Modern Collaboration

Whether from home or the office, many workers still feel more comfortable with physical desktop phones and headsets as opposed to soft phone clients. Darren Knapp from Poly talks about recent innovations to these venerable endpoints.

How can you help your remote workers when you aren't there? Crisantos talks about AI-enabled analytics, remote coaching, and what the future of remote work may shake up to be.

According to the CEO of CafeX, Rami Musallam, advanced collaboration is all about finding ways to eliminate friction in internal company processes as well as while interacting with customers.  In this insightful podcast interview we dig into how cutting edge technologies, like Chime, their one-click video conferencing platform, are delivering seamless collaboration from the boardroom to the contact center. We discuss what it really takes to make video a single click experience, whether you are at your desktop or using the company telepresence room.  We also review how enabling collaboration technologies like desktop sharing, allows businesses to take customer care to the next level by saving time and lowering the risk of unhappy customers. Take a listen, you'll be happy you did.   

Customer Experience Management (CEM) is quickly becoming a strategic imperative for brands in a multitude of industries.  And it's no wonder, with a recent report stating that within two years CEM will be more important to a customer's perception of a brand than their product or the price of the product. To learn more about this critical topic and how innovative companies are looking to deploy the right technology in their contact centers and throughout the enterprise, take a listen to this interview with David Jodoin, the Chief Technology Officer at CafeX.  We dig into the trends impacting the market, the role mobile technologies and applications are playing, how WebRTC is changing the game in video in contact centers and ways in which companies are working to create a more personal connection with their customers while quickly solving their problems. If your job is to make sure your customers are happy, this podcast is a must listen.

Have you ever considered what your collaboration style is?  What about your colleagues or your boss?  In this podcast interview with Leo Tucker, Global Vice President of Marketing at PGi, we dig into the findings of their recent survey that looks to answer this question.  They interviewed business people from a thousand companies and gathered information on one hundred different factors that influence collaboration to get a baseline understanding of the various ways in which business people collaborate and how businesses can benefit by applying this understanding to their own companies. We review the findings in detail, including their breakdown of business people into 5 different 'types' of collaborators: Casual, Meticulous, Practical, Savvy and Progressive.  If you are looking to gain a deeper understanding of how the employees and departments in your business collaborate and what this can mean to ensuring you make the right types of investments in the right kinds of technology, this podcast is a must listen. And don't forget to visit PGI.com to take the collaboration quiz yourself to find out what type of collaborator you are.  

Open Source UC is consistently one of the most searched for terms on The UC Buyer so we dig in deeper in this information packed interview with Jerry Stabile, CEO and Founder of Commercial Open Source UC vendor, eZuce. We discuss the benefits and challenges of Open Source UC, the types of companies that is right for, virutalization, cloud and UCaaS implications and how the SipXCom open source project is working to keep up with the breakneck speed of change in the communications industry.   If your business is considering UC and looking at Open Source as an option, this podcast is worth your time on the way to or from work.  Don't forget to subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes or via RSS.

Over and over at The UC Buyer we have heard that one of the biggest risks to Cloud-based UC is a corporate network that is not up for the job.  In this detailed podcast with Stephen Farkough, the Vice President of Information Systems at UCaaS solution provider Broadview Networks, we discuss the network challenges that businesses face when deploying UCaaS and what they can do to prevent them.   We talk about  jitter and latency and their causes including router configurations, firewall setup and bandwidth.  We also dive into their new solution allows their channel partners to perform in-depth, long-term pre-test of a company's network readiness that identifies any issues so they can be addressed before pulling the trigger on UCaaS deployment.  If you're considering cloud-UC, you definitely should take a listen.

In this insightful discussion with Derek Yoo, CTO of Fuze (formerly ThinkingPhones) we get into the details on the trends impacting the enterprise communications space and what is driving the movement towards Unified Communications in the cloud.  We discuss the impact of consumerization of IT, the various freemium collaboration solutions in the market and how UC and UCaaS vendors are adapting to continue delivering a high level of value and service to their enterprise customers. If you're considering UCaaS or are interested in where the market is headed, this is a must listen.

