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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.
In short, it’s AI and CX, but to get the rest of the story, please check out our latest podcast here.
As usual, newsletter subscribers got this earlier in the month, and now I’m sharing it publicly. Lots of change coming in this new decade, and would love to hear your thoughts on our outlook.
Got a timely shout-out to share about Enterprise Connect 2020, which is a bit later than usual - at the end of March - but in its usual habitat of Orlando.
The main thing is to draw your attention to this awards program. So, if you don’t know about it, this could be a great opportunity for your company to get some industry-based recognition. There are four categories, plus an overall “best of” award, and formal details are here.
Also, No Jitter’s Beth Schultz has a good post about it here, which also lists the four judges who will be evaluating the entries, and am happy to say that I’m one of them.
Entries close Friday, January 31, so if you’re on the fence, there’s not much time left.
Speaking of time, I should mention that early bird pricing for the conference end this Friday - January 24 - and if you want to save $400, you can use this link to register.
My schedule for Enterprise Connect is filling up, and aside from this judging role, I’ll be doing one of the very first talks during the conference, at 8am on Monday, March 30. My session will be another update on the state of enterprise speech technology, and all the details are here.
You’ll be hearing more about that in the coming weeks, and this morning, in fact, I’m recording a podcast with Beth Schultz as a preview for my talk, so watch for that soon. That will be complemented by a writeup I’ll be doing for my next No Jitter post, which should run early next week.
Last week, I attended the Project Voice event down in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and both were first-time experiences for me. Bradley Metrock is the driving force behind all this, and we recently became fast friends, not just because of my focus on voice, but also both being life-long piano players. If you know me well, you’ll know where this is going, and I’ll get to that.
I’ve had some mitigating circumstances that kept me from posting here until now - so I’m not going to do a day-by-day recap at this point - but I have something better. Earlier today, Bradley posted his own review of the event, and that will do the job for now - here’s the link if you want to read it. On that note - no pun intended - thanks Bradley for mentioning our SIPtones performance during the event!
To keep that vibe going, I’m sharing a few photos below, and please watch for three more things coming soon:
I’ll have my own writeup coming next week on BCStrategies
Prior to the event, I was a guest on Bradley’s This Week in Voice video podcast, along with Rick Hathaway, Steve Leaden and Chuck Vondra. We wore both our hats as a way to introduce ourselves to the Project Voice community - first as SCTC members previewing our panel session on conversational AI trends in the enterprise; as well as our SIPtones hats, and the kind of music we would be playing at the event. The podcast hasn’t been posted yet, but I’ll update that for sure.
Video highlights from our SIPtones gig from the event are being compiled now, and I’ll share some of that shortly on the My Music section of my website. If you can’t wait to see/hear us, check that section out any time, as I’ve posted video and photos there from our other gigs. Need a band for your next event?
Below: Bradley Metrock, Amazon’s Jeff Blankenburg, Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, Mayo Clinic - my photos
Below: panel I moderated with my SCTC/SIPtones colleagues, another panel I moderated on voice tech trends in the enterprise, and the SIPtones on stage. Photos are from others, used with permission.
U.K.-based Rob Scott has been working on his virtual event for some time now, and the UC Summit 2020 opens on January 20. It runs for five days, and the content will be available on demand after for a three month period.
I’ve always been a bit skeptical of virtual events, but to be fair, with today’s technologies, it can be a pretty engaging experience, and sure beats travelling overseas and staying at hotels. Rob has been busy putting the content together, and I’m on one of the panel sessions - AI Powered Communications - along with colleagues Zeus Kerravala and Kevin Kieller.
So, we recorded our session today, and below is a screen shot of us on the call. For now, we’ve done our part, and this will be added to the mix of content that registered attendees can access starting January 20. Aside from sharing what we did today, this post serves as a shout-out for the event, and all the details to register are here. If you end up attending, and get to see our session, I’d love to hear your thoughts - as would Rob, Zeus and Kevin as well.
Last week, I posted about our BCStrategies 2019 in-review podcast for the collaboration space, and we’ve followed that up now with our 2020 outlook. As always, there’s no shortage of perspectives, and we had 13 analysts and consultants share their views on what the year ahead holds.
I don’t think you’ll find a richer set of perspectives in one place anywhere else, so this podcast will be time well-spent ( as would be our 2019 review podcast). It’s running now on our portal, and here’s the link to give it a listen.
Well, technically, I’m now in my second decade of publishing my monthly newsletter - JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review - but that’s an easy claim to make at this point in time. Anyhow, if you’re a subscriber, you should have received your issue via email by now - and if you missed it, we do a second mail-out about two weeks later.
