I was one of a few UC Experts attending the recent 2016 analyst event for Vertical Communications in Dallas, and with the last one being back in 2012, there was a lot to get updated on. They certainly have a clear sense of purpose now, at least in terms of market focus and business model. While analysts like me focus more on the business issues, the consultants honed in more on the underlying technology. I'll leave that for others to dissect and stay in my comfort zone, sharing views instead about their business focus and go-to-market strategy. I want to specifically speak to those themes as they will help decision makers assess Vertical during their buying journey, and to better understand why they are pursuing a direct route to market.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2016-02-22
While it’s true you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, some things are better the second time around. For this post, I want to focus solely on (Unify) Circuit for two reasons. First, it’s very relevant to the UC&C space, and second, it gives me an opportunity to bridge insights from the two conferences I just attended back-to-back.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2016-01-29
I’ve got a new acronym that sets the stage for all this – UC&C – Unbelievably Crowded and Confusing. We’ve got too many vendors selling too many variations of a solution that doesn’t have a readily defined problem set. Yes, there are lots of ways for UC&C to add value, but any deployment these days requires some leap of faith. To get past this, something has to give, and it starts with the vendors.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-12-17
Last week’s UC Summit was good as always, but nothing stands still any more. That’s a given with tech, and it’s particularly applicable for UC&C, where the center is not holding – presuming you can find it. Our conference tries to help decision-makers find that center, but it’s not clear if even we know where it is. To illustrate, here are three basic takeaways.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-11-25
This week I was a speaker at Telecom 2015 in Toronto, which is put on by CTC, the Community of Telecommunications Consultants. For a while, I’ve been wondering why any event in our space would have the “T word” in the title, and that came up again during my presentation. Thankfully, a few in the audience were wondering about that, too, and it’s a sign that the broader audience is seeing a bit of a disconnect between what the industry is talking about and what’s actually happening. I’ll share a few takeaways that should resonate with our readers.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-10-29
For a while now, the UC vendors have been emphasizing collaboration, to the point where UC&C has become the moniker of choice. While the technology keeps maturing, adoption has lagged expectations, largely because the value proposition is so hard to pin down. My view is that this shift reflects the fact that collaboration outcomes now resonate more as a value driver than the impact UC has on IT and the networks they manage.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-09-30
Metaswitch Networks conducted a study in conjunction with Edgewater Networks about VoIP and UC in the SMB space. With their permission, I have extracted selected highlights from the research focused specifically on UC, as the data will help quantify what many have long suspected about how SMBs view this opportunity.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-07-24
Last week, several UC Experts attended the Interactions 2015 event in Indianapolis. This is the annual showcase event for Interactive Intelligence, a vendor that we often feature here at UCStrategies. While known mainly as an innovator in
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-06-15
This week I attended the CTCA’s annual conference. The conference theme was "Partnering for Value," and given that almost everyone there is a telecom consultant, their business challenges are very much in line with what we focus on here at UCStrategies.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-06-05
Like UC, the contact center space is being redefined by new technologies and business models, and by virtue of the latter’s deeper roots, UCStrategies followers should pay heed to how companies like Cisco are responding.
Posted by Jon Arnold, on 2015-05-01