The way we use voice communications in business has changed more in the last 10 years than it has in the last 40. In this information packed conversation with Urban Gillis, Vice President of Distribution and Channel Sales at headset maker Jabra, we discuss the different ways that business people use phone calls and how businesses can categorize them into user types.  In particular, we dig into the specifics around the "Call-Centric" user type and the various types of professionals whose jobs revolve around taking, making and managing high volumes of calls. We also dig into how unified communications, mobility and increased collaboration opportunities have turned headsets into a billion dollar market and how businesses are working to deploy and maintain the right types of audio endpoints for the right types of workers. If your business is looking to deploy a UC solution, improve your collaboration capabilities or ensure your employees are as productive as possible, this podcast is for you. 

Customer engagements have changed more over the last five years than they have in the previous thirty, according to Natalie Keightley, the Contact Center Product Marketing Lead for the EMEA region at Avaya.  Customers are mobile first, demand service in whatever channel and on whatever device suits them, expect companies to know everything about their history (regardless of channel) and insist they solve their problems immediately.   In this insightful podcast, we dig into how customers are moving to make a superior customer experience the cornerstone of their brand.  We discuss how businesses are changing mindsets to deploy successful omni-channel customer service, the role that integrated self-service plays and how solutions like Avaya Breeze are helping businesses easily embed communications capabilities wherever they are needed (mobile apps, websites, enterprise apps like CRM, etc.). If your business is ready to take customer experience management to the next level, this is definitely worth the listen!

This year is the year of video, but so was last year, and next year will be the year of video as well.  That's according to Ira Weinstein, video conferencing and collaboration specialist and partner at Wainhouse Research.  We dig into how the video conferencing market is evolving, the challenges keeping it from meeting its promise and how new solutions from service providers, like Yorktel's Univago virtual meeting rrom platform, are starting to tear down those barriers and open up access to visual collaboration. If you are an SMB or a larger enterprise looking for ways to take video to the next level in your company, this podcast is definitely worth the listen.

Improved interactions with customers and greater internal efficiency has always been the promise of WebRTC and with the standard solidifying and Microsoft and Apple getting on board, businesses are now really starting to take advantage of it.  In this insightful interview with Xander Dumaine, Senior Software Engineer at Interactive Intelligence, we get into the details of where WebRTC is headed, the benefits to businesses and customers and why they have moved quickly to deploy their Contact Center solution as a WebRTC native application.   We discuss market demand for WebRTC, how businesses and customers benefit from WebRTC capabilities and the types of capabilities WebRTC can deliver (no download screen sharing, video collaboration with contact center agents, etc.) that have never been feasible before.  If you are looking to leverage WebRTC to improve internal contact center operations and improve the customer experience, this podcast is a must listen.

As Unified Communications solutions become more widely deployed, companies are beginning to take advantage of them to expand their customer service beyond the walls of their contact center.  In this podcast, we discuss this accelerating trend with John Cray, the VP of Product Management for Contact Center Solutions at Enghouse Interactive.   We discuss how businesses are working to integrate UC into their customer care process in a holistic manner, the types of technological challenges that need to be addressed to bring these disparate solutions together and how contact center agents are taking advantage of these new opportunities.  If you are a business with a contact center and have deployed (or are considering deploying) UC, this is a must listen.

After years of waiting for the standard to become universal, Apple is finally supporting WebRTC in Safari and Microsoft is supporting oRTC (their version) in the Edge browser.  The era of browser-based real-time communications may finally be here. In this insightful podcast interview with Walter Kenrich, the Director of Product Marketing at Sonus, we dig into what these announcements mean and where WebRTC is gaining grip.  We also discuss the challenges that businesses developing and deploying WebRTC apps need to be aware of, including interworking, policy and security considerations.  If you are thinking about getting going with WebRTC, take the time to listen to this podcast on your way home. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes and stick with The UC Buyer for on-going insights into the way the communications and collaboration landscape is evolving.   

