there for me - where I was invited to speak at NCEC’s 2023 Technology Conference and Expo. Turns out this was their largest attendance to date, and as a speaker, it’s always great to have a full house. I did presentations for two sessions, and the rooms were full each time - with lots of audience engagement. That checks a lot of boxes for me.
I’ll just share some high-level takeaways here - mainly because it was a closed event - no media, and I was the only analyst there. I could go on at great length about the parallels between telecom and energy providers, and while both are utilities by nature, they’re at different stages of adopting all the new technologies that are in my orbit. Energy providers have lagged here, and what happened with telcos is happening here now.
This event was a great way to learn about the current state of energy, along with what’s on tap technology-wise. There is definitely a lot of new tech being adopted here, mostly for operations, and AI is very much in the mix. The exhibit hall had plenty of that on display, including vendors who would be familiar in the comms world, such as Fortinet, Cradlepoint, Cisco, Carousel, Calix and SAS.
Cybersecurity is a big deal here, as utilities are very attractive targets, both for network-based and physical plant attacks. Pretty scary stuff, actually, and comms technology has a big role to play in protecting all this.
AI is starting to carry the day here, and the use cases for smart grid are similar - and complementary - to what’s needed in adjacent spaces like smart home, smart factory, smart cities, smart vehicles. All things considered, this is actually a great time for energy providers to leverage these technologies to re-think the whole value chain. These co-ops definitely see the opportunity, and just need some support to help catch up and make a similar transition to what telcos have gone through.
In case you’re wondering - as I now put on my contact center/CX hat - yes, customer service is a big pain point here, just as it is in other sectors that have lagged with cloud and AI adoption. I see this being a huge part of the value chain that needs innovation, not just because the bar for CSAT is low, but also because supply-demand dynamics have changed so much. Energy customers - both residential and commercial - do have some choice now in providers, and with the rise of renewables, they can actually be both buyers and sellers of energy. Lots of opportunity here to uplevel the customer experience.
I got to play a small part in raising their knowledge base via my two sessions talking about AI. The content is for attendees only, so all I can say is that there’s a strong appetite for this, and my role was to provide an industry-based perspective on the trends and use cases. One session was focused on Generative AI, and I made it interactive, using an ask-me-anything format. I had three of these platforms running, and we input various questions and requests, both from me and the audience to see what responses would come back. It was a fun way to experience Generative AI first-hand, and if you want to do this with me at your next event, drop me a line!
That’s my quick take, and will close by sharing a few photos - mostly mine - from the event.
Below - Don Bowman from Wake Electric kicking things off. What you don’t know is that he’s the bandleader for their community, and his group played to close out the event - very much like the SIPtones, yeah. Didn’t work out for me to be part of their gig, but maybe next year. Next - full room for my presentation about the impact of AI on future of work and opportunities for utilities. Photo credit for me speaking - Katie Hochstedt from NCEC.
Exhibitors from the show floor - NCEC, Fortinet and Cradlepoint.
Some of the event sponsors, then a colorful shot from a fiber exhibitor. Last photo - sure looks like a switchboard - it’s a training tool used for linemen. If you’re of a certain age, you’re probably smiling, thinking hey, this is just like the Operation game we used to play as kids. Correct! I was not alone in thinking that, and it probably says a lot for the age demographic of this industry.
Having been away on vacation all last week, the August editions were published a bit later than normal. However, they’re out now, so this post is an fyi for JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review newsletter, and the 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. Hoping you’ll check both out, and would love your feedback any time.
Writing output was on the light side in July, but it’s just one of multiple channels I use for thought leadership, and I was busy on all these fronts last month. Hope you enjoy these writeups, and definitely more to come for August.
3 Considerations to Choose the Right Communication Channel, TechTarget, July 26
MWC Shanghai - Quick Take and Photos, my blog, July 13
Avaya ENGAGE - Takeaways for Act III, BCStrategies, June 30 (not posted til July 5)
Got another guest post to share - this is Part 2 for a short series I’m doing with TeamMate. The article is running now on their blog page, where you can also find Part 1. I hope you find the posts helpful.
Had my first trip to Asia recently, and I was part of a media delegation from the West to attend MWC Shanghai (and pretty sure I was the only attendee from Canada or the US). The delegation was sponsored by Huawei, so we also had some tours of their various campuses, all of which was very impressive.
Time was limited at the conference itself, and the stars have finally lined up to share a quick take here. MWC ran during late June, but with limited access to Internet platforms - not to mention the 12 hour time difference - I didn’t do any real-time posting while there. I have a few articles in the works about my trip - and tons more pictures - but for now, I’m going to share some of my photos and high-level takeaways.
I don’t think a lot of Westerners were at MWC Shanghai, as many of the sessions were in Chinese, but audio translating devices were available to follow along in English. Couldn’t get the full gist of what was being said, but the overall themes were clear. 5G is definitely happening, and looks to be at a much faster pace in Asia.
Many of the talks were about industrial and IoT applications, and the benefits are easy to see. From what I can tell, though, these innovations are happening mainly in Asia - and a bit in the Middle East. As such, I took this a preview of things to come in the West, so there’s a lot to pay attention to here.
