Embracing Contact Center AI in 2021 - My Latest for Upstream Works

I recently finished a 3-part series for Upstream Works on CX drivers for 2021, and the last piece focused on AI. Contact center has long been a prime use case for AI, both for improving CX and supporting agent engagement.

Lots of ground to cover, and this Insight Report has been posted now on their site. As with the other writeups in this series, the content is gated, so you need to register to get the download. Once there, you can download my earlier writeups in this series, as well as other content they have there.

Oracle Startup Idol - Am Judging Again

This one kinda crept up on me, as the event is at noon ET today, and am back serving to judge another round of startup pitches from the Oracle for Startups program. This time around, we’ll be hearing from ATLAS, Cognicor, HEARTio, Reengen, SmartHint and Tracifier.

These are all new companies to me, and there’s a lot of AI, healthcare and sustainability in the mix, along with a bit of blockchain. All very in-the-moment, and looking forward to be a part of this again.

Newsletter Time Again - January Edition, and Podcast too

It’s a new month, and a new year, so that means it’s time for the next edition of JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, along with the first episode of Season 4 for our Watch This Space podcast.

Subscribers got the January newsletter yesterday, and if you want to keep tabs on what I’m seeing and doing in this space, it just takes a moment to subscribe here. The visual below will give you a good idea of what our latest podcast is about, and you can check it out here. Feel free to explore our earlier podcasts, and I’m in the process of adding Watch This Space to the major commercial platforms where podcast fans can subscribe directly.

2020 Year in Review - Our BCStrategies Podcast

Got a two-parter podcast update to share. Around this time, we do our BCStrategies looking back/looking ahead podcasts. Our 2020 review of the collaboration space is out, and you can access the podcast here on our portal. Not surprsingly, we had a strong turnout, so 12 of us had perspectives to share. Hope you give it a listen, and we’d love to get your feedback.

We’re recording the 2021 look-ahead podcast this week so that should be ready on the site sometime next week, and I’ll post about it here when it’s ready.

December Writing Roundup

Had a strong December to close out a strong year, and while my volume of writing output has been less, I think the quality has remained high for the public pieces I’ve been producing. My readers are really the best judges of that, and I invite you to explore any or all of my current writing below. As always, comments are welcome, as well as suggestions for future topics you’d like me to write about.

Will the Pandemic Drive Further UCC Consdolidation?, TechTarget, Dec. 29

The Accelerated Need for Digital CX in 2021, Upstream Works, Dec. 11 (download required)

A Better Way to Do AI: Focus on the Big Problems, No Jitter, Dec. 8

What Contact Centers Can Learn from the Tampa Bay Rays, Customer Magazine, Dec. 2

Spotlight on Session Border Controllers - State of the Market and Outlook for 2021, BCStrategies, Dec. 1

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.

The Accelerated Need for Digital CX in 2021 - My Latest for Upstream Works

Sure has been busy lately. This is the 6th piece of original, new content I’ve shared this week - writeups, webinars and video - plus I contributed to a podcast yesterday that will air next week; and my December newsletter and podcast went out last Friday. Yes, I’m glad it’s Friday!

I’ve just finished up a 3-part Strategic Insights series for Upstream Works, and Part 2 has been posted now on their website. It’s gated content, so it just takes a minute to fill out the registration form. However, if you want an analyst’s perspective on why digital CX is so important for contact centers, I’ll think you’ll find this a good read.

Part 1 can also be downloaded from their site, and I just finished writing Part 3, and it should be posted in the next week or so. As always, comments are welcome, and I’m sure the folks at Upstream Works would love to hear from you!

Top 5 Collaboration Trends for 2021 - My Take for EM360

The folks at UK-based Enterprise Management 360 have come up with a new series called Emerge5, where speakers like me share our perspectives in short, 5-minute video segments. Being December, they wanted my outlook for 2021, so the focus was 5 key trends to watch for in the collaboration space.

My segment is running now on the EM360 site, and if you give it a watch, I’d love to hear your feedback!

A Better Way to Do AI - My Latest on No Jitter

Sure has been busy lately with a constant stream of virtual industry events, writing, podcasts and webinars. I’m a regular contributor to No Jitter, and my latest was inspired by a talk from Dr. Michio Kaku during a recent NEC event. Sometimes, it takes the perspective from a physicist to reframe how we think about AI in the communications and collaboration space.

That sure stuck with me, and I’ve tied those threads together in this post, which has been posted now on No Jitter. There’s MUCH more to talk about, but that’s a separate conversation, and for now, I just hope this post broadens your thinking about AI.

What Contact Centers Can Learn from the Tampa Bay Rays

How’s that for a catchy title?

It’s exactly what it sounds like, and it’s all about analytics. Baseball fans know about Moneyball, and based on research I’ve been doing on contact center reporting, my view is that there’s too much focus on reporting and not enough on analytics. The latter approach seems to be working pretty well for teams like the Rays, who were certainly competitive in this year’s World Series, against a far more talented and expensive LA Dodger juggernaut.