In this informative podcast with Jason Forehand from RedSky, we discuss e911 (Enhanced 911) and how the evolving communications landscape is impacting the ability of businesses to deliver accurate 911 services to their employees.  We dig into the regulatory and legislative arena and what businesses need to know about existing and potential regulations for companies (for example, 18 states already mandate e911) and how municipalities are working to keep their 911 systems current and able to take advantage of modern mobile technology. We also discuss how mega-trends in business communications like SIP trunking, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), mobility and remote working are impacting how businesses need to think about e911.  If your business is scaling, you are planning on updating your communications platform or your state is adopting new legislation, this podcast is worth the listen.

Web conferencing was a step up.  Video conferencing, another step.  However, ensuring that meetings are as effective as possible for all participants requires a new paradigm for visual collaboration.  In this podcast interview with Dana Corey, the VP of Global Strategic Partnerships at Prysm, we discuss how a company most well known for their display wall technology, has created a unique software layer to take visual meetings to the next level. By combining cutting edge, touch screen visual displays for in room meetings with a centralized meeting canvas software that allows all participants - regardless of location - to see, add, annotate and interact with any type of content, visual collaboration creates a new type of meeting workspace.  We review how this type of environment builds upon and integrates with UC platforms, delivers mobility solutions for remote and home workers and keeps track of all meeting details in the cloud so participants can go back and revisit the specifics of each collaborative session. Definitely a must listen.      

CafeX just won Best in Show at Enterprise Connect for their just-announced product, Chime. Chime is a product that looks to bring the simplicity of WebRTC to enterprise video, which it does with some pretty fancy technological footwork.  In this interview with Sajeel Hussain the Chief Marketing Officer at CafeX we dig into the challenges inhibiting WebRTC adoption and the many issues keeping enterprise video conferencing from achieving the simplicity and quality that users demand. We discuss how CafeX is addressing ease-of-use issues, transcoding, reducing network demand and simplifying the complex architecture of video deployments.  If you are interested in making video a centerpiece of the way your organization works, this is a must listen.

Every successful tech project I’ve ever worked on starts with an assessment to get the lay of the land in order to develop an effective plan of attack.  In this insight-filled interview with Joe Arena, the Senior Vice President of Advanced Services at video managed service provider Yorktel, we dig into what a video communications assessment project looks like, the components businesses should take into consideration when performing an assessment and how to take remote workers and external stakeholders into consideration when planning your approach. We also discuss the components, such as networking, user experience, conference room upgrade path and software consolidation that are a part of most video execution projects. Don't forget to subscribe to our podcasts at iTunes (they're great for the drive to work!) and stick with The UC Buyer for on-going insights into the way the communications and collaboration landscape is evolving. 

Listen to this fascinating discussion with Chip Pickering, CEO of INCOMPAS (formerly COMPTEL), the industry association representing communications and technology companies large and small, advocating for laws and policies that promote competition, innovation and economic development.  We discuss how the association has evolved to stay relevant in this hyper-evolving communications landscape, the way new technologies and business models are impacting the financial landscape for traditional networks and carriers, and how content providers like Twitter, Facebook and Amazon are participating and playing a role in growing the marketplace and promoting competition. We also dig into the legislative and regulatory activities the association is focused on and what is happening within the FCC and Congress that is impacting the communications and internet industries.  If you are interested in where the marketplace is headed and what the playing field looks like, this podcast is a must listen.  If you want to learn more and get involved with INCOMPAS, register for their upcoming event in Washington, D.C. from April 10 - 13. My thanks to Chip for his time and insights.

Deskphones have proved to be remarkably resilient in the face of a rapidly changing communication and collaboration revolution.  We dig into the reasons why in this informative podcast featuring Tom Ostrander, the president of sales for the Americas at Snom.     Topics we cover include the trends that are putting the most pressure on deskphones, how deskphones are adapting and adding functionality to add value in a unified communications landscape, and the role that deskphones play for the rapidly growing remote / at-home workforce.

