Next Friday, Webinar - VoIP: Stepping Stone to UC

Just another quick shout-out for next Friday's VoIP News webinar. I've been doing a series of these with them, with the last webinar being a primer about VoIP for SMBs.

Now it's time to build on that, and the focus will shift to the broader possibilities of VoIP, especially when used in a Unified Communications environment. That's the ground I'll be covering on December 7 at 1pm ET, and I hope you'll join us. Here's the URL - it just takes a moment to register.

ShoreTel Partner Conference - UCStrategies Podcast

If you're still thinking about what to make of ShoreTel's prospects following their partner event event earlier this month, here's how you should spend the next 30 minutes of your life.

Last week's UCStrategies podcast focused on our collective takeaways from the conference, but with a twist. For the first time, ShoreTel invited consultants to the event, so our podcast included perspectives from both analysts and consultants. You may not realize it, but we're in different lines of business with different types of expertise, and we're glad that ShoreTel has embraced both communities.

The twist is that no UCStrategies consultants were at the event, but a couple who are friendly with us were. So, not only do you get a complete picture of the event, but you also get to hear from some new voices. The podcast was ably moderated by Blair Pleasant, and if you can't spare the time to listen, there's a trascript to read as well. Here's the link, and as always, your comments are welcome.

This Thursday - State of the Contact Center Space on Google Hangouts

Here's something different, but I think it will be fun. Toronto-based Fonolo has always been a bit outside the box, but in a good way. This Thursday's live video chat session is a good example, and if you want to catch up on what's driving the contact center space these days, you'll want to join us at 2pm ET.

I'm one of three analysts on this virtual roundtable - to my left will be Dave Michels, and over there on the right is Dan Miller. We all have something to say, and Fonolo CEO Shai Berger will be the ringleader trying to keep us honest.

If you haven't used Google Hangouts before, it's bit like doing sketch comedy. The format is open ended, so we just keep going until the schtick runs its course and the audience stops laughing. Well, in this case, it's more like we'll keep talking as long we have something interesting to say, and as long as there are people still hanging out with us. If things really get dull, maybe we'll switch and talk about the Middle East or even who should be the next Mayor of Toronto. Anything else you'd like us to cover?

Enough of the big buildup. It just takes a minute to sign up and drop in, and if you want to see what analysts look like, here's the landing page with all the details.

VoIP - Stepping Stone to UC - Webinar, Dec. 7

Am doing another webinar with VoIP News next month, and I hope you'll join us. Last month, we did a webinar on the evolution of VoIP, and now the focus is on how VoIP's foundational value sets the stage for Unified Communications.

The webinar is titled "VoIP - the Stepping Stone to UC", and that should be pretty self-explanatory. I'll be presenting at 1pm ET on Friday, Dec. 7, and for more details, along with the registration form, here's the link.

Collaboration - Why Now? My Current Internet Telephony Column

As you may know, I write a monthly column for TMCnet's Internet Telephony Magazine, titled Rethinking Communications. Each month I explore issues in a bit more depth than a blog post, and it's a good forum to reflect on current trends I see in my ongoing industry research.

This month's theme is collaboration, and my focus is on why it's becoming so important now, especially for SMBs. Equally important, of course, are all the great enabling technologies and the value they bring to make businesses more competitive. The article is running in the current issue, and if you don't get the print edition, you can read the digital version here. Furthermore, if you enjoy this, you might want to read my other columns, and the Rethinking Communications archive is here.

Finally, if collaboration is of ongoing interest, there's a Part 2 coming, and that will run in the next issue, fyi.

ShoreTel x 2 - My Latest White Paper and Video Interview

Being busy takes many forms, and not all of my work is public. ShoreTel has been high on my radar lately, mainly around last week's conference, and I have two items to share with you here.

First up is my new white paper. Independent of the conference, I also have been working on a white paper for them, which was just published. The paper is titled "A Spectrum of Choices for Unified Communications", and it presents three scenarios for businesses considering UC. The most common choices would be to remain premise-based or to switch over to the cloud. Both have their virtues, but not everyone is ready to make a full move to the hosted model, and that's totally understandable. This gives rise to the hybrid solution, where you keep some pieces on prem and push others out to the cloud.

It's early days for this approach, but one that ShoreTel sees value in supporting.  In a nutshell, that's what the paper addresses, and you can have it in your hands in about 5 minutes - here's the registration page. If for some reason, this isn't working out, ask nicely, and I can send you the PDF.

Second is a short video interview from the conference. ShoreTel's Tricia Stream got to play roving reporter, and did a few in-the-moment segments with analysts asking about our take on the state of UC. You can watch them here, including my segment, which runs about 2.5 minutes.

Fonolo Contact Center Roundtable - Nov. 29 - Join Us!

Sure has become a busy month all of a sudden, and I'm posting when time allows.

Quick shout-out for a roundtable that I've been invited to join on contact center trends. It's hosted by Fonolo - based here in Toronto - and I'll be joined by analyst colleagues Dave Michels (@DaveMichels) and Dan Miller (@dnm54). We'll be talking about hot topics such as social media, the cloud, mobility and virtual queuing. Fonolo's Shai Berger is hosting, and if you follow him - @shaiberger - and his blog - you'll know he tirelessly promotes thought leadership, and this should make for a lively session.

You can get all the details here - we're on at 2pm, Thursday, November 29. Always ready to try new things, Shai is doing this via Google Hangouts - hey, why not?

Just for the record, I am an Advisor to Fonolo, but with two other analysts in the room, it's fair to say they'll keep me honest.  :-)