Preview of my Speech Tech Tutorial at Enterprise Connect on No Jitter

Got a few messages to unpack in that headline, as preparations for Enterprise Connect 2018 kick into high gear.

1. This is my first time at Enterprise Connect, and I'll be one of the very first speakers, presenting a tutorial on speech technology at 8am, Monday, March 12.

2. I wrote a preview article about my tutorial - all the details are there - and it's running now on No Jitter. Would love it if you could attend my session!

3. This may be my first rodeo with EC, but I'm a regular contributor to No Jitter - here's my profile page if you want to see my other posts.

4. We're all in sales, and here's my modest pitch if you haven't made plans yet. Use this link to register by midnight, March 9, and you'll get $500 off the price.

5. I hope you like the preview article, and if you do, I'm pretty sure you'll like my tutorial. Don't be shy - be social - use #EC18 and @enterprisecon to share.

The Evolution of UC Technologies - My Latest on TechTarget

Am way behind sharing my recent published posts here on the blog. ITExpo was very good last week, and I'll have a post on that any day now. Looking ahead, I've got a post coming about next month's Enterprise Connect, so watch for that as well.

For now, I'm sharing a link to this writeup I did for TechTarget. It ran on their site middle of last week, and has been getting a lot of social media buzz. In case you missed it, here's the link, along with this really nice infographic they put together to support it.

Updated Outlook on Avaya - Our BCStrategies Podcast

Got my hands full here at ITExpo this week, and am behind on writing and blogging. Got a few posts to get out today, starting with this one.

Having emerged from Chapter 11 and going IPO last month, Avaya has the makings of the Great American Comeback story. The elements are certainly there, but many big questions still remain, and this isn't really a clean slate fresh start.

That's the focus of our latest BCStrategies (nee UCStrategies) podcast, and it's posted now on our portal. Many of my BCS colleagues were at Avaya's recent Engage event, so they got first-hand updates on the road ahead. Lots to talk about, and I added some thoughts as well - you can listen to the podcast here, and we'd love to get your feedback.

My Latest Cisco White Paper: AI in the Contact Center

If you follow me, you'll know I've been way busy lately. Included in that mix is a white paper I've been doing for Cisco. Everyone is trying to assess what AI can really bring to the contact center, and to help educate the market, they engaged me to produce this vendor-neutral white paper. My job is provide objective, balanced insights, and hopefully you'll reach that conclusion after giving it a read.

The white paper is publicly-available now on Cisco's website, and you can access it here, under the Cisco Finesse tab. Your comments and inquiries are welcome, and any sharing would be greatly appreciated.

ITExpo Preview #3 - The Rise of Messaging in the Enterprise

Here's the final preview post for the sessions I'll be moderating next week at ITExpo in Fort Lauderdale. We're getting our share of snow here in Toronto, so let's just say the change of scene will be nice!

This session will be on the Friday at 11am in Room 210, and joining me will be David Frankel of ZipDX, Brad Blanken of Bandwidth.com, and David Walsh of VoIP Innovations. More detail about the session and the expo in general can be found in the Event Calendar section of my website.

Also, for detail about the other two sessions I'm moderating, here are the blog posts from earlier this week. Otherwise, I hope to see you there, and to follow the event, the twitter hashtag is #ITEXPO2018.

ITExpo Preview #2 - How AI is Changing the Customer Experience

This is the second of three sessions I'll be moderating at next week's ITExpo in Fort Lauderdale. Yesterday, I posted about the first one, also on the same day, and general details about the expo and my overall schedule can be found on the Event Calendar of my website.

The AI session will be next Wednesday at 1pm, and we'll be in Room 209. We've got a full slate, and joining me will be Muthusamy Selvaraj from Carenection, Eric Bauer from AudioCodes, Brett Lancaster from Ricoh USA, and Bachir Halimi from Speech Mobility. This link will get you to the full details for our session, and while you're there, you can see what else is going on at the show.

Otherwise, I have plenty of meetings booked, but if you want to connect, I won't be hard to find.

ITExpo Preview #1 - Making Chatbots Your Most Valuable Asset

That's the title of the first panel I'll be moderating a week from now at TMC's ITExpo in Fort Lauderdale. All told, I'm moderating three sessions, and there's more detail here in a recent post on my blog.

Joining me on the chatbot session will be David Lee of RingCentral, and Akshay Sharma from neXt Curve, and we're hoping to add another speaker shortly. There's a lot of ground to cover, but basically, we'll talk about how to get beyond the science experiment stage to make chatbots a new driver of business value and deeper engagement with customers.

For those attending, we'll be in Room 209, starting at 10 - see you there!

Next Up - ITExpo, Ft. Lauderdale - Moderating 3 Sessions

There's something about Fort Lauderdale and February - sure works for me. That's the story for my next conference - TMC's ITExpo, and I'll be there from February 14-16. It's been a while since my last conference, but am not complaining as I've been full-out busy fulfilling client work the past few months.

Things ease up on that front after January, and starting with ITExpo, I have at least one conference happening each month through June, and others will certainly pop up along the way.

Speaking of TMC, you may not be aware that I've been writing a regular column for years for their flagship publication, Internet Telephony Magazine. It's one of several places I'm regularly published, and my latest Rethinking Communications column is running in their Q1 2018 issue.

