UC Today - Out Loud

What does it take to deliver a seamless hospitality experience when thousands of fans arrive for a major match? In this UC Today interview, Antonio Ortega, Regional Sales Director at Crestron Electronics, explains how Crestron is supporting the Espai Barça project with an IP-based AV and control environment. Ortega discusses how video, audio, lighting, and virtualised control help the club deliver consistent experiences across VIP areas including the Beach Club and Main Hub, why scalability matters for a phased campus development, and how simple controls help operators reset spaces after a match. Watch the first part of this series to see how Crestron is helping Espai Barça create a matchday experience that extends beyond the stadium.

In this episode of UC Today, host Kristian McCann is joined by Nada Usina, CEO of NU Advisory Partners, to explore how AI is fundamentally changing executive hiring. As technology rapidly changes the skills workforces need, organizations can no longer rely solely on traditional hiring signals like prestigious résumés, familiar career paths, or industry tenure. Instead, companies are being forced to rethink how they identify leaders capable of navigating constant technological disruption. Nada explains how AI is reshaping leadership requirements, why adaptability and curiosity are becoming more valuable than experience alone, and how data-driven hiring is helping organizations uncover talent they may have previously overlooked. If you're wondering what executive hiring should look like in the fast-moving AI era, this interview provides practical advice on assessing learning agility, critical thinking, decision-making, and future potential, helping organizations build leadership teams equipped for the next wave of business transformation. Key discussion points: 

In this episode of UC Today, host Kristian McCann sits down with Sam Wright, Head of Career Strategy at Huntr, to separate fact from fiction when it comes to AI in hiring, from both sides of the equation. Drawing on analysis of 1.7 million job applications, 1 million job postings, and 243,000 résumés, plus hundreds of conversations with job seekers and recruiters, Wright offers a rare data-driven look at how hiring actually works in 2026. The discussion explores the growing tension between AI-powered applications and human-led hiring decisions, the increasing volume of applications recruiters face, and the challenges organizations face as they introduce AI into talent acquisition processes.  Key discussion points: 

AI is transforming the way we work – but is it making life easier or adding to the pressure? In this interview, Christopher Carey sits down with Snorre Kjesbu from Cisco to unpack AI's real impact on the employee experience.Snorre makes the case that AI is an antidote to burnout, not a cause of it – freeing employees from busy work so they can focus on strategy, creativity, and the harder intellectual challenges. He also introduces the concept of "connected intelligence," where collaboration is no longer just people-to-people but now includes people-to-AI and AI-to-AI interactions.The conversation covers how organisations are navigating AI adoption across their workflows, why cultural change is often harder than the technology itself, and what the next two to three years will bring – from AI agents becoming regular participants in meetings to IT teams gaining new superpowers through agentic AI and smarter manageability tools.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

AI interactions are introducing behavioral risks that traditional DLP and rule-based systems were never designed to detect. In this executive conversation, Marcus Law is joined by Dan Nadir, Chief Product Officer at Theta Lake, and Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst at Metrigy, to explore how generative and agentic AI are creating entirely new categories of governance risk.The discussion covers why monitoring isolated prompts and outputs is no longer enough, and why organizations need forensic-level analysis of interaction patterns over time. From behavioral drift and intent detection to the growing complexity of agentic AI, this conversation sets out what enterprises need to be thinking about — and doing — right now.Topics include: why only 58% of organizations have a proactive AI governance strategy, how traditional DLP systems miss subtle data probing and intent-based risks, what behavioral drift looks like in practice, how agentic AI blurs the line between human and machine accountability, and practical steps CIOs and CISOs can take in the next 60 to 90 days.

