Season 4 of Watch This Space continues with an episode titled “Should Network Providers be in the Content Business?”. The jumping off point for this big topic was the recent news about AT&T spinning out Time Warner into a separate entity, and from there, it’s not hard to understand why Amazon just acquired MGM. There are parallels to last month’s podcast about the history of telecom, and it’s another example of how IP – Internet Protocol - has disrupted industries evolving from analog to digital technologies.

For those of you who don’t subscribe to our podcast directly from a commercial platform, you can access it any time here on the new Watch This Space website.
If you don’t know where to subscribe to Watch This Space, it’s posted now on many of the leading platforms. More are in the works, and I’ll soon be adding links to all of these on the WTS website. Currently, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Stitcher.
The Watch This Space website will host our episodes for 2020 and beyond. The site is formatted specifically for podcasts, including an embedded player so you can listen directly from the site – check it out here: www.watchthisspace.tech. Our earlier podcasts – Seasons 1 and 2 – can be accessed here on my JAA website.

What’s Up? Part 2 – JAA Highlights from May

While the Watch This Space podcast is the main form of original content for this newsletter, Part 2 here is a digest of JAA activities from the previous month, including my other forms of original content, and my social media stats.
Virtual conference roundup – sure was a busy month, but to be fair, with so many closely-packed events, my participation was not as full as I would have liked:
- Five9 Influencer Analyst Summit, May 3-5
- Five9 Influencer Summit, May 7
- Cloud Conventions, May 12-14
- 8x8 Industry Analyst Summit, May 18
- Zendesk Analyst Summit, May 19-20
- Zoom Perspectives 2021, May 19-20
- UCX: Now, May 19-20
- NICE/inContact Interactions, May 25-26
Webinars – I presented on one last month, and the link can be found in my blog posts:
- TelcoBridges – CCaaS adoption trends, May 25
May writing – if you only read one writeup of mine from last month, this would be it: “CCaaS: Rethinking Your CX and Customer Service Strategy”, on No Jitter
Writing roundup – not a lot to report for May, but here’s the digest
Speaking – I had three different roles last month – as educator, presenter and panelist, and details can be found in my blog posts:
- PulveREDU – along with Chris Fine, we presented our first course on Jeff Pulver’s new virtual learning platform – topic was the history of telecom and lessons learned for innovators, but you had to be there to experience it!
- Cloud Conventions – I gave an update on last year’s talk about the cloud opportunity for channel partners – followed by a live audience Q&A with Mike Cromwell
- UCX: Now event – was a panelist on how enterprises need to manage all the new data being generated in the digital workplace
Judging – on May 18, I returned to be a judge on Oracle Startup Idol, EMEA edition
Industry kudo – following up March’s inclusion in “Who’s Who in Telecoms?” from Onalytica, they added me to their latest report, “Who’s Who in Unified Communications?”
Add-on kudo – in addition to being cited in these reports, Joe Fields of Onalytica profiled me in this Q&A interview – and a more conversational video interview is coming next
Media citings – just one for May
Social media highlights - since these stats change every day, the metrics are just a basic snapshot, but they provide a good sense of reach beyond my blog and newsletter. For my business, I use Twitter and LinkedIn, and here are some approximate tallies for May:
- For LinkedIn – I had 23,333 views and 38 posts – much higher than last month, and the highest level so far in 2021.
- My top LinkedIn post registered 2,314 views and overall, 6 posts had 1,000+ views.
- For Twitter – there were 45,200 impressions, 1,620 profile visits, 62 mentions, 46 tweets, and 1 new follower – for the most part, double the April metrics
- My “top tweet” was about Bryan Martin speaking at 8x8’s analyst event, with 4,588 impressions. Overall, 10 tweets had 1,000+ impressions.
Updates were recently added about my musical interests, with both new video clips and photos. You can find all this on the My Music tab, and I continue to mention this here in case new subscribers don’t know about my fun side.

What's Coming? JAA Outlook for June

As of this time, I’ll be tracking these virtual events during June:
- Talkdesk Opentalk 2021, June 15-16
- Fuze Analyst and Influence event, June 15
- Genesys Xperience, June 23-24
- Future of Work – at ITExpo – June 23-25 – returning as event Chair, but remotely – still looking for speakers, so let me know!
Speaking of judging industry events, I’ve been invited to return for two other events coming up soon:
- Talkdesk – CX Innovators Awards - June
- UC Today – UC Awards 2021 - July
In terms of client work, here are the highlights for active projects:
- White paper launch for a major contact center vendor
- Working on a new white paper about the value of UCaaS and CCaaS together
- July webinar for how channels can help customers adapt to hybrid work
- July webinar on the value of digital channels for contact centers
- My 6-part blog series for a contact center vendor continues
- Researching/writing an article on the semiconductor space
- Researching/writing an article for an SBC vendor

Hey Did You Know?

…that I look pretty good in a cape – who knew?

Yup, it’s the BobbleJon – from the swag-savvy folks at Five9. They sent a bunch of fun things as part of their two analyst events last month, but this one is the keeper! They went all-in on the Star Wars “fourth be with you” theme for May, and yes, the light saber does give me magic powers.