My Latest Podcast - Talking AI and CX with Germany's parlamind

I do a fair bit of regular work with U.K.-based Enterprise Management 360, including podcasts. This time around, I was in conversation with a German AI company called parlamind. The company is new for me, and they’re doing some interesting things with AI in the contact center space, especially around improving CX.

This is very mucn in my wheelhouse, so it made for a pretty engaging session. I was joined by Tobias Lehmann and Olav Vier Strawe, and we could have gone on all day. The podcast has now been published on EM360’s site, and I hope you give it a listen - here’s the link.

Re-Imagining Industry Conferences in Pandemic Times

That’s the title of my latest post for No Jitter, where I’m a regular contributor. Enterprise Connect was one of several industry events that many of us were looking forward to attending this spring, and it’s anybody’s guess as to when it will be safe to go back in the water again.

COVID-19 has caused us to re-think every facet of our lives, and big, in-person events have really been impacted. The kernal for this post came from an article last week in Medium by Andy Abramson, a long-time colleague and confrere from countless events. It’s a good read, and I’ve built on it with my take, and you can read it here on the No Jitter portal.

New Podcast - State of the Industry for Collab - Cloud Conventions Preview

Last week I posted about a new virtual event that I’ll be speaking at next month. It’s coming soon - May 11-14, and I need to get working on my presentation. The event is called Cloud Conventions - it’s channel-focused, and it should be a good forum to get VARs, ITSPs, MSPs, etc. up to speed on collaboration, and the various business opportunties around that.

Promotion for the event is kicking into gear now, and along those lines, I was a guest last week on Convey’s Channel Partner Microcast. Our segment was Episode 42, and I was interviewed by event organizer Carolyn Bradfield, talking about the state of collaboration. The podcast has been published now, and here’s the link if you want to give it a listen.

We actually recorded this segment via video, so you can also watch our discussion. To view that, you’ll have to go to the homepage they built for me for this event, where you can also find details about my company, my talk at the event, and how to register - it’s free, btw.

Business Continuity Webinar with 8x8 - Replay Available Now

In case you missed it…

Last week, I did a live webinar with 8x8, in conversation with Justin Robbins, talking about business continuity issues during these pandemic times. It’s a legitimate problem, especially to support WFH, and it’s tailor-made for cloud solutions like UCaaS.

Justin and I could talk all day long about this stuff, but we only had a half hour, and the audience was pretty engaged. If you weren’t there, and want to check it out, the webinar is on-demand now, and here’s the link to register and access it. I should note, btw, that this session was 2nd in a four-part series 8x8 is running, so if you like this one, you’ll probably like the others in this series.

Cloud Conventions - My Next Event and Speaking Spot

The last industry event I attended was in February, at TMCnet’s ITExpo in Ft. Lauderdale, where I was Chair for the Future of Work Expo. That was a little over two months ago, and who knew what was coming? I’ve lost track of all the scheduled events that have since come off my calendar, and it’s possible we won’t be going to any live events for the rest of 2020. I sure hope not, but for now, I’m 100% working from home.

That’s a gloomy outlook for analysts, as we rely on conferences to stay current and build our industry relationships. All is not lost, though, as virtual events are popping up to fill the void, and I’m going to tell you about one now that I’m quite looking forward to.

The event is called Cloud Conventions, and it’s targeted at the channel community - so the audience will be VARs, Agents, MSPs, ISPs, IT Consultants, etc. It’s a four day event, running from May 11-14, so there will be lots of content and virtual networking opportunities. Of course, there’s no substitute for a live event, so it’s hard to say how engaged people will be over the full event, and I guess many will cherry-pick what’s of most interest. Attendance is free, btw, so the organizers are hoping to attract a big crowd.

I have one speaking spot, and hopefully you’ll join me when cherry-picking your activities. My talk is titled The Evolution of Workplace Strategies, and I’ll be doing it live on video. If you miss it, you can always access it later.

I’ll be doing more shout-outs as the event gets closer, including a video interview I did yesterday with the event organizer, Carolyn Bradfield. Also coming soon will be a teaser video of my own that I think you’ll enjoy. For more detail, here are the most helpful links - the event itself - including how to register, my speaker profile page, and an overview of my session. Once you’re registered for the event, you can then sign up for the specific sessions you want to attend.

Zoom Bombing or Bashing? Our Latest BCStrategies Podcast

Zoom is certainly having its Covid moment, and like Google, it’s become a verb - or two, or three. The company is absolutely in the right place at the right time, and when we’re not busy working, we’re often helping family members use Zoom, if not Zooming ourselves. Enough, already!

Our group at BCStrategies has just weighed in with our take on Zoom, but also with a more critical eye given all the vulnerabilities and privacy issues that been front and center with the company. For better or worse, this pandemic will be a real test of how well Zoom truly scales, and how well it can gain - and keep - the trust of consumers. The podcast has been posted now to our portal, and I hope you enjoy it.

Newsletter Time Again - April Issue

The April edition of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review went out yesterday, and if your’re a subscriber, and you somehow miss it or forget to check it out in your inbox, it will be re-sent in about two weeks. Open rates are healthy, so people are reading it, and for all of my subscribers, I say thank you!