Join Kieran Devlin, Host at UC Today, as he sits down with Tim Jalland, Solution Manager at VOSS, to unpack the rapid evolution of IT operations. As cloud environments like Microsoft 365 undergo hundreds of feature changes a year, static automation is struggling to keep pace. This session cuts through the AI hype to explore practical, outcome-driven solutions. Tune in to see exactly how intelligent automation fabrics can empower your IT team, prevent outages before users even notice them, and secure complex collaboration ecosystems.The landscape of unified communications is shifting rapidly, and IT teams need more than just basic automation to keep up. In this conversation, we explore how an intelligent operations layer changes the day-to-day reality for IT professionals.Key takeaways from our discussion include:The limits of traditional automation: Why the sheer volume of updates in platforms like Microsoft 365 requires a shift from static orchestration to dynamic, learning-capable operations.AI as an operational assistant: Moving past "AI as a feature" fatigue to focus on tangible outcomes, using agentic AI to proactively support IT teams rather than replace them.Breaking down IT silos: How unifying automation, analytics, and monitoring on a single platform allows for cross-stack intelligence—catching and correcting negative trends before monitoring dashboards even flash red.Real-world proactive fixes: Tangible examples of AI detecting service degradation before a user ticket is raised, and automatically correcting configuration drift to eliminate security risks.Next Steps: Ready to transform your UC operations? Visit VOSS to learn more.

What is AI really doing to workers psychologically? Christopher Carey sits down with Candice Thompson, a Silicon Valley-based licensed psychotherapist specialising in workplace mental health, to get an honest, ground-level view of how AI is impacting the mental health and identity of workers in the tech industry.From rising expectations and mass layoffs to identity crises and the fear of building your own replacement, Candice shares what she's actually seeing in her practice – and it's not the rosy picture the marketing messages would have you believe.In this episode, we cover:

In this interview, UC Today's Kristian McCann speaks with Stephen Baer, leadership advisor and author, about one of the most stubborn paradoxes in modern business: organizations that say people are their greatest asset, then manage them on spreadsheets.With Gallup reporting that 79% of employees worldwide are disengaged in 2025, Stephen makes a compelling argument that the way most companies measure engagement is actively undermining it — and that the fix starts not with better tools, but with better leaders.Topics include:The invisible drag is costing more than you think. Disengagement is estimated to cost the global economy $8.8 trillion annually — equivalent to 9% of global GDP. Meanwhile, companies that genuinely invest in their people see a third of average staff turnover and eight times more revenue per employee.Quiet quitting has a tell. When employees stop saying "what if we tried this?" and start saying "just tell me the deadline," ownership, creativity, and innovation have already left the building. Compliance is what remains.Metrics should lag, not lead. The right question isn't "what's our engagement score?" — it's "where are we losing people emotionally?" Tools and platforms work best as early warning systems for broken human experiences, not surveillance dashboards.Train coaches, not managers. Stephen's framework — greet them, know them, grow them — gives middle managers a practical way to build the kind of relationships where people feel seen, understood, and clear on how their work connects to something bigger.Next Steps For more leadership and workplace insights, visit UC Today and explore related stories and interviews. Join the UC Today LinkedIn community at linkedin.com/groups/9551264 and subscribe to the newsletter at uctoday.com/register.

In this UC Today roundtable, host Kristian McCann brings together leading security experts to confront the escalating risks of agentic AI—autonomous systems that make decisions, take actions, and roam across enterprise tech stacks often without human oversight. You'll hear from Irina Tsukerman, President at Scarab Rising; Shlomi Beer, Co-Founder & CEO at ImpersonAlly; and Roey Eliyahu, Co-Founder & CEO at Salt Security. Together, they reveal how rapid adoption in customer support, sales, and finance is outstripping governance, enabling silent breaches via prompt injections, privilege accumulation, and API exploits that blend into normal workflows.Expect straight talk on the productivity boom versus harsh realities—like 80% of companies facing unintended agent actions such as data leaks or unauthorized access—and proven strategies for observability, dynamic guardrails, and non-human identity governance that safeguard UC&C environments without killing innovation.Talking points include:Why agentic AI supercharges insider threats and erodes perimeters, exposing "internal" APIs to external manipulation even within legitimate agent permissions.Governance blind spots in high-stakes sectors like retail and airlines (e.g., fraudulent refunds, customer data spills), demanding end-to-end visibility from LLMs to backend actions.Runtime defenses against self-learning exploits, deceptive "sleeper" code, and endless trial-and-error attacks that humans resist but agents can't.Zero-trust models, NHI in IAM, and regulation readiness to align agent efficiency with compliance and CX protection.Next StepsShare this roundtable with your CISOs, IT leaders, and business units to map agent permissions and API exposures right now.Evaluate IAM for non-human identities and pilot tools like Salt Security for holistic agent discovery.Subscribe to UC Today for more expert roundtables on AI risks, UC&C security, and enterprise compliance.