In terms of new content, the main feature is our latest Watch This Space podcast - “What’s Ahead for 2020 - AI and CX” - which is a follow-on to last month’s 2019 look-back podcast. If you want to check out the podcast sooner than later - as well as review the rest of what’s in the newsletter - just sign up here to subscribe, and you’ll have it in no time. Otherwise, just hang on for two weeks, when it will be added to the podcast archive here on my website.
Just a quick shout-out for Project Voice, which technically starts next Monday in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Will be my first time there, and am definitely looking forward to it - not just as a speaker/moderator, but also to play again with the SIPtones.
Details are here in a recent blog post, including how to get a 20% discount on registration.
UPDATE - since then, I’ve been added to a 2nd session, which I’ll be moderating - Voice and the Enterprise - Wednesday at 3:45.
All the details are on the event website - and, if you register, you’ll get the daily e-letter update. The SIPtones were mentioned in today’s edition, so the buzz is building. We’ll be rehearsing all day Tuesday, and performing in three different settings on Wednesday, so we’ll be busy! I’ll be doing both my panels that day, so I’ll be going non-stop then. Wouldn’t want it any other way.
Another month, another year, another decade. 2019 isn’t old-news quite just yet - there was a lot of change to digest, and our latest BCStrategies podcast is a great way to do that. Everyone has something to say, and for this 2019 review segment, we had 13 analysts and consultants share their views.
Before 2020 gets too far along, I hope you give this a listen, and here’s the link for the replay. Jim Burton did a great job moderating, and if you like our perspectives, check back soon for the follow-on segment, our 2020 outlook. We just recorded that yesterday, and it should be posted next week.
My plate was full for the last month of the decade, but this time around, that didn’t include a great deal of writing - at least with my JAA byline. I also do ghostwriting, and worked through five pieces across three clients last month on that front. If you’re not sure of how I can be of service with thought leadership to your company - writing or otherwise - you might be surprised by the range of possibilities shown on my website.
Is Hybrid Cloud a Long-Term UC Deployment Option?, Dec. 26, TechTarget
4 Ways a Cloud Provider Can Become a Trusted Partner, Dec. 16, Toolbox.com
How Digital Transformation Impacts Your Collaboration Plans, Dec. 11, Toolbox. com
IT: Managing Choice, Change, Careers in 2020; Dec. 10, No Jitter
Forests and Trees: Getting Full Business Value with Collaboration, Dec. 10, Toolbox.com
SCTC 2019 Conference: Opportunity There for the Taking, Dec. 5, BCStrategies
Closing out the year - and the decade - there’s a lot to think about for 2019, and everyone seems to be sharing their thoughts around this time. One vehicle for me is our Watch This Space podcast, which my newsletter subscribers get exclusively for a couple of weeks, and then I share it publicly.
I do these with my colleague, Chris Fine, and we started out planning to do both a 2019 look-back and a 2020 look-ahead in the same segment, but we ended up doing them in separate podcasts. The 2020 podcast will run in the January newsletter, so if you’re a subscriber, watch for that on or around January 7.
Subscribers have had the 2019 look-back podcast for some time already, and for everyone else, it’s posted now in the Podcasts section of my website. I hope you give it a listen, and if you like it, the archive includes all of our previous podcasts. Otherwise, my blog will likely go quiet until 2020, so I’ll wish you season’s greetings now!
This is a new event for me, and aside from taking in sessions and networking, I’ll be wearing two hats. First, I’ll be moderating a panel of consultants on Wednesday at 11:05 - Conversational AI and the Enterprise.
Later that night, the consultants and I will revert to black attire, and do our thing as the SIPtones. How fun is that? Details are here on the event website, and updates will be coming, including a podcast.
Also, to save 20% on your registration, use my personal code - JONARNOLD - here’s the Eventbrite portal to get registered.
As a regular contributor to No Jitter, I get to write about a broad range of topics, and this time around, I wanted to zero-in on some specific themes that came out of the recent SCTC conference in Chicago. Details about all of this are in my latest post, where I try to put myself in the shoes of IT to better understand how they view the challenges posed by changing technology.
It’s definitely not easy, but rather than focusing on the technology, my step-back perspective is about how technology is impacting other challenges that IT needs to manage. There’s lots to explore here, and I’ve tried to keep the scope manageable for a single post. My post is running now on No Jitter, and as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, and sharing is definitely welcome.
