Unify and Circuit Redux - My Take, Second Time Around

Got back late last night from ITExpo, and the week prior, I was at the Unify analyst/consultant conference, so I'm pretty showed-out for now. At ITExpo, I moderated a panel about communication and collaboration, and at Unify, we got an extensive update on the business, including Circuit. Things look better now than when Circuit made its debut in late 2014, and there are some relevant ideas from my ITExpo panel to reinforce that.

I've pulled those ideas together for my current UCStrategies column, and it's running now on the site. If you're trying to make sense of the fast-changing collaboration space, and/or how well Unify is currently positioned, I think you'll find this a good read. If you do that, I hope you pick up on the links in my analysis, as my UCStrategies colleagues Blair Pleasant and Phil Edholm have also shared their thoughts, but more so about the overall Unify story.

How NOT to Make UC Strategic - My Current Column

Rethinking Communications is the monthly column I write for TMC's Internet Telephony Magazine, and in the current issue I look at things businesses do that goes against the grain for making Unified Communications a strategic investment. You really do need the right mindset, and if you're still thinking in legacy terms, you'll have a much harder time getting full value from UC.

Here's the link to the article, and it's the follow up to last month's column, where I wrote about how you do make UC strategic. I hope you read them both, and if you can share, that would be great too. If you're having any difficulty accessing these posts, drop me a line and I'll help you out.

Loose End #2 - Podcast on Customer Experience Trends for 2016

Trying to tie things up from a busy week, largely taken up by the Unify analyst conference. Flying out shortly, and this is my second loose end post to cover things I couldn't blog about earlier in the week. I just posted about loose end #1, and here's #2.

I recently recorded a podcast interview about trends shaping the customer experience in 2016, and it went live a few days ago. This was done with UK-based Enterprise Management 360, and there's a companion article of mine that will run in their next quarterly magazine - stay tuned. Until then, here's the podcast.

Loose End #1 - Am in Fonolo's Top Contact Center Analysts List

It's been a busy week at the Unify analyst conference, so am behind on some things. This is loose end #1 before the week is out, and another one is coming after this.

Lots going on besides Unify this week, and earlier, Fonolo published this list, which I'm happy to be included in. Fonolo is Toronto-based - so I like them already - and has been doing lots of innovative things in the contact center space. Led by Shai Berger, they know where things are going, and it's nice to see them put this list together based on what they see in the market.

Recognition is always nice, but if you want to stay on top the contact center world, this list will also help you narrow down a core set of analysts to follow.

Unify 2016 Analyst Conference - Quick Take

Yesterday was Day 1 of the Unify analyst conference being held in Bermuda. No complaints about being here, and I'll just leave it at that. I'll have a more detailed post later, as it's Day 2 now, and I need to be in the moment.

The main story here is how things will progress following the Atos acquisition. There's a big opportunity here, although the synergies will take time to realize. Our timing was good yesterday, as the official news of the deal being done was announced around noon, so we got to share it with Unify management in real time. Champagne all around, and a lot of happy faces.

Overall, there's going to be a challenge for both companies figuring out where products fit into a services-driven business. There are also realities to address in that the marketplace is still attached to a CPE model, whereas most vendors - Unify included - want to migrate customers to the cloud and have them adopt a managed services model.

Closer to what I follow more regularly - OpenScape and Circuit - there's lots of good news. Looks like they've productized Circuit nicely, with 2 free entry options and 3 paid editions that look more like a real UC deployment. Also, closer to home, it's good see a growing presence in North America, and the customer panel we're seeing today is more validation of that.

Unify is in a good position now financially, sales momentum is strong, their channel story is more focused now, and their focus on 5 vertical markets is paying off. Circuit is still finding its legs, but the developer ecosystem is growing, and as we heard on the customer panel, it gets new conversations going that helps differentiate Unify.

I'll have more to say after the event, and for now I'll leave you with some photos from Day 1.

 CMO Bill Hurley kicking things off

Norm Korey and the GTM update

Toasting the official news of the Atos acquisition of Unify

Comfy breakout pods

What's not to like?

Next Stop - Brrrmuda and Unify's Analyst Conference

Yeah, it's cold here in Toronto, and it's not quite beach weather in Bermuda, but I can live with that. Never been to Bermuda, and am very much looking forward to leaving shortly for this. For the next few days I'll be at the Unify Analyst Conference, and we'll finally get a deep dive that builds on the preview briefing we recently got about Circuit.

That will be the main focus, but I'm sure all of us analysts will be just as interested in the business side of things now that Atos is in the picture. The synergies from moves like this aren't always so clear, but in due time, I'm hoping that will change.

I'll blog as time allows, but more often, I'll be tweeting @arnoldjon, and if you want to follow the event feed, it's #UnifyAR16.

This is actually part 1 of a 3 part trip, and next week, I'll be wearing my moderating hat at TMCnet's ITExpo in Fort Lauderdale. Again, I can live with that!

ITExpo Shout-out and Moderated Sessions

ITExpo is a week away, and for those attending, I want to make sure my sessions are on your radar.

"Are You Communicating or Collaborating?"  This is on the UC track, and runs Wednesday at 2:30

"Making Video Easy - How Hard Can it Be?" This is on the Business Transformation track, and runs Thursday at 10am

For more detail, including the abstracts and speakers who will be joining me, scroll through the Conference Program to the right date/time. For some reason their site doesn't have standalone links for each session, but it won't take long to find these.

Am off tomorrow to the Unify analyst event and from there, ITExpo in Fort Lauderdale. If you're at either event, I won't be hard to find, so feel free to drop me a line.