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This my third U.S. conference this month, and I'm speaking at two others back home in Toronto, so am now at that saturation point where everything is a big blur. However, I got to the airport early, found a quiet spot, and wanted to get a quick post out while I'm still in the moment.

I just want to share some high level thoughts here, and will have a more considered analysis next week, and hopefully you'll stay with me for that. First off, having been to several Interactions events in Indy, not having Don Brown here to share his vision was a big sign of how much has changed in a year. Those are big shoes to fill, and given how much integration has been done by Genesys in a short period of time, kudos are due to CEO Paul Segre and his team.

The contact center space is going through unprecedented - but expected - disruption, so much so, I don't think that term will be in use much longer. End users and vendors alike are going through an existential crisis with all this new technology, and from what I saw, Genesys gets that in spades. I didn't attend the technical breakout sessions, but I hardly heard any references to IVR, ACD, call recording, etc. - the stock in trade of most contact centers.

Today, it's all about omnichannel, CX and customer journey, and the new vernacular is about AI, machine learning, automation, chatbots, conversational interfaces, journey visualization, biometrics, and of course, AR/VR. Digital transformation is definitely happening here, and Genesys has a pretty good handle not just on what is happening, but how their customers need to adapt.

Genesys, too, needs to adapt, and I really liked the overall tone of their messaging, mainly around their G-NINE framework, along with how they've branded their three core offerings - PureCloud, PureConnect and PureEngage - into a complete product family - the Genesys Customer Experience Platform.

All of this needs unpacking, and I'll get to that in an upcoming post. Until then, here are two key takeaways that stuck with me, along with a few photos for posterity. I really hope we get back to Indy at some point, but this may well have been the last one now that ININ is fully in the Genesys fold.

1. Meet Kate - that's their new chatbot, but there's much more to the story. Gender politics aside - yes, that's a thing - what stuck with me was how they call this "blended AI". The language for our brave new digital world is still evolving, and since nobody really owns it, we can call these new things whatever we want. For now, that term seems to work, with the idea being that Kate strives to leverage micro-services/applications efficiently when interfacing with machines (for lack of a better word - that's definitely a holdover from pre-digital times that will surely fade away), but also with empathy and a personal touch when dealing with people - both customers and employees.

2. Branding update. So, the "big reveal" at the end of the general sessions was ably handled by CMO Merijn te Booijj. This initiative was done thoughtfully and with purpose, and he did a great job explaining it. Given all the integration with ININ, and their future-forward vision for CX, there's a lot of ground to cover when coming up with new branding that's going to hit the mark. Being a marketing guy, I really admire good branding, and I'd say they've succeeded. The new logo is a bit amorphous - almost like mutating cells - but hey, isn't that what's really been happening with Genesys, evolving into a higher life form, so to speak? Maybe. More on that later, and if you haven't seen the new logo/tagline yet, it's in the gallery below.