That was the topic of our most recent UCStrategies podcast, and it's taken a bit longer than normal to get posted. There's a lot to talk about here, especially from a UC perspective, and if anything the two very much go hand in hand.
We had a lot of UCS Experts on the call, so you'll get your money's worth if you want to listen through the session. I was still struggling with my headcold and had very little voice during the session, but I made the effort and added my thoughts.
The session was ably moderated by Roberta Fox, who actually has a lot of experience in this area, so she was the logical choice for the role. You can listen to the podcast here as well as read the transcript. Either way, I hope you learn something here and we welcome your comments.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Last Call - Today's UC Webinar with Jabra at 2pm ET
Not much more to say, really, but I hope you can join us. This will be a fireside chat type of format where I'll be discussing various UC trends with Jabra, with an emphasis on why the time is right now for SMBs to be going in this direction. Registration is free and here are the details.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Fonolo's Take on Top Contact Center Analysts
Fonolo has long been one of the more interesting Toronto tech startups, and they continue doing good work in the contact center space. I'll tell you off the top that I'm an Advisor to Fonolo, but that's not material to what I'm sharing here.
Yesterday, they published their 2013 list of the top analysts covering the contact center space. I'm pleased to be on that list and have maintained my good graces from last year as well. I'm just 1 of 14 analysts, so my bigger message here is that this is a pretty solid group of thought leaders you should be following if this space is on your radar.
Shai Berger and his team rely a lot on reaching the right people to get their message across, and I know how hard they work at building up these relationships. Fonolo may be a small player, but they're pretty plugged in, and I'd put more stock in their brain trust community than relying on what a PR shop or a digital media agency will tell you. As with anything else, "know your source" is my mantra for credibility, and Shai knows of what he speaks. Oh, and I'd be remiss not to say thanks for considering me again for 2013!
Without further ado, here's the list, and if you care to comment further, am sure Shai would be happy to hear from you.
Yesterday, they published their 2013 list of the top analysts covering the contact center space. I'm pleased to be on that list and have maintained my good graces from last year as well. I'm just 1 of 14 analysts, so my bigger message here is that this is a pretty solid group of thought leaders you should be following if this space is on your radar.
Shai Berger and his team rely a lot on reaching the right people to get their message across, and I know how hard they work at building up these relationships. Fonolo may be a small player, but they're pretty plugged in, and I'd put more stock in their brain trust community than relying on what a PR shop or a digital media agency will tell you. As with anything else, "know your source" is my mantra for credibility, and Shai knows of what he speaks. Oh, and I'd be remiss not to say thanks for considering me again for 2013!
Without further ado, here's the list, and if you care to comment further, am sure Shai would be happy to hear from you.
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Webinar Next Week with Jabra - Shifting to UC for SMBs - Join Us!
It's never dull around here, and it seems if I'm not writing, I'm doing webinars or going to industry events. Next week is no exception, and on Thursday, October 3, I'm the featured guest on a webinar sponsored by Jabra, and we're on at 2pm ET. It's more of a fireside chat, really, and I'll be sharing my views with Jabra on various trends and drivers that are making this a good time for SMBs to consider UC.
I think it says a lot about where UC is going for Jabra to be doing thought leadership events like this. They're not a company that would be top of mind in this space, but when you think about the varying forms UC can take these days, they absolutely belong. Jabra sure has an interesting history and I've been using their products for a while - both headset and speaker peripherals. If you think about the all-important "end user experience", along with the PC's growing role as the desk phone's eventual successor, these products can add a lot of value for any UC solution.
If you're nodding your head to this, then you really should join us next week. Registration is free, and we'll be done by 2:45 - not even an hour. All the details are here, and if you know anyone else who might be interested, please pass this along - thanks!
I think it says a lot about where UC is going for Jabra to be doing thought leadership events like this. They're not a company that would be top of mind in this space, but when you think about the varying forms UC can take these days, they absolutely belong. Jabra sure has an interesting history and I've been using their products for a while - both headset and speaker peripherals. If you think about the all-important "end user experience", along with the PC's growing role as the desk phone's eventual successor, these products can add a lot of value for any UC solution.
If you're nodding your head to this, then you really should join us next week. Registration is free, and we'll be done by 2:45 - not even an hour. All the details are here, and if you know anyone else who might be interested, please pass this along - thanks!
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Collaboration vs. Connectivity - my updated view of the video conferencing space on UCStrategies
Regular followers will know that I attended the LifeSize Tech Day last week in Austin, TX. I learned a lot there, not just about what LifeSize is doing in the space, but also about how the overall vendor landscape is shaping up.There are a lot of ways to look at the market, but for me, two value drivers say it best - connectivity vs. collaboration. Most vendors do one of these very well, and in terms of delivering the right mix of price/performance, they generally fall on either end of this spectrum.
