Tag: Unified Communications

8×8 is Sending a Mixed Message to the Market

by Gregg Willsky, posted in Communicate, IT Leader
G. Willsky

Summary Bullets:

• Recent enhancements to the 8×8 platform are intrinsic to a foundational pivot the company has taken.

• The pivot masks the true scope of capabilities 8×8 provides and risks confusing the market.

8×8 has been very busy recently with new rounds of enhancements to its platform that strengthen the customer experience. A sample of more noteworthy features includes: an AI assistant for composing chat messages; the ability for employees outside the contact center to engage with customers via digital channels; the introduction of JourneyIQ which gives businesses the capability to optimize the customer journey across all channels, departments, and touchpoints; and the announcement of AI Orchestrator which enables interaction between bots from different vendors and supports hand-offs between bots and human agents.

Continue reading “8×8 is Sending a Mixed Message to the Market” →

Telcos vs. Hyperscalers: Should Telecom Operators Take a Stand or is Collaboration the Key to the Future?

by Brendan Swan, posted in IT Leader
B. Swan

Summary Bullets:

  • The digital landscape is changing, bringing new technologies. Hyperscalers are having a more influential role in shaping the future direction of telecommunications.
  • Telcos and hyperscalers should work together to co-create new initiatives including cross-selling, joint go-to-market strategies, and co-developing innovation and product.

The relationship between telcos and hyperscalers such as AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Meta, has always been multi-faceted. With the digital landscape continuing to evolve with the emergence of 5G, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud-native technologies, hyperscalers are becoming more influential in shaping the future direction of telecommunications. This can both create benefits for telcos (e.g., agility through digitization) but it can also erode telco business opportunities (e.g., connectivity from telco infrastructure to cloud infrastructure). Should telcos take a stand against hyperscalers moving into their territory? Or should they look to collaborate and coexist together?

Continue reading “Telcos vs. Hyperscalers: Should Telecom Operators Take a Stand or is Collaboration the Key to the Future?” →

The Price is Right – Or is It?

by Gregg Willsky, posted in Cloud Enable, Communicate
G. Willsky

Summary Bullets:

• While rivals are aligned in stuffing their platforms full of GenAI features, they diverge when it comes to pricing those features.

• There is no easy answer as to whether GenAI features should cost extra — and not necessarily a right or wrong one.

When GenAI first arrived on team collaboration platforms, widespread fear was generated that hard-earned skills – and the employees that cultivated them – would be displaced. Those fears are softening as GenAI increasingly earns recognition as a tool that makes workers more productive. Mundane and time-absorbing tasks (such as generating meeting recaps, composing emails, and scheduling meetings) are outsourced to GenAI, allowing workers to focus on high-priority activities and increase their value to their organizations. Productivity enhancements have been delivered largely through a proliferation of virtual assistants involving every major competitor (e.g., Microsoft Copilot, Cisco AI Assistant in Webex Suite, and Zoom AI Companion).

Continue reading “The Price is Right – Or is It?” →

Cisco APJC Collaboration: A Step Towards Pervasive Enterprise Collaboration

by , posted in Network

Harish Taori
Harish Taori

Summary Bullets:

  • Launching its innovative DX80 / DX70 endpoints and collaboration meeting room (CMR) solution, Cisco makes an attempt to plug the gaps in its collaboration offering for enterprises.
  • However, Cisco needs to improve its value proposition by making the solution easy to acquire, consume and manage in a heterogeneous IT environment to address persistent TCO concerns.

It was a bright sunny day when I landed in Macau to attend Cisco’s APJC collaboration summit last week. The summit started with two major announcements – launch of collaboration endpoints DX80/70 and the collaboration meeting room (CMR) solution – both part of Cisco’s “Browser to Boardroom” theme. The former was an attempt to consolidate the number of communication/collaboration devices present on a work desk in one endpoint while the latter (CMR) was a software solution that caught my attention due to its broader appeal to the enterprises. Continue reading “Cisco APJC Collaboration: A Step Towards Pervasive Enterprise Collaboration” →

Enterprise Connect 2014: WebRTC and Video to Occupy Center Stage

by , posted in Communicate

Cindy Whelan
Cindy Whelan

Summary Bullets:

  • Video and WebRTC occupy a major role for Enterprise Connect conference sessions as well as planned announcements.
  • Cloud and mobility are constants in the collaboration marketplace, as enterprises increasingly embrace usage-based collaboration and communications solutions as well as manage employee demand for mobility options.

Next week, I will join my colleagues in Orlando, Florida at Enterprise Connect, one of the longest-running voice/UC/collaboration trade shows in the industry and a great opportunity to spend some time with companies I speak with frequently and get a look at new entrants to the market.  A quick glance down a recent list of upcoming show announcements included (not surprisingly) a long list of WebRTC and video-related launches along with a healthy dose of contact center enhancements.  I’m particularly interested to get an update on where WebRTC stands in the collaboration and communications service landscape.  Last year, WebRTC figured prominently at Enterprise Connect, with an entire mini-conference on the topic, and that is the case again in 2014.  WebRTC is still in its early stages: there are a number of aspects of the service still under development, and WebRTC is still not supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer or Apple Safari web browsers.  Over the long term, WebRTC has the potential to be a real disrupter in the market, letting vendors and service providers implement easy-to-use voice and video applications for B2B and B2C communications.  Video, specifically ‘personal’ desktop applications, is another topic that seems to be generating a fair bit of buzz and publicity in advance of the show, as providers add services and features that take the complexity out of video conferencing in a bid to make it as easy to use as audio. Continue reading “Enterprise Connect 2014: WebRTC and Video to Occupy Center Stage” →

UC Take-up Is on the Verge of Critical Mass, but Pricing Models Remain Negotiable

by Gary Barton, posted in Communicate

Gary Barton
Gary Barton

Summary Bullets:

  • Uptake of unified communications solutions is growing, and enterprises that are not alert to this trend may be at a disadvantage.
  • Utility pricing looks great on the surface, but enterprises should work with providers to achieve pricing models that deliver genuine value for money.