In this interview, UC Today's Christopher Carey sits down with Sam Liang, CEO and Co-founder of Otter.ai, to discuss the company's newly launched Conversational Knowledge Engine and what it means for enterprise productivity.Sam explains how Otter is moving beyond siloed meeting notes to build a longitudinal knowledge graph connecting thousands of meetings, people, topics, and projects — arguing that conversational data has been the missing piece of enterprise infrastructure for over 100 years.The conversation also tackles the privacy debate head-on, including the ongoing class action lawsuit facing Otter, with Sam making the bold claim that lawsuits are simply "part of doing business" when you're disrupting an industry.Topics covered:

In this interview, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Carmit DiAndrea, Director of Value Realization Services at NiCE, about what the next chapter of AI in unified communications actually looks like for enterprises. The conversation moves beyond transcription and meeting summaries to explore supervisor copilots, business intelligence tools, agentic AI, and how organisations should be measuring outcomes rather than activity.Carmit also addresses the surveillance line, accountability in agentic AI, and gives practical advice to IT leaders on avoiding the "Frankenstack" problem heading into the rest of 2025.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

The next phase of workplace transformation starts beyond the meeting room.Most enterprises have deployed Microsoft Teams Rooms and the core meeting experience is working. But beyond the meeting room sits a much larger opportunity, lobbies, huddle spaces, event venues, open collaboration areas, and most organisations are managing those with a disconnected patchwork of point solutions that wasn't designed to scale. In this video, Marcus Law sits down with Vic Bhagat, Senior Director of Alliances at Q-SYS, to explore what a genuinely high-performance workplace requires, what changes when you connect every space type through a unified platform, and what Microsoft's decision to build Experience Center One on Q-SYS tells us about where enterprise AV is heading. If you're responsible for a Teams Rooms estate and thinking about what comes next, this is the conversation to start with.

As organisations modernise their digital workplaces, service management and connectivity are no longer separate disciplines – they're converging into a single experience layer that shapes how people work, sell, and serve customers.In this UC Today roundtable, Christopher Carey is joined by Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst at Metrigy; Chethan Visweswar, Chief Product Officer at Movius; John Finch, Global VP at RingCentral; and Mark Bunnell, Chief Operating Officer at Nuwave.Together they explore how the market is evolving, where organisations are falling behind, and what it takes to move from reactive IT to predictive, AI-driven operations.Topics covered include:

In this session of UC Today, host Kristian McCann sits down with Simon Peters, Director of Channel Sales at Smarsh, to unpack one of the most pressing questions facing regulated industries in 2026: Is your compliance solution really secure — and is its AI even compliant?It's a wake-up call for compliance, risk, and IT leaders who assume ticking the compliance box equals airtight data protection. As global fines for compliance and data breaches continue to climb — including over $63 million in penalties in early 2025 alone — this conversation exposes the two blind spots most organizations still overlook.Peters explains how compliance and security aren't interchangeable, why third-party AI models can create new compliance gaps, and how Smarsh has built “compliant AI by architecture” — keeping all data, transcripts, and analysis inside customers' own sovereign environments.Key discussion points include:

In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann speaks with Callum Pennington, CEO & Co-Founder of HBHR, to unpack a growing issue facing modern organizations: employee wellbeing that's treated as a bolt-on rather than a business-critical priority. If you think wellbeing is about perks, think again. This discussion reveals why the fundamentals—like accurate pay, workload visibility, and unified data—are the real drivers of trust, engagement, and retention. Pennington joins UC Today to explain why organizations need to rethink how they approach wellbeing from the ground up.Key points:

In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann sits down with Kunal Shukla, GM and Head of Network APIs at Vonage, and Chung H. Lee, AVP of Product Innovation at AT&T Business, to unpack why traditional authentication methods are breaking down—and what comes next.From the hidden cost of fraud to the growing limitations of SMS-based verification, the discussion reveals why enterprises must rethink how they balance security with seamless user experiences. More importantly, it introduces a new, network-led approach that leverages telco intelligence to authenticate users silently—without adding friction.This isn't just theory. Vonage and AT&T break down how network APIs are transforming authentication and reducing friction across the customer journey.Key points include:Why a $10 trillion cybercrime economy is forcing businesses to rethink authentication strategiesHow SMS OTP creates friction—and opens the door to phishing, interception, and poor UXWhat “silent authentication” looks like using real-time network intelligence and telco dataHow Vonage, AT&T, and partners are building an ecosystem to deliver secure, seamless digital trustNext Steps:Stay ahead of fraud trends and join the UC Today LinkedIn community at linkedin.com/groups/9551264 and subscribe to the newsletter at uctoday.com/register.

Cisco TMS is approaching end of life, and organizations across the enterprise collaboration landscape are now facing major decisions about the future of their video infrastructure.In this episode of UC Today, Kristian McCann speaks with Giles Adams, CEO at VQ Communications, about the real-world impact of the TMS transition, the growing divide between cloud and on-prem strategies, and why regulated industries are taking a far more cautious approach to collaboration infrastructure.From government agencies protecting sensitive communications to enterprises balancing operational resilience with modern cloud innovation, this conversation explores the practical and strategic implications behind one of Cisco's biggest ecosystem shifts.Key discussion points include:

Sales teams are under pressure to do more with less time, but are AI agents the answer or another layer of complexity?In this UC Today interview, Marcus Law speaks with Alex Patterson, RVP Europe North at monday.com, about how AI agents are changing the way sales teams work. Patterson explains why monday.com has shifted its platform around people and AI agents working side by side, and where that change is already making a practical difference.The conversation explores how AI agents can take on high-volume, low-variability tasks such as prospect research, data entry, activity logging, and basic follow-ups. Patterson also explains why the human side of sales remains critical, particularly in complex B2B buying decisions where trust, judgment, and credibility still shape outcomes.Watch the full interview to learn how sales leaders can introduce AI agents into existing workflows, measure their impact, and prepare teams to work effectively with digital colleagues.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

In industries where every second counts, generic collaboration tools are no longer enough. In this interview, Mitel CTO Luiz Domingos discusses why frontline-first, voice-first communications are becoming essential operational infrastructure — and why organisations can no longer afford to connect their entire workforce with the same one-size-fits-all tools.The conversation covers how embedded, real-time communications enable faster decisions, safer work, and better outcomes; why voice is making a strong comeback as the interface of choice in hands-free environments; where AI adds the most practical value for frontline workers; and how hybrid and edge architectures ensure resiliency, security, and control in mission-critical environments. Luiz also shares the biggest mistakes organisations make when modernising frontline communications — and how to avoid them.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

New research from RingCentral suggests that UK businesses are significantly behind the US when it comes to deploying AI – but what's causing the gap, and what will it take to bridge it?In this interview, Christopher Carey sits down with Russell Tilsed, VP of International Sales at RingCentral, to explore why so many UK businesses remain stuck in the experimentation phase. They discuss the role of legacy infrastructure, complex decision-making processes, and cost concerns – and what the organisations that are successfully deploying AI have in common.Russell also shares real-world examples of businesses seeing significant productivity gains through agentic AI, and makes the case that the technology is driving growth rather than job losses.If you want to understand where the UK stands on AI adoption and what the next 12–24 months could look like, this is a must-watch.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