This is my first shout-out for ITExpo, and I'll have specific posts coming about each session I'm moderating over the next week or so. For a snapshot of what I'll be up to there, details can be found on my Event Calendar page. I won't be hard to find  at the show, and if you want to connect, please drop me a line.

My Next Ziff Davis Webinar - 3 Collaboration Trends for 2018

Told you it was a busy month.  I've got two webinars coming up this month, and this one is with my mainstay, Ziff Davis. Being January, I've got another 2018 outlook theme, namely how three trends are now driving collaboration - chatbots/AI, messaging and the changing role of voice.

They're all connected, but each is having its own impact, and I'll be breaking that down, along with a review of the major consolidation moves from last year that are setting the table for 2018. Here's the registration page, and I'll do a couple more shout-outs to keep it on your radar.

My Next Webinar - 2018 Channel Outlook for UC

Got a lot going on this month, so no complaints for the new year so far. Am doing a shout-out here for my next webinar - it's Friday, Jan. 26 at 2pm ET, and it's my first one with Informa, best known for their Channel Partners portal and conference. They have 8x8 lined up as a sponsor, with their speaker TBD.

I'll be the featured presenter, looking at the state of the UC space for 2018, and the challenges facing the channels. Here's the registration page with all the details, and I hope you can join us.

My 2018 Outlook for No Jitter - The Shape of Collaboration

Got to see a bunch of really good films during the break, and I'll bet you can tell which one inspired this post. My latest No Jitter column is running now, and it explains why I see some telling parallels between the shape of water and the shape of collaboration, and how this should provide points of caution for IT decision-makers going into 2018. I hope you enjoy it, and your comments are welcome. 

Looking a bit further ahead, Enterprise Connect is coming, and I'll be giving a talk there about trends in speech technologies. That will likely be the focus of my next No Jitter post, so watch for that.

Hackonomy - How BroadSoft Helps Service Providers Succeed with the Cloud

I wanted to start off 2018 with my extended thoughts about BroadSoft, a company that has continuously stayed on the forefront of innovation in our space from my earliest days as an analyst in 2001. Among independents, I can't think of many others that fit the bill, and as the industry continues to consolidate, this is a good time to reflect on what they have done right to be successful.

Not only is the technology changing so quickly, but the barriers to entry are getting higher. In today's market, it's not enough to have great technology, and slick marketing will only take you so far. Competing on price is a race to the bottom, and what really makes the difference is having a customer-centric vision, and a culture that allows the business to innovate around these levers. Very few companies do it well over time, and there are lessons to be learned from BroadSoft.

That's what I've tried to capture in my latest analysis, and you can read it here. The format is a bit different, but with all the writing I do, I'm always looking to try new things to connect with my followers. Feel free to share, and as always, your comments are welcome.

Contact Center as a Service - my Latest TMC Article

My Rethinking Communications column for TMC's Internet Telephony magazine has been running for a few years now, but since recently cutting back to quarterly publishing, there's a longer gap now between my posts.

For some reason, their digital publishing schedule has been out of whack, and the Q3 edition was only recently posted, and that includes my most recent post. The focus is on CCaaS, and how it's emerging as another option on what I call the spectrum of collaboration. Here's the link to the article, and as always, comments and sharing are welcome.

As a sidebar, I should add that I'll be attending the next IT Expo in February down in Fort Lauderdale. I'll be moderating three sessions, and details will be posted soon.

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.

JAA Subscriber Newsletter Launch

I've lost count tracking the time for getting this done, but it's finally launched. Many of you have signed up to get my JAA update newsletter, and the first one was sent moments ago via Mailchimp. Thank you all for subscribing, and many of you have been signed up for a long, long time.

Now that I've got this in place, you can look forward to regular updates, hopefully monthly, and things will definitely evolve as we go. I'll soon be adding a short podcast where I'll review current trends in tandem with a guest, and if you have ideas for topics, please let me know.

If you aren't a subscriber, I hope you sign up, and it's not hard to find a reg form here on my site to do so. Many of you follow my blog via RSS - nothing wrong with that, but I don't know who you are, and by subscribing, you'll get exclusive content that I won't be sharing on the blog. Your call!

For my subscribers, I hope you find the content interesting, and would love to hear your feedback, as well as any business challenges I could help you address.

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.

My New White Paper - Modeling CX to Create Tomorrow's Business Value

I've been working recently with Upstream Works, an emerging player in the contact center space with a strong focus on improving the customer experience. We just completed a white paper based on secondary source industry data and my analysis of the role of CX to create new business value.

The paper was just published today, and details are here on their website to get it. There will be more messaging around this on social media, and if you get a chance to read it, I'd welcome your thoughts, and I'm sure Upstream would too.

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.

RichCall Blog - Summary of Key Contact Center Technologies and Experts

This crossed my path recently, and wanted to share it as a good resource/overview of technologies currently leading the contact center space.

RichCall is a contact center vendor I didn't know previously, and they recently compiled a pretty extensive summary, based on industry research and insights from analysts/consultants/experts in this space. This is a handy reference post if you want a 5 minute snapshot of what's driving contact center technology and what's coming next.

There's a solid list of industry experts - myself included, thanks - and if you're not sure who to follow to stay on top of things, this cohort covers the ground pretty thoroughly. Otherwise, there's some useful stats from Dimension Data's 2017 benchmark report, and if you like what you see, am sure RichCall will be happy for any sharing - and likewise for keeping our names out there.