If you’re just meh about the topic, then don’t bother reading my latest article, but if I’ve piqued your interest - and maybe hit on a pain point (no pun intended) - then I hope you check it out. There’s a lot more to talk about, but the article is running now in Customer Magazine, and if you give it a read, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Next SCTC Fireside Chat - AI for Consultants, Part 5 -This Wednesday

What started as a basic exploration of a hot topic - AI for consultants - has turned into a 5-part series that I’ve been presenting on for SCTC. It’s been a great series, and we close out the topic this Wednesday. Joining me will be Gordon Sexton of Genesys, who will add his take to mine.

As always, our Fireside Chats are from 12-1 EST on Wednesdays, and for members who miss the date, replays are available. For everyone else, you can always become a member if you’re a consultant - otherwise, just follow me here, or drop me a line if you need help developing an AI strategy. To join us this Wednesday, details and signup are here.

December Newsletter and Podcast are Out

My December newsletter went out on Friday, and it recaps another busy month. It really hasn’t not been busy for all of 2020, and even for the past few days, I’m way behind on providing updates on new things I‘ve been up to. I’ll get caught up sharing all that shortly, and until then, for my subscribers, I hope you’re getting something good from the newsletter. For everyone else, it just takes a moment to subscribe to JAA’s Communications and Collaboration Review, and soon I’ll be adding an archive of earlier issues on my website.

Along with the newsletter, the latest edition of my Watch This Space podcast is now out, and the thumb below will give you a good idea of what we talked about. You can give it a listen here, and any day now, recent episodes - including transcripts - will be updated on the Podcasts section of my website.

Spotlight on SBCs with Ingate - my Latest on BCStrategies

Every so often I’ll do a spotlight piece on a trend or technology, especially ones that are not well-understood. I’ve been following the session border controller space since inception - 2004 - and it falls squarely into that bucket. Ingate Systems is one of the early players, and they’re still going strong, so that makes them a good partner for this exercise, and recently I’ve been working on this with their President, Steve Johnson.

The output is a fairly long Q&A, where we discuss the evolution of SBCs, why they’re important and what to look ahead for in 2021. Our discussion has been posted now to the BCStrategies portal, where I’ve been a contributing BC Expert for ages. I hope you give it a read, and would love to hear your thoughts.

My Next SCTC Fireside Chat on AI - This Wednesday, with Avaya

Tomorrow, our ongoing series about the AI opportunity for consultants continues with Part 4. I’ll be providing a recap of the key themes covered from the earlier sessions, as well as my outlook for 2021.

Joining me will be Tracy Fleming from Avaya, who will address specific AI use cases in the contact center, and as always, the sessions will be led by Steve Leaden. Registration details have now been posted to the SCTC website, and I hope you can join us - tomorrow from 12-1 EST.

My November Writing Roundup

Another fairly light month on the writing front, but was plenty busy on other fronts. That said, here’s what I was writing about during November.

Pandemic Implications for CX and the Contact Center, Upstream Works, Nov. 18

UC Analytics Mature to Verify Business Value, TechTarget, Nov. 17

A Change Is Gonna Come: Reflections on Slack, Twitter, Zoom, No Jitter, Nov. 10

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.

My Next Webinar with RingCentral - the Case for Cloud Telephony in 2021

Got a new webinar shout-out here - am back with another RingCentral engagement, and it’s on Tuesday, December 8 at 2pm ET.

Heading into the last month of the worst-year-ever, we’re all looking ahead to hopefully better things in 2021. For businesses still going with their premises-based phone systems - the value proposition is weakening, and with many workers happily entrenched at home, it’s going to be difficult to keep supporting them this way in the year ahead.

That’s the gist of the webinar, and I’ll be addressing it at greater length then. I’ll be joined by a RingCentral customer who will tell their story first-hand - and will update you once they’ve been added to the roster. Details are here, and if you want to join us, it just takes a moment to register.

My Latest for Upstream Works - Pandemic Implications for CX and the Contact Center

I’ve been doing work for Canadian contact center provider Upstream Works for a few years now, and we’ve got a new Insight Series going. Main focus is about the impact of COVID-19 on the contact center as well as how CX is changing as a result.

The first report in this series has been posted now to their website, and the others will be coming over the next few weeks. Registration is required, but it just takes a moment, and I think they’ve done a great job putting the finished product together!

Next SCTC Fireside Chat on AI - This Wednesday, with Vonage and Journey.ai

Tomorrow is Part 3 in our ongoing series about the AI opportunity for consultants. This time around, I’ll be talking about emerging AI applications. As usual, Steve Leaden will host, and we’ll be joined by speakers from Vonage and Journey.ai.

If you don’t know, these one hour sessions are open to all, with the core audience being SCTC members and consultants who want to learn more about what we have to offer. The session starts at noon, and to get the link, please follow the registration details here.

My Latest White Paper - Mitel - CX Challenges in Pandemic Times

This white paper has been in the works for some time with Mitel, and has launched today. To support it, they’ve issued a press release, and you can read about the details there. Being long-form content, the white paper is gated on their website, and here’s the registration page to download it.

I’m involved with two other efforts to support the white paper, with the first being a Twitter Chat, today at 11am ET. I’ll be joined by Shameem Smillie and Matthew Clare from Mitel, and to tune in, the hashtag is #MitelChats.

I’ll also be presenting highlights from the white paper on a webinar that will likely be in early January - details to follow.