In this episode of UC Today, host Kristian McCann is joined by William Rubio, Chief Revenue Officer at CallTower and Craig Durr, Chief Analyst and Founder of The Collab Collective to explore why traditional mobile UC models are struggling to keep pace with today's enterprise demands. As hybrid work, AI-generated voice threats, and compliance pressures continue to reshape enterprise communications, organizations are being forced to rethink how they manage mobile collaboration. This conversation dives into the growing risks tied to consumer-grade OTT mobile apps and explains why native eSIM is emerging as a more secure, manageable, and seamless approach for enterprise UC. From frontline workers switching away from unreliable UC apps to the rising threat of AI-driven vishing attacks, the conversation highlights why enterprises need tighter control over mobile communications without sacrificing user experience. Key discussion points include: • Why legacy OTT mobile UC approaches create security blind spots and policy fragmentation • How native eSIM enables stronger compliance, lifecycle management, and corporate-grade control • The growing role of spam filtering, trusted caller identity, and secure network-level management • Why remote workers and mobile-first employees are driving demand for a more seamless UC experience Next Steps:  Find out what a CallTower eSIM solution can do for your business' security and accessibility at https://www.calltower.com/en-uk/

In this episode of UC Today, host Christopher Carey sits down with Tal Bar-Or, Founder & CEO of smart glasses startup Altina, to discuss the evolving world of wearable technology and why smart glasses haven't gone mainstream yet.Tal breaks down what big tech is getting right, and where they're falling short. From privacy concerns and style compromises to the overlooked challenge of fitting diverse face shapes around the world, he makes the case that smart glasses need to be designed like eyewear first, and gadgets second.The conversation also covers AI in wearables, whether smart glasses can ever replace the smartphone, and why Altina is betting on hearing enhancement as the killer use case that will drive daily adoption.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

In this roundtable, Kristian McCann brings together a panel of experts to unpack one of the biggest AI challenges in business today: why usage numbers are rising, but real productivity gains are still lagging. The conversation explores the gap between management perception and employee reality, and what organizations can do to turn AI from a checkbox into meaningful workflow improvement.Featuring Kelly Pallanti of North Star PMO, Kemmbelly Durst of Klein, Sid Parakh of Medible, Melonie Boone of Boon Management Group, and Tanesia Leflore of Right Fit Enterprise with FlexHR, the discussion digs into adoption barriers, vanity metrics, and the role of change management in making AI work across the enterprise. The panel also looks at why blanket rollouts fail, why psychological safety matters, and how leaders can build trust while measuring actual value.Talking points include:Why AI adoption is often more performative than productive.The danger of vanity metrics such as logins and training attendance.Why adoption needs to be tailored by team, role, and workflow.How middle managers can bridge the gap between leadership goals and frontline reality.Why psychological safety and feedback loops are essential for meaningful AI engagement.Next steps:Share this roundtable with business leaders, HR, IT, and transformation teams.Review whether your AI metrics reflect real outcomes or just tool usage.Revisit how AI is introduced, measured, and supported across different departments.

At InfoComm 2026, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Espen Løberg, VP & GM for the Collaboration Devices business at Cisco, and Jeff Smith, Head of Product, Workplace at Zoom, about the next phase of the Cisco and Zoom partnership.The companies have announced full Zoom Rooms modality across the Cisco devices portfolio, extending their work beyond native Zoom meeting capabilities. For customers, the move combines the Zoom Rooms experience with Cisco's hardware quality, device security, edge artificial intelligence (AI), manageability, insights, and assurance.Espen and Jeff discuss what the announcement means for users in meeting rooms, how AI capabilities such as My Notes and Smart Name Tags can improve meeting intelligence, and why joint customers have pushed both companies toward a deeper workplace collaboration experience.They also look ahead to what comes next: broader interoperability, smarter workplace orchestration, and the evolution of meeting rooms into connected, AI-enabled workplace environments.

