My Latest Guest Post - Value of Continuous Testing for UCaaS

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.

Cisco WebexOne - Our Take - Latest BCStrategies Podcast

Last week was another busy week in the collaboration space, as the stream of large-scale developments continues. The big players keep making big moves, as dominance in this space seems to be coming down to a handful of majors. We’re still digesting Saleforce taking out Slack, and just before that RingCentral announced yet another Tier 1 strategic partnership - Vodafone - to further spread their global footprint. Not long before that, Zoom raised the bar at Zoomtopia to emerge as a full-fledged collaboration platform.

Not to be outdone, Cisco has made its latest move with the “all new” WebexOne. The collaboration business unit has undergone a major transformation since sharing their vision and new team at the last analyst gathering back in February. The stakes are just too high now, and Cisco simply has to keep pace with Zoom, Microsoft and RingCentral, not to mention other key players like Avaya, Google, and yes, Amazon - all of whom are doing well, and are all-in with cloud.

At last week’s much-hyped WebOne launch event, Cisco did not disappoint. If you’re a fan of bigger=better, they had your number, announcing 50 new features, and claming a 10X improvement for the collaboration experience. I have no idea how you measure that, but rest assured, it’s at least as good - and in many ways - better than Zoom. Cisco has long been accustomed to being a market leader, but things have slipped recently, and that’s not in their DNA.

So, here we are, and the result is WebOne, and it’s hard not to be impressed - not just for collaboration, but contact center as well. Lots to talk about, and that’s what we did on our latest BCStrategies podcast, this one hosted by Blair Pleasant. The podcast has been posted now on our portal, and if you give us 36 minutes, we’ll tell you pretty much all you need to know about WebexOne. And if we missed anything, drop us a line, and we’ll find a way to cover that.

Watch This Space Podcast - Now Featured on BCStrategies

Being an indie analyst, I wear many hats, and one is being a BC Expert with BCStrategies. I’ve been part of this virtual collective for many years, and contribute regularly, mainly in the form of articles. Each BC Expert has a strong body of work, making this portal a great resource for anyone in the collaboration space, and for reference, here’s mine.

Coming back to my main hat - J Arnold & Associates, most of you know I produce a monthly newsletter - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - along with a monthly podcast, Watch This Space. The podcast branding was updated in September, and I’m slowly getting it listed with the commercial podcasting platforms, and hopefully that will be done by year-end.

For those who don’t subscribe to my podcast from one of these platforms, you can now check it out on BCStrategies, so that’s my news for today. And while you’re there, please check out all the other content from fellow BC Experts. I’ll actually have another post running there any day now, and I’ll have a separate blog post about that.

The Hybrid Workplace - New Research and My Latest for BCStrategies

My workload and schedule have both been intense since Labor Day, and that’s cut into my writing output including my regular contributions to BCStrategies, where I’ve long been a BCS Expert.

The stars finally lined up to get a post done, and I based it on a new research study commissioned by Cisco, titled “The Rise of the Hybrid Workplace”. It’s a global study that looks at the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace, and the challenges for both home-based working, along with bringing workers back to the office.

Lots of interesting data, and I’ve distilled the highlights into a few themes that you can digest in a single post. My analysis has been posted now on the BCS portal, and I hope you find it of interest. While you’re there, you’ll find lots of other great content from my peers, including articles, podcasts and interviews with industry leaders. If you follow me, you may know that my Watch This Space podcast has recently been added to the portal, so it’s another way to access my podcasts - fyi.

Ribbon Perspectives19 - My Takeaways on BCStrategies

Every industry event is different, and no two companies respond to changing market conditions the same way. My latest conference was Ribbon’s Perspectives19 in Washington DC, and I came away with some strong impressions, but also some questions. My writeup was posted on BCStrategies on Friday, and in case you missed it, here’s the link.

Enterprise Connect 2019 - BCStrategies Podcast Recap

Enterprise Connect 2019 was so good that we’re still talking about it! Well, not exactly, but the BCStrategies team finally found a time last week to share our collective thoughts. Most of us have already said our piece - and my posts are easy to find here on my blog - but talking has a different vibe than writing, especially when we’re doing it as a group.

With that, our latest podcast is running now on the BCStrategies site, and if you’re wondering why Marty Parker says this year’s edition was the “best ever”, you’ll want to give this a listen.