LifeSize stands out for me since they seem to be going for the middle ground here, and while I think the opportunity is attractive, the market first needs to "get it". That's not so easy to do, especially with cloud and WebRTC nown starting to change the rules of the game in a big way. There's a lot of evolution coming for this space, and based on my takeaways from Austin, I've put together an overview of how I see the landscape today. Since video is a key component of UC, I thought it best to do this on the UCStrategies portal for my September contribution there. My post is running there now, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
LifeSize stands out for me since they seem to be going for the middle ground here, and while I think the opportunity is attractive, the market first needs to "get it". That's not so easy to do, especially with cloud and WebRTC nown starting to change the rules of the game in a big way. There's a lot of evolution coming for this space, and based on my takeaways from Austin, I've put together an overview of how I see the landscape today. Since video is a key component of UC, I thought it best to do this on the UCStrategies portal for my September contribution there. My post is running there now, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Microsoft Technology Centre/Lync Love Day - Toronto
Am trying to keep pace here, and a headcold right now isn't helping.
This post is a bit belated, but definitely worth sharing. Last Wednesday, as part of Microsoft Canada's Lync advisory group, I was invited to attend to attend Lync Love Day, along with a tour of their newly-opened MTC - Microsoft Technology Centre. The timing was good, since the day after I was on the analyst concall where the U.S. Lync team gave their update on things. So, I've had a full dose of MSFT lately, and feeling pretty in tune with where they're going.
The MTC, btw, is their first in Canada, so I'm in the early cohort of people to see it. If you've been there or to any of their other MTCs outside of Canada, am sure you'd agree they've done a great job. These days, all the vendors are trying to get/stay close to technology buyers/influencers/decision-makers, not just because the market is so competitive, but also because their new technologies are complex and the stakes are getting really high for IT folks to make the right bets.
I've got some MTC photos below, but most of our time was spent getting updates on Lync. Overall, the message there is about "delivering an experience - and not just communicating". Key areas we heard about included how Skype and Lync will be integrated, extending Lync to the mobile space and driving more enterprise voice adoption via the cloud.
It's still not clear if they know how to monetize Skype, especially when talking to enterprises. Skype definitely has a play with SMBs and SOHOs, but my concern is that enterprises will associate Skype with being consumer-grade and PC-based, both of which run counter to Lync's value proposition for this end of the business market. To me, whatever they do with Skype will be a bonus, and with RIM imploding, I'm sure moving into enterprise mobility space is a higher, more lucrative opportunity.
Video, of course, is another piece of the puzzle, and having been at the LifeSize event earlier last week, I wanted to address this separately. As a sidebar, for both of these events, I was the only analyst in attendance, so you won't likely get this type of perspective from anyone else unless you follow a pretty broad circle of people like me.
Since Cisco staked their claim on video and telepresence being about collaboration, all the other vendors have fallen into line for this to be the main driver. I've now seen how LifeSize is delivering their take on collaboration, and MSFT gave us a great demo for theirs. Of course, the big advantage with Lync is the natural integration with Office and everything else MSFT, and so as long as they can provide an easy-to-use high-touch environment, they have a great solution.
We saw that in spades, and there's a photo below to give you a taste. Their approach to collaboration is different, as instead of fixating on a passive video screen to watch other people or share content, there is also an interactive element via whiteboarding. It's a very natural, cool way to work, especially since the work can be shared and edited in real-time and then saved for sharing later. Nothing new here, but collectively all the pieces are offered as the LRS - Lync Room System, and it's a pretty compelling mix of collaboration, content sharing and live interaction for anyone connected to the session. And, yes, it works across most mobile devices, so you can join a LRS meeting pretty much from anywhere.
As with any other UC vendor, video is a big part of the story, but just as important is how seamlessly it works across all the tools and applications we use every day. Yes, it costs money, but it's a lot less than immersive TP, and a far richer experience than desktop, cloud-based video conferencing services. This should be a great way to enhance the Lync value proposition, and since there's hardware involved, LRS looks to be pretty channel-friendly. We saw pieces from SMART Technologies and Crestron - hardly household names, so there's a lot riding on them are partners. Polycom is also a LRS partner, but we were told they're not ready for market yet. Hmm - should that be a concern? I'll leave that out there for consideration - time for some pictures....