Are meeting rooms ready for the next wave of AI-driven collaboration? At InfoComm 2026, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Henry Levak, VP of Product at Logitech for Business, about the biggest trends shaping workplace collaboration, from multi-camera meeting spaces to AI-enabled rooms and platform interoperability. Henry explains why organizations are moving beyond simply video-enabling spaces and are now looking at how AI can support meeting-room readiness, scene understanding, workflow consistency, and better experiences for employees, IT teams, and facilities teams. The conversation also explores why customers want simpler interoperability across platforms, how Logitech for Business is approaching flexibility and choice, and why the next 12 months could bring more experimentation before widespread AI adoption reaches every organization.

At Infocomm 2026 in Las Vegas, UC Today's Christopher Carey spoke with Justin Watts from AMD to explore how workplace technology is evolving. From the growing convergence of AV and IT, to the role AI is playing in driving workplace efficiencies, Justin shares his frontline perspective on what's shaping the future of collaboration. Plus why meeting equity and the individual user experience are becoming non-negotiable in the modern workplace.

HP has unveiled one of its most expansive collaboration announcements in years at InfoComm 2026 – spanning headsets, video conferencing hardware, intelligent cameras, and a platform play that reframes how IT teams think about meeting room management.At the heart of it all is a concept Greg Baribault, VP of Product and Portfolio Management, calls ambient technology. “We want the conference controller, the microphones, the displays and cameras to just disappear,” he explains.“The room makes smart decisions so people can focus on what they're there to do – have a meeting, have a discussion, have impact.”That vision is being driven by AI across the entire portfolio. On the software side, HP is integrating Poly Lens into its Workforce Experience Platform (WXP) – a move designed to shift the conversation for IT from device management to workforce productivity. Room Visualiser AI exemplifies the ambition: walk into a space, take a few photos, and the platform detects room dimensions, chair count, window placement and recommends the right camera and microphone setup automatically.On the hardware side, the new Studio Room Compute brings a Windows-based MTR and Zoom Rooms system built specifically for integrators, complete with magnetic backplane, colour-coded ports, and a 50 TOPS NPU for edge AI processing. Alongside it, VideoOS 5.1 introduces DirectorAI – multi-camera switching that tracks where participants are looking in real time, ensuring the right face is always in frame.But perhaps the announcement Baribault is most eager to talk about is the Poly Focus 6 headset series. Lightweight, foldable, with swappable ear cushions and a discreet boom mic, it's designed to look as good on camera as it sounds. “It's beautiful,” he says simply. Hard to argue.With WXP managing devices across multiple vendors and AI embedded at every layer, HP's message at InfoComm is clear: the era of fiddling with meeting room tech should be over.

Can hybrid teams, AV leaders, and enterprise technology buyers keep moving fast if trust breaks down? At InfoComm 2026, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Mariana Atencio, journalist, public speaker, and trust expert, following her keynote at the AVIXA Women's Breakfast. Mariana explores why trust has become a critical competitive edge across collaboration technology, ProAV, cybersecurity, finance, healthcare, and AI. She explains how leaders can build trust through screens, how teams can strengthen culture in hybrid working environments, and why safe, reliable, and transparent technology is now central to business confidence. The conversation also covers the risks and opportunities of AI, including deepfakes, human instinct, responsible adoption, and the guardrails industries need to protect users and organizations. Mariana also shares why she remains optimistic about the future, drawing on her personal experience leaving Venezuela and rebuilding her life through storytelling, purpose, and community. Watch the full interview to hear why trust may be the defining factor for leaders navigating the next wave of workplace and technology transformation.

Is InfoComm becoming one of the most important unified communications events on the calendar?At InfoComm 2026, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Neil Fluester, Head of Portfolio & Alliances - Logitech For Business EU, about how the show has evolved from a traditional AV gathering into a major stage for UC, collaboration, and AI-driven meeting experiences.Neil reflects on Microsoft's first InfoComm keynote, the growing role of Teams and Copilot, and how platforms such as Zoom, Google, and Cisco Webex have changed the way organizations think about meeting rooms. The conversation also explores why interoperability has become central to the user experience, and why buyers are increasingly focused on outcomes rather than specifications.Neil also shares his thoughts on the AVIXA Women's Council Breakfast, the importance of diversity in UC and AV, and why human trust, creativity, and connection remain essential as AI becomes more embedded in work.