Two New BCStrategies Podcasts - Looking Back on 2018 and 2019 Predictions

Been a backlog getting new content posted on BCStrategies, so I have a double-shot update to share here.

Regular followers should know that we try to do a podcast every other week or so, and that I’ve been a long-time contributor to the group. In late December, we usually do a year-in-review themed podcast, along with our outlook for the year ahead, and the stars lined up for both a few weeks back.

These podcasts have now been posted to the BCStrategies portal, and I hope you give them a listen. Here’s our Look Back on 2018 podcast, followed by our 2019 Predictions. As always, comments and sharing are welcome.

New BCStrategies Podcast - Vonage Analyst Event Takeaways

That was the topic for our latest BCStrategies podcast, and this time around, I was the moderator. Aside from having our usual mix of analysts and consultants, we had views on Vonage both from event attendees, along with consultants who have a working relationship with them.

The podcast has now been posted to our portal, so you can check it out here.

If that whets your appetite for more, the post includes links to coverage from fellow BCStrategies colleagues Blair Pleasant and Dave Michels.

Aside from that, I posted my own analysis of the event here on my blog.

Kudos if you get through all of that, but if you do, you’ll be the biggest expert on Vonage outside our little circle. :-)

Collaboration - The Next Generation - My Latest with BCStrategies

The main contributions I make to BCStrategies are monthly thought leadership pieces, and participating on podcasts when the stars line up. While this content reflects our ongoing insights into the collaboration space, we also produce sponsored content from time to time. This particular post is part of a series sponsored by AT&T, and while it went through extensive review at their end, the focus has remained entirely vendor/carrier neutral.

Of course, your opinion is what realy matters, but I think you’ll agree, it’s a pretty arms-length overview of where collaboration is heading. I hope you find it a good read - here’s the link - and as always your feedback is welcome.

Collaboration Vendors to Watch - Our BCStrategies Podcast

Been offline a few days, but now back to posting. Getting real busy again on a few fronts, and before things get too hectic, I’ve been meaning to share this podcast.

As part of BCStrategies, we record podcasts regularly, and this is a topic we’ve been meaning to do for a while. The big players by nature get most of the limelight, and this time around, we wanted to focus on lesser-known companies who are doing interesting things.

Without variety, things get dull pretty fast, and this webinar provides a good window into what companies other than Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Amazon, et al are up to. This time around, the podcast was hoted by Blair Pleasant, and for reference, the replay link here also provides a brief overview of the companies we talked about. For my segment, I touched on CoreDial, Nectar, Sangoma, and Cogito. All doing very different things, but interesting in their own ways.

Is the Gartner UC Magic Quadrant Dead? Our BCStrategies Podcast

Pretty much - but everything has it's time, right?

Nothing really surprising here, at least for us at BCStrategies, but it's easy to forget that the world doesn't move in lockstep. Technology changes faster than humans or enterprises can adapt, and there's a wide spectrum for UC and the broader collaboration umbrella. 

Conventional UC is still very much a thing, and that's the market this particular MQ report serves. For a while, it was a bellwether for the state of UC, but not so much now. If you're wondering why, then this podcast is for you. Even if you've already reached that conclusion, I think you'll enjoy our perspectives, this time moderated by Marty Parker - here's the link.

AI - is it Really Artificial? Our Latest BCStrategies Podcast

Big topic, and lots to discuss. That's what we covered in our current BCStrategies podcast. It's on the long side - about 50 minutes - but AI is kind of like that. There's so much to learn and so many perspectives, and hopefully you'll find this a good listen.

This time around, fellow Torontonian/US-expat Kevin Kieller led the group, and the download can now be accessed here on our portal. As always, both comments and sharing are welcome.

Enterprise Connect - BCStrategies Podcast Review

Many of us with BCStrategies both attended and presented at Enterprise Connect earlier this month, so there was a lot of collective insights in our circle. The best way to bottle that is with a podcast, and after recording it a few days ago, it's now been posted to our portal.

Here's the link, and I think you'll find this a very good way to tap into the essence of what came out from the conference. For more, there are several posts on our portal related to Enterprise Connect, along with various posts from us on No Jitter.

Enterprise Connect 2018 - My First Impressions, Literally

That's the title of my current writeup for BCStrategies. Last week was a non-stop run of sessions, networking and walking the show floor at Enterprise Connect. Very worthwhile, as I got to speak, get to know companies a whole lot better, and take the overall pulse of the collaboration market.