With conferences off the board for a while, there’s less to talk about for this issue, but the work goes on. In lieu of travel, I kept pretty busy last month doing webinars and podcasts, along with my regular mix of writing. Speaking of podcasts, this month’s edition of Watch This Space is on-trend, where Chris and I compare notes on remote work, and what it means as businesses suddenly have to shift gears to keep things moving.

If you’re not a subscriber, you can sign up here for the newsletter and then you can access the podcast right away. Otherwise, I’ll be sharing it publicly here on my website in about two weeks. Either way, I hope you check it out at some point, and as always, your comments are welcome.

Supporting Collaboration with WFH is a Team Effort

That’s the title of my latest post running on BCStrategies. As a BC Expert, I’m a regular contributor, and this time around, I wanted to share takeaways from a webinar I was on last week. The webinar was hosted by Metaswitch, and we were joined by Poly, and together we reviewed the challenges and opportunities for carriers in supporting end customers as they adapt to work from home.

The main theme for my post is that you need more than a UCaaS platform to make WFH effective, and together, our perspectives make for a more complete value proposition. The post is running now on the BCStrategies portal, and you can read it here.

Live Twitter Chat - The New Telecom Economy

I was invited to be part of a group of analysts for a Twitter chat event last week on the theme of “the new telecom economy”. This was a live chat, held last Thursday, and just realized I didn’t post about it here. The driving force behind this particular event was Futurithmic, a Nokia portal focused on the impact of technology on our lives. This is just the second Twitter chat that I’ve done, and since it’s different from the regular channels I use, I thought it was still worth sharing.

The event may be from last Thursday, but the topic and the commentary hasn’t lost any relevance or timeliness, so if it’s of interest, or you’re just curious about how this format works, here’s the link for the complete thread. The moderator worked through a series of questions, and as you scroll through the thread, you can see the analyst responses, as well as the sub-threads for side conversations.

This format can be a bit of a free-for-all, so the moderator has to keep things in line and moving along. If this is new for you, perhaps this post will pique your interest as another way to engage analysts for thought leadership.

Next Webinar - Business Continuity with 8x8

Some days I’m doing podcasts, and some days it’s webinars. The latter is next for me, and it’s really more of a fireside chat, and I hope you can join us. 8x8 is doing a series of these on business continuity, and I’ll be the guest speaker for the next one - Tuesday, April 7 at 12 pm ET.

I’ll be in conversation with 8x8’s Justin Robbins, and we’ll be talking about the challenges faced by businesses as they adapt to WFH - work from home - and the role that UCaaS can play to make that more effective. Should be a lively conversation, and if you can make it, here’s the registration page.

March Writing Roundup

I don’t think we’ve ever had a month like March 2020, and am sure we’re all happy to move on, and hope better times are ahead. Things are not good, and it’s early still to see what kind of impact Corona will have on our space. That said, the stars sure have lined up for collaboration players, and it’s kept me quite busy, and I’m thankful for that. On that note, here’s what I was writing about last month, and I hope you find some of this of interest.

What Collaboration Metrics Determine an App’s Business Value?, TechTarger, March 30

The Cons of Remote Work - the New Normal?, Toolbox.com, March 24

How Speakerphones Add Value to Collaboration, BCStrategies, March 18

The Pros of Remote Work - the New Normal?, Toolbox.com, March 18

Remote Work Best Practices Emphasize UC Collaboration Tools, TechTarget, March 16

4 Reasons Why Video Makes for Better Remote Collaboration, Toolbox.com, March 12

Getting UX Right Starts with End Users, No Jitter, March 10

Why Businesses May be Getting it Wrong with the Cloud, Toolbox.com, March 9

New Podcast - Remote Working with Monday.com

Regular followers will know I’ve been doing a lot of podcasts lately, and it ‘s just one channel I’ve been busy with sharing my thoughts on the trend of the moment - remote working, aka WFH - work from home.

This time around, I was in conversation with Matt Burns of Monday.com about remote working, and how businesses should be thinking about it. Their approach is a bit different and complementary to what UC and team messaging platforms bring - they call it a Work OS - and you’ll just have to listen to our conversation to get the bigger picture.

The podcast was hosted by UK-based EM360, and it’s been posted now to their portal. Here’s the link, and as always, comments and sharing are welcome.

My Next Webinar - with Metaswitch - Enabling Remote Working

Remote working is the topic du jour now, and everyone is either asking about it or weighing in on how to do it. Being an analyst, I fall into the latter category, and it doesn’t hurt that I’ve been home-based for a long time.

For this webinar, I’m a guest speaker, and will be joined by John Gillespie from Poly, and another independent, Andrew Ward. The event will be hosted by Metaswitch, so the audience will mainly be their carrier customers, but it’s open to all.

We’re doing a Town Hall format, so after some brief presentations, we’ll open it up to the floor, not just for questions, but also hear how their customers are dealing with remote working. The webinar is next Tuesday, March 31 at 11am ET, and here’s the landing page to register. Hope you can join us.