Was great to see so many use-case driven examples - mining, exploration, energy, manufacturing, agriculture, logistics to name a few - these vendors and carriers are not just throwing things against the wall to see what sticks. Much of what I saw was B2B, but there were a few B2C citings, so the 5G story here isn’t really about getting consumers to post more videos on social media.
I’ll explore some of those use cases in upcoming posts, and for now, will leave you with some photos for a flavor of being there. Disclaimer - speaker attributions may not be 100% accurate. Wasn’t easy to track all the details while there, and corrections are welcome.
Below - weather was very hot and humid, so much more comfortable once inside. Not quite the crowds for a Beatles concert, but it kinda looked that way with the early morning rush to get in. Third photo - one of many reminders why it’s different in China. Checkpoints everywhere - this one segregates attendees from mainland China and everywhere else.
Everyone and everything is on mobile here, but had limited access to my go-to apps/platforms. Eventually, I got on WeChat - it’s great - but not til after MWC. All those folks with sign cards - I guess they’re guides to get people around - 5 exhibit halls, so it’s a lot of ground to cover. Last shot - the palace guards keeping watch over the food - soooo cute!
From the show floor - pavilions for Huawei and China Unicom. Middle - one of many demos from Huawei - Naked 3D. Very cool - one of the few consumer-type offerings there - the baseball seems to be jumping off the screen, coming right at you - 3D effect without the glasses - really need to see it.
Many recurring themes across the talks I saw, but reinforces how far along these companies and carriers are with 5G. Sabrina Meng from Huawei, Xu Ziyang from ZTE, Jemin Chung from KT.
Dingjin Liu from SINOPEC (great review of using 5G for exploration), Henry Ge from GTVerse (using 5G to bridge the worlds of gaming, live sports and AR/VR - very cool), Chaobin Yang from Huawei.
Am back for another NICE Talks webinar, next Thursday, July 20 at 11am ET.
As with last time, I’m paired with Lauren Maschio, and we’ll be drawing from a recent white paper I wrote for them around the role AI is playing now to drive customer experience, aka CX. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, and hope you can join us - register here!
I’ve started doing some guest blogs for TeamMate, a company that helps integrate telephony with Teams. My first post ran last week, and am just getting a chance to do a shout-out about it now.
This is actually a two-part series, and the second one will run in a few days. There’s a bigger picture to consider with Teams and telephony, and I hope you give my writeup a read.
With the long weekend earlier, the July editions were published a bit later than normal. However, they’re out now, so this post is an fyi for JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review newsletter, and the 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. Hoping you’ll check both out, and would love your feedback any time.
Still catching up from being offline last week, and here’s another ICYMI shout-out.
I recently did a white paper for Enreach about the growing role of mobility for collaboration, and soon after its release, Doug Green interviewed me about it for his widely-followed Telecom Reseller podcast. We get along quite well, and if this topic is of interest, I think you’ll enjoy our conversation. I sure did!
This isn’t really an ICYMI post, and if you’re still wondering about what Avaya’s prospects look like, I think you’ll find my analysis a good read.
I was offline all last week, and actually wrote this right after Avaya’s ENGAGE event in Orlando, so it was done before most of the subsequent writeups came out. For reasons unbeknownst to me, BCStrategies couldn’t get my writeup published until last Friday - right before the holiday weekend, when everyone is heading to the beach or a bbq. Doh! That’s how it goes sometimes, so this is very likely the first you’re hearing about it.
There are many good stories to be told about what I’m calling Act III for Avaya, and my writeup on BCStrategies is just one of them. This week, my July Watch This Space podcast comes out, and there will lots more there about Avaya, so keep an eye out for that as well.
Back-to-back months of hectic travel, so writing has been on the light side. Lots of new work in play, though, and over the next few days I’ll catchup on the backlog and get all of that posted. Until then, here’s a digest of my public writing from June.
Avaya ENGAGE - Takeaways for Act III, BCStrategies, June 30
SIP Trunking vs. VoIP - What’s the Difference?, TechTarget, June 15
Campaign Registry - a Higher Bar for A2P Messaging, Aizan Blog, June 9
Travel schedule has been light lately, and all of a sudden, there are three good ones all happening next week - go figure. I can only do one, and my pick is Avaya ENGAGE, so it’s back again to Orlando.
As we all know, the stakes are high for Avaya these days, and so far, they’ve done a great job righting the ship. Under Alan Masarek’s leadership, things are looking promising, so I’m quite keen to attend and see where things are going from here. With a solid balance sheet and renewed market focus, there’s a lot of opportunity to capitalize on, and over the next few days, I’ll share my thoughts on how well they’re executing.
I’ve got a new guest post to share, and it’s for Toronto-based Aizan Technologies. They’re doing some interesting things in the communications space, both for telephony and messaging, as well as for both fixed and mobile networks.
One area of interest is A2P messaging - application to person - which is a much bigger deal in the consumer world, but as the contact center space keeps morphing, A2P becomes relevant here as well.
My guest post is about some fairly new requirements for A2P campaigns that marketers and brands need to be aware of. Without higher standards and safeguards to mitigate fraud, these campaigns will become even more of a nuisance for consumers, as well as a greater risk for brands.
Given how messaging is becoming more widely-used for customer service, there’s more at stake here than just pushing out marketing pitches en masse. If this piques your interest, I hope you give my writeup a read, and to do that, here’s the link.
The June 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. Hoping you’ll check both out, and would love your feedback any 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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