It was my first time there, so these literally were my first impressions, and would welcome your thoughts on my thoughts. While you're on our site, you'll find other writeups about the conference, and tomorrow we'll be doing a podcast to talk about it collectively.

Thoughts on ITExpo - Where the Phones Are

That's the title of my latest analysis, wearing my BC Expert hat for BCStrategies. For this month's post, I've done a recap of last week's ITExpo in Fort Lauderdale. I posted about it here on my blog a few times leading up to the expo, and now it's time for my post-expo takeaways.

ITExpo is certainly a different vibe from next month's uber-event, Enterprise Connect, and I've been posting about that here as well. Not too many analysts make it to both events, so I'll be doing a similar recap about Enterprise Connect for BCStrategies later next month. Until then, here's my take on ITExpo, and if you were there, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

2018 Business Comms Forecast - our Latest BCStrategies Podcast

Eventually, I'll transition fully from UCStrategies to BCStrategies, and hopefully this doesn't cause confusion. Two names, two websites, but the content is the same, and so are the people. Am hoping it will just be BCStrategies at some point in 2018, and I'm getting on the bandwagon now.

I stand corrected on my earlier blog post, saying that our podcast about Net Neutrality was the last one for 2017. Forgot about that one, and this one is our lookout for what 2018 holds for the always expanding/ever-confusing world of communications/collaboration/customer care.

Whatever you choose to call it, this podcast is a good roundup of analysts and consultants - myself included - who are all close to the trends shaping this space. I think you'll find it time well-spent, and here's the link to hear what we had to say. Feel free to add your take, and I'll be back to blogging early next week. Happy New Year!

Impact of Net Neutrality on the Enterprise - Our UCStrategies Podcast

Pretty timely topic here given the recent FCC rollback of Net Neutrality. It's a true cornerstone of the Internet as we know it, but that's about to change, and as consumers, we all have cause for concern. The same applies for the workplace, and these changes are going to have implications for the nature of Internet services used by enterprises as well as the providers we get them from.

It's pretty early to tell how this will unfold, but our view at UCStrategies is that it's a key trend to watch for 2018, and that's what we talked about on our final podcast of 2017. Whether you're on the IT/networking side or just a user of collaboration applications, I think you'll find our insights worthwhile. Here's the link to give it a listen, and it's a topic we will no doubt revisit again in 2018.

Shakeups and Shakeouts in Collaboration - Outlook for 2018

That's the title of my latest, year-end post as a BCS Expert for BCStrategies. We just did a podcast about the year that almost was, and this is my extended take on what I think 2017 tells us about what to expect in the coming year. Our podcast should be posted in a few days, and I'll provide an update here so you don't miss it.

As you may know, BCStrategies is still transitioning from UCStrategies, and both websites are still running. I'm doing my part here, and providing the link for my article on BCStrategies. Unfortunately, the new site doesn't allow readers to make comments, so if you have any feedback, please let me know here, thanks!

New UCStrategies Podcast - 2017 Year in Review

It's that time of year again, and there sure is lots to talk about for what transpired in 2017 in the collaboration space. This universe keeps expanding, but also morphing in directions that are hard for everyone to understand.

If you're nodding in agreement, then you'll find our collective reflections time well spent. Here's the link to listen, and there's more coming soon from me and others at UCStrategies in written form.

Will AI Become Like Organic Food?

That's the title of my latest post wearing my UC Expert hat for UCStrategies. I think it's a valid question as AI becomes the trend-du-jour in our space, and everyone wants to be on the train as it pulls out of the station. Where that train is going, nobody knows, but so long as you believe AI can be a force for good, you need to be there.

As a marketing guy, I have concerns that "AI" is already getting over-used, and that could undermine its true value - presuming we start seeing some true innovation. Lots to think about, and I hope this post piques your interest.

As a sidebar, I didn't realize it's been so long since my last blog post. Apologies for the gap - just been full-out busy finishing up white papers, getting regular client work done, and getting a bunch of new projects mapped out. Inquiries keep coming in, so it never gets dull.

Am also trying to squeeze in time to get some exclusive content out to my blog subscribers! You know who you are, and apologies for this taking so long. Won't be much longer - promise. Until then, I hope you enjoy this UCStrategies post of mine.