Multiple studies claim that remote workers may make up close to 50% of the workforce within a five years, and few areas have been impacted by the rise of remote workers more than the contact center. In this podcast interview with Mayur Anadkat, the VP of Product Marketing at Five9, we dig into how quickly this trend is accelerating, the challenges that workers and managers need to overcome, and the technology required to ensure remote agents are successful, among other topics.   

Multi-national businesses need to know the lay of the land and plan effectively to navigate the regulatory and technological hurdles associated with deploying SIP trunking globally.  Those are some of the takeaways from my discussion with Brian Harrington, Associate Vice President and Product Manager for Tata Communications Global SIP Connect product line.  If you are considering taking SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) on the road internationally, this is a must-listen interview.  Check it out!

Communications technology has been an enabler of two significant trends. The rise of the remote, mobile and home worker and the reduction in the amount of office space that businesses require.  These smaller offices are quickly being redesigned to take advantage of open floor plans to increase collaboration and in-office communications. These open offices have many benefits, but the resultant reduced privacy can negatively impact employees' ability to do heads-down work and stay on task.  In this podcast interview with Mitch Friend, president of Plenom, the maker of the BusyLight and other 'presence management' related technology, we discuss these trends, where they're headed and how businesses are helping employees adapt to these new realities.

Only 20% of U.S. businesses were using SIP Trunking (session initiation protocol) for their communications in 2014, but 75% of businesses interviewed claimed they were planning on implementing it by the end of 2016.  Whoa.  Check out this handy infographic for more SIP market details. In this informative conversation with Steven Johnson, North American president of InGate Systems, we discuss the basics of SIP Trunking and what businesses need to know to implement SIP effectively.  If you are considering migrating to SIP, this is a must listen.

In this informative podcast with Daryl Hutchings, the CEO of Collaboration Squared and maker of Ubeity, we discuss the state of video in corporate collaboration and how making all devices and video platforms play nice together finally means we are seeing businesses adopt a 'video first' corporate culture.  What does interoperability mean, how can it change how companies communicate and what how can it help outfit small conference and huddle rooms?  Listen to the podcast now to find out.

Communications was always as separate from business applications as the phone on your desk was from your computer.  Now, developers are embedding communication functionality like voice, video and text, directly into applications to take customer interactions - and satisfaction - to a whole new level.  Listen to this podcast with Manav Khurana from Twilio as we discuss the benefits of embedding communications into business apps.  We review their approach, their platform and the back end infrastructure that has convinced 750,000 developers to join their community.  

In this informative podcast with Shawn Coyle, VP of Sales at ANPI, learn about how small and medium businesses are looking at Unified Communications, VoIP and Hosted PBX.  What is driving them to invest, what concerns do they need to address and how can they leverage best practices to increase adoption so they realize the business benefits of this technology.

Listen to this informative podcast featuring Urban Gillis, the VP of Sales for headset maker Jabra, as we discuss how evolving communications technology, mobility and the move towards open office spaces is changing corporate culture.  What does it mean to be part of a team when most of the people you work with aren't in the same building?

In this episode we're talking wireless and mobility and what that means to the Wifi backbone we all take for granted as we wander all over our offices or workplace campuses on whatever devices we have handy.   I’m pleased to be joined by Christian Gilby, the Director of Product Marketing at Aruba Networks. Aruba has been a market leader on the cutting edge of wireless networking for years and this May they were acquired by HP. Take a listen to learn how companies need to adapt their wireless backbone to support enhance communications and collaboration going over Wifi.

In this podcast, we dig into how medium and larger businesses are leveraging UC and the role the cloud plays in their plans. I’m joined by Henry Dewing a Strategic Marketing Executive and Senior Evangelist at Avaya to get his take on how the marketplace is evolving and how Avaya is helping customers migrate from legacy systems to more integrated UC-driven solutions to increase productivity and engagement.

An interview with Jupiter Systems about how video streams, sensor data and other operational are making their way into collaborative environments so teams can act and react more effectively.  

An interview with Kevin Gulley, editor of The UC Buyer and Jeff Platon, CMO of Interactive Intelligence about the trends driving WebRTC to the forefront of Unified Communications discussions.