Sharing my Latest Podcast - Future of Work Expo Review

In every way imaginable, things are off-schedule these days, but in time, it all gets done. For this month, I’m about a week or so behind in getting this post out.

Regular followers will know that my Watch This Space podcast is exclusive to newsletter subscribers for a couple of weeks, and then I share it publicly on my website. Some topics are more timely than others, but the content is usually pretty relevant once my podcasts are shared.

Of course, that’s up for you to decide, and to find out, please visit my Current Podcasts archive, where you can access the latest episode as well as earlier ones. Since the “future” is always somewhere down the line, I think you’ll still find the takeaways from my Future of Work Expo event of interest - and I can assure you, much of what was presented there has yet to happen, so no FOMO here.

Our latest podcast is also noteworthy as it marks the first use of new graphics and a logo to help give Watch This Space some identity. Hope you like it, and while you’re there, feel free to check out earlier episodes, and your thoughts are welcome on future themes for Chris and I to discuss.

Finally, I’d be remiss to close out here if I didn’t say that life would easier if you subscribe to my newsletter, in which case you wouldn’t need to read this post, and by now the podcast would be old news for you. What are you waiting for?

New Podcast - Talking Voice Bots and Audio Quality on No Jitter

I do all kinds of podcasts, and this time around, I was interviewed by No Jitter’s Beth Schultz as part of a series sponsored by Spearline.

With that out of the way, Beth started by getting my back story and how I got into this space. I don’t get to talk about that often, so if you’re wondering how-did-I-get-here?, you’ll enjoy this podcast.

Otherwise, we talked about the evolution of voice in the workspace, leading to today’s AI-driven world where it’s getting hard to know what’s human, and what’s a bot. And yes, tracking and ensuring voice quality is a big part of the story, and that’s where Spearline comes in.

I’ll leave it at that, and hope you give the podcast a listen. Here’s the link, which also takes you to No Jitter’s On Air portal, where you can check out their other pods, including the other episodes in this Spearline series.

How Speakerphones Add Value for Collaboration

Things definitely are not business as usual now, but I’m keeping plenty busy, and being home-based, I really haven’t missed a beat. Not quite as productive as normal, but am still getting some public writing done. Here’s my latest one, running now on the BCStrategies portal.

This post is one in a series sponsored by Yealink, each authored by different BC Experts, so watch for those soon. This is actually a pretty interesting topic given the rise of remote working, as well as more forms of small, ad hoc meetings in offices. These are prime use cases for speakerphones, and, it’s a problem set that Yealink has looked at pretty carefully.

BCStrategies Podcast - Our Take on Corona Virus

Challenging times for sure, and we’ve got a few BCStrategies podcasts coming with various perspectives on the impact of Corona. Many UC&C vendors have already responded with free or discounted offerings to enable more home-based working, and this could well be a permanent shift.

In the wake of Enterprise Connect being postponed - along with many other industry events - our first podcast in this series looks at the bigger picture for how enterprises should be thinking about remote working. Lots to talk about, including my thoughts on who could really benefit from this disruption - and you might be surprised.

The podcast is running here now on our portal, and watch the site for more as this series continues.

Getting UX Right for Mobile UC - My Latest for No Jitter

I’ve long advocated the importance of user experience - UX - for any form of collaboration offering, and it especially matters for mobility, since this is where workers spend so much of their time now. Technology will only get more complex - not less - and it’s easy to overlook the fact that most workers only have a basic grasp of the tools and applications they rely on day-to-day. We’re not all engineers, and most workers are on the wrong side of 30, and that reality is not well-reflected in the usability for most collaboration offerings.

I don’t have a magic wand to fix that, but I have just done some qualitative research with mobile users to better understand all this, and there’s a lot to learn. Since the work was done for a client, I can only share high-level findings here, but even these should be of interest to anyone wondering why mobile UC applications aren’t more widely-used. I’ve summarized that in my latest No Jitter post, and you can read it here. I’ll have more to say about this soon, and until then, your comments are welcome.

New Podcast - with 2600Hz and Cloud Contact Center

I’ve been doing a lot of podcasts recently, and here’s the latest one. This time, I’m in conversation with Alisa Bartash of 2600Hz, as part of their ongoing podcast series. The main topic was CCaaS - contact center as a service - what it is, what’s driving the shift to cloud, how it adds value, where it’s heading, etc. It’s a great add-on for cloud providers like 2600Hz, and I hope the podcast helps educate end customers about the opportunity.

2600Hz has a pretty good archive of podcasts in the Resources section of their website, but when new podcasts come out, they’re initially shared on Spotify. That’s where you can find our podcast now, and here’s the link to give it a listen. I don’t know when it will turn up on their own site, so you’ll have to check there a bit later on. Hope you like it, and comments are always welcome.

Newsletter Time Again - March Issue

Just a quick note to say my latest edition of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review is out now. Subscribers already know that, and they also get first shot at our latest Watch This Space Podcast. We have a new graphic now - hope you like it - and for this segment, the focus was mostly on last month’s Future of Work event that I chaired. That’s the story for now, and if you want the rest of the story, here’s an easy way to subscribe.