Research released jointly by Cisco, SFR and Telindus to coincide with SFR’s recent launch of its hosted Cisco HCS proposition has suggested that 39% of French large enterprises are currently involved in ITC projects that involve the deployment of hosted unified communications (UC) services for their employees, whilst 15% of French large enterprises already have deployed a hosted UC solution of some sort.  Research also shows that the numbers are similar or slightly lower in other Northern European countries. Continue reading “UC Take-up Is on the Verge of Critical Mass, but Pricing Models Remain Negotiable” →

The Four Cs of Effective Collaboration

by , posted in Communicate

Tim Banting
Tim Banting

Summary Bullets:

  • Enterprise social collaboration, when correctly implemented, reduces decision making time and building upon the collective wisdom of communities
  • Technology is but part of an enterprise social collaboration strategy- there are other barriers to adoption that need to be overcome

Modern organizations understand they need to react to a rapidly changing business environment quickly. The need to address customer demands, react to competitive threats, and improve profitability, is largely dependent on the way employees interact and engage, collaborate and communicate – not only with each other, but also with business partners and customers. Continue reading “The Four Cs of Effective Collaboration” →

Dimension Data Highlights Expertise as Global Telepresence and Managed Video Services Provider

by , posted in Communicate

Brian Washburn
Brian Washburn

Summary Bullets:

  • Dimension Data draws on its global professional services and in-country staff to operate its own successful managed video services offer.
  • Dimension Data draws on its own tools, global video hardware support organization for rapid troubleshooting and resolution of customers’ issues.

Dimension Data is known for its global professional services and solutions building, outsourcing, network integration, hardware device installation and support. While it doesn’t have the name-brand recognition of the carrier-side global telepresence services providers, the company has been steadily building its Managed Services for Visual Communications base. The company now describes having 250 clients for its managed video services, representing 6,000 video endpoints and processing more than 20,000 calls per month, combining immersive and non-immersive endpoints. Continue reading “Dimension Data Highlights Expertise as Global Telepresence and Managed Video Services Provider” →

The Cloud – Simply a CapEx/OpEx Choice?

by , posted in Cloud Enable

Ken Landoline
Ken Landoline

Summary Bullets:

  • The cloud approach to telecom solutions is catching on like wildfire as a growing number of vendors offer a cloud version of their products and some report that cloud solutions already account for the major portion of all sales.
  • In addition to a shift of expenditures from a large capital outlay to a monthly operational expense the reasons companies are moving to the cloud fall into a few more categories including; flexibility in changing capacity levels, speed in adding applications to premise-based solutions while protecting current investments, and disaster recovery back-up.

While much is made of the CapEx versus OpEx comparison of premise- versus cloud-based solutions, it seems those decisions are limited, for the most part, to end users that are in the start-up or “greenfield” mode of their lifecycle. Conversations I have had with many enterprise end users regarding the premise versus cloud decision process, as well as vendors selling telecom solutions, suggest many purchasing situations fits into one of three scenarios. In scenario 1 the business has a premise-based solution but appreciates the ability of the cloud to add capacity when needed and shrink capacity when activity slows down. Such a situation could be a retail contact center with a premise-based solution that must expand and shrink based on the seasonality of their business. Adding remote, home-based agents via a cloud offering is the perfect solution. Scenario 2 are end users with a substantial investment in a premise-based solution but a requirement to add applications and broader functionality quickly and efficiently without scrapping the not yet depreciated investment. The application of a “hybrid” solution allows the business to add applications to existing solutions without scrapping the premise based solution prematurely, before it is fully depreciated. In scenario 3, a few end users see cloud solutions as a method of providing a disaster recovery, back-up system to their premise-based system that will take over operations when disaster strikes. In this situation the cloud solution can be run in parallel to the premise solution and the cloud could take over if and when the premise-based solution fails for any reason, maintaining operations. Although the disaster solution may add significantly to operating costs, in many situations company revenue streams can be preserved, which make it a feasible investment. Continue reading “The Cloud – Simply a CapEx/OpEx Choice?” →

Managed Videoconferencing Homes in on Price Point Differentiation

by , posted in Network

Brian Washburn
Brian Washburn

Summary Bullets

  • Reservationless telepresence – emulating the familiar dial-in audioconferencing experience – has proven popular, to the point that the major competitors either have it, or are launching it.
  • Telepresence providers with a large conventional videoconferencing installed base are now drawing from these benefits, as their clients expand beyond immersive endpoints.

As Current Analysis has begun its latest analysis and update to the world’s major telepresence and videoconferencing providers, some trends are already becoming clear. Below is a list of issues that are currently top-of-mind for service providers: Continue reading “Managed Videoconferencing Homes in on Price Point Differentiation” →