This post is a bit belated, but definitely worth sharing. Last Wednesday, as part of Microsoft Canada's Lync advisory group, I was invited to attend to attend Lync Love Day, along with a tour of their newly-opened MTC - Microsoft Technology Centre. The timing was good, since the day after I was on the analyst concall where the U.S. Lync team gave their update on things. So, I've had a full dose of MSFT lately, and feeling pretty in tune with where they're going.
The MTC, btw, is their first in Canada, so I'm in the early cohort of people to see it. If you've been there or to any of their other MTCs outside of Canada, am sure you'd agree they've done a great job. These days, all the vendors are trying to get/stay close to technology buyers/influencers/decision-makers, not just because the market is so competitive, but also because their new technologies are complex and the stakes are getting really high for IT folks to make the right bets.
I've got some MTC photos below, but most of our time was spent getting updates on Lync. Overall, the message there is about "delivering an experience - and not just communicating". Key areas we heard about included how Skype and Lync will be integrated, extending Lync to the mobile space and driving more enterprise voice adoption via the cloud.
It's still not clear if they know how to monetize Skype, especially when talking to enterprises. Skype definitely has a play with SMBs and SOHOs, but my concern is that enterprises will associate Skype with being consumer-grade and PC-based, both of which run counter to Lync's value proposition for this end of the business market. To me, whatever they do with Skype will be a bonus, and with RIM imploding, I'm sure moving into enterprise mobility space is a higher, more lucrative opportunity.
Video, of course, is another piece of the puzzle, and having been at the LifeSize event earlier last week, I wanted to address this separately. As a sidebar, for both of these events, I was the only analyst in attendance, so you won't likely get this type of perspective from anyone else unless you follow a pretty broad circle of people like me.
Since Cisco staked their claim on video and telepresence being about collaboration, all the other vendors have fallen into line for this to be the main driver. I've now seen how LifeSize is delivering their take on collaboration, and MSFT gave us a great demo for theirs. Of course, the big advantage with Lync is the natural integration with Office and everything else MSFT, and so as long as they can provide an easy-to-use high-touch environment, they have a great solution.
We saw that in spades, and there's a photo below to give you a taste. Their approach to collaboration is different, as instead of fixating on a passive video screen to watch other people or share content, there is also an interactive element via whiteboarding. It's a very natural, cool way to work, especially since the work can be shared and edited in real-time and then saved for sharing later. Nothing new here, but collectively all the pieces are offered as the LRS - Lync Room System, and it's a pretty compelling mix of collaboration, content sharing and live interaction for anyone connected to the session. And, yes, it works across most mobile devices, so you can join a LRS meeting pretty much from anywhere.
As with any other UC vendor, video is a big part of the story, but just as important is how seamlessly it works across all the tools and applications we use every day. Yes, it costs money, but it's a lot less than immersive TP, and a far richer experience than desktop, cloud-based video conferencing services. This should be a great way to enhance the Lync value proposition, and since there's hardware involved, LRS looks to be pretty channel-friendly. We saw pieces from SMART Technologies and Crestron - hardly household names, so there's a lot riding on them are partners. Polycom is also a LRS partner, but we were told they're not ready for market yet. Hmm - should that be a concern? I'll leave that out there for consideration - time for some pictures....
Mark Hickson demo'ing LRS - behind him is the whiteboard, left; and on the right screen are 3 live video panels - 1 for him, 1 for a remote attendee, and a hard-to-see panorama showing each of us there in the room with him. He's holding up a tablet to show the video there as well, and later he did the same with the other mobile device on the table in front of him.
One of the testing/interop rooms during the MTC tour
Fellow UCStrategies colleague, Roberta Fox, checking out the gigantic touch screen in the MTC lobby - this was pretty impressive.
Last stop on the MTC tour - the Envisioning Centre. Very cool - theater setting where they simulate various work environments to show us just how seamlessly their technology works across the spectrum of settings.
Smart Grid Webinar Reminder - Tomorrow at 4 ET - Smart Metering Programs
Just doing a last call to join us for tomorrow's Zpryme webinar on smart metering programs.
First off, a correction on the time from my previous post - it's at 4pm ET / 1pm PT. Sorry for any confusion, but it's a late start, and goes for 90 minutes.
We've got another first rate group of speakers, and joining me will be Tim Wolf of Itron, Lee Krevat of SDG&E, and Matthew Crosby of Pecan Street Inc. Registration is free, and you can get all the details here. Hope to see you there!
First off, a correction on the time from my previous post - it's at 4pm ET / 1pm PT. Sorry for any confusion, but it's a late start, and goes for 90 minutes.
We've got another first rate group of speakers, and joining me will be Tim Wolf of Itron, Lee Krevat of SDG&E, and Matthew Crosby of Pecan Street Inc. Registration is free, and you can get all the details here. Hope to see you there!
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