If you’re a subscriber, you already know that, and for everyone else, this is a simple prompt. If you want to more closely follow what I’m seeing, talking about and writing about in the communications technology space, then you’ll find my monthly newsletter of interest. It’s called JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, it’s free, and you can subscribe here in no time.
The leading feature in my newsletter is our podcast, called Watch This Space, and below is a call-out for the current topic. Subscribers get exclusive access to the podcast for a couple of weeks, so if ya gotta have it now, ya gotta sign up. Otherwise, after that period passes, it will be added to the Podcast Archive on my website, where all our previous podcasts are publicly available. On that front, btw, one of my early 2020 priorities is getting our podcasts on the major podcasting platforms - stay tuned.
Consultants play a key role in helping IT and business decision-makers get the right mix of communications technologies, and the job isn’t getting any easier. Being an analyst, I’m a bit of an outlier as an SCTC member, but find this community complementary to my work. Their annual conference provides a great window on the state of things for consultants, and while telephony is on the decline, there’s plenty of opportunity for those who want to embrace newer technologies.
Taking the glass half-full view, I provided my analyst perspective on the conference, and it’s running now on the BCStrategies portal. I’m a BC Expert with this group, which has a nice mix of analysts and consultants, and I think our readers will find my takeaways of interest. As always, your thoughts and sharing are welcome.
It’s been a busy time for webinars, and I’ve got a new one coming - Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 2pm ET.
This is another event hosted by Channel Partners Online, with CoreDial being the sponsor. I’ve worked with CoreDial in the past, and hope you’ll join us as we talk about making the case for CCaaS, particularly for MSPs, who are becoming a growing force in cloud communications, especially among SMBs. Details are here, including the registration form.
November was busy on many fronts, and one fallout was an unusually light month for writing. Here are the highlights, and you’ll be able to see more if you’re a subscriber to my newsletter - the December issue will be sent out next day or so.
How UCaaS Brings Value for both IT and End Users, Nov. 19, Toolbox. com
3 Paths to Success with Cloud Communications, Nov. 12, No Jitter
3 Ways UCaaS is an Opportunity for your Business, Nov. 4, Toolbox.com
I’ve been doing a fair number of webinars lately, and the next one is on the hot topic of CCaaS - contact center as a service.. This time around, the sponsor is CoreDial, and it’s being hosted by Channel Partners Online.
Aside from providing my own perspectives, I’ll be reviewing highlights from some recent research by CoreDial about how channel players are approaching the contact center market with SMB customers. Lots to talk about, and I hope you can join us on Wednesday, December 11 at 2pm ET. More details are here, along with the registration form.
Subscribers to my newsletter had access to my latest webinar when it went out earlier in the month. That’s a key benefit of being a subscriber, but after a couple of weeks, I share the podcast with a broader audience, and if you’ve checked any of them out, I hope you find them of interest.
Our podcast series is called Watch This Space, and I do them in tandem with long-time colleague Chris Fine. For this edition, we continued exploring the digital workplace theme, this time based on two recent events Chris had attended in this space. One of the interesting ideas we covered was experiential technology, and to find out more, you’ll have to give it a listen.
You can access this in the Current Podcasts archive section of my website, and if you like what we’re doing, you might want to consider signing up for the newsletter.
I’m a market researcher by trade, and always being able to review new research about collaboration and the broader view of how new communications technology gets adopted in the workplace. Ribbon has been pretty curious too, and they recently conducted an extensive study on a global basis about buying behaviors around UC and collaboration technologies.
There’s lots to digest, and to help do that, their SVP of Channel Marketing, John Macario, shared the top-level findings with the BCStrategies team. To make things interesting, we had an interactive format, where BC Experts could pose questions to John to delve a bit deeper into the findings. This made for a long session, which we recorded for a podcast, but if this is your cup of tea, you’ll want to take it all in. The podcast runs about an hour - just sayin’ - and it’s been posted now on our portal for listening. I hope you check it out, and as always, sharing and comments are welcome.
I’m off early Sunday to Chicago for the annual SCTC conference. It’s the only travel event for me this month, and if I play my cards right, I won’t be on the road for an event again until mid-January. 2020 is already busy on that front, as I have at least one event on the books every month through June. That’s plenty of future for me, as I’m not big on planning my life that far out, let alone what I’m doing tomorrow.
Coming back to the present, I’ll be attending SCTC through Thursday, and as I did last year, am giving the lock-note talk to close things out. I’m also part of the SIPtones band, and we’ll be doing our thing on Wednesday night - can’t wait. As always, details about events I’m attending are in the Events Calendar section of my website, so check out the links there for more detail and video clips of our previous shows.
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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