In this episode of UC Today, host Kristian McCann sits down with Ivan Jackson, President of Interim Technology at Korn Ferry, to explore why traditional hiring models are struggling to keep pace with today's rapidly evolving technology landscape and why the concept of "renting tech talent" is gaining traction.  The technology talent market is changing rapidly, and organizations that rely solely on traditional hiring may struggle to keep pace. In this conversation, Jackson explains why more businesses are turning to flexible technology talent models to accelerate transformation and gain access to hard-to-find expertise. Key discussion points include: • Why the accelerating pace of AI, cybersecurity, cloud, and data initiatives is shortening the lifespan of technical skills. • How interim technology professionals help organizations execute projects faster than traditional hiring processes allow. • The difference between hiring contractors for additional capacity and engaging interim leaders to drive business outcomes. • When businesses should leverage flexible talent, and where permanent teams remain essential for long-term success. Whether you're navigating digital transformation, workforce planning, AI adoption, or technology leadership challenges, this discussion provides practical insights into building a workforce model designed for today's business environment. Next Steps ✓ Subscribe to UC Today for more conversations with industry leaders.

Why are so many organisations still stuck in AI pilot purgatory – and what does it actually take to move from experimentation to real operational impact?In this interview, Christopher Carey sits down with Alex Ayers, Sales Director at Gamma, fresh from the company's GX 2026 event. Alex shares what he's hearing from enterprise leaders across every major sector: the real barriers to AI execution aren't the technology – they're strategy, governance, workflow design, and organisational complexity.From the dangers of replacing people before redesigning processes, to why doing one pilot brilliantly beats running dozens badly, this is a frank and practical conversation for any IT or business leader trying to close the gap between AI ambition and operational reality.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

When Nyere Hollingsworth describes InfoComm as “summer camp,” he means it as a compliment.For the Managing Director of Endpoints and Workplace Experience Technologies at law firm Winston Taylor, the annual AV industry gathering in Las Vegas is a chance to reconnect with peers, absorb new ideas, and take stock of where the industry is heading.But beneath the enthusiasm lies a serious message – one he delivered from the stage this year.Hollingsworth spoke at a session exploring cybersecurity practices that AV professionals and end users alike need to take seriously.“It has to be intentional,” he told UC Today.“You have to be thoughtful and strategic about how you deploy systems, what systems you actually buy and purchase, and the things that you do to secure and configure them on your network.”For a law firm like Winston Taylor – whose clients include some of the world's largest corporations and most powerful individuals – the stakes are particularly high.But Hollingsworth is quick to point out that the underlying challenges are not unique to legal. Secure connectivity, reliable support, and strategic technology planning are universal concerns. What differs is the pressure to get it right.That pressure, he argues, is something end users should be channelling directly at manufacturers. AVIXA has made a deliberate effort to amplify the end-user voice at InfoComm – and Hollingsworth wants that voice to be heard clearly. “If you don't have the certain features in your security stack in order for me to reliably put it on my network, then I'm not going to buy it,” he said. “And that's not in your interest.”It's a straightforward message, but one the AV industry would do well to take seriously. End users aren't just consumers – they're a force for change.

How can businesses make hybrid work feel less fragmented for employees, IT teams, and business leaders?At InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Keith Yandell, EVP of Innovation at FORTÉ, from the Smart Workplace Experience on the show floor.Created through a collaboration between AVIXA and FORTÉ, the installation shows how modern workplace technology can come together around real user experiences rather than standalone products. Keith explains how the experience reflects a Class A office environment, covering spaces such as the lobby, experience center, cafe, wayfinding areas, personal workspaces, intelligent meeting rooms, monitoring and management, and broadcast communications.The conversation also explores why AI is now front of mind for workplace and collaboration leaders, and how the Smart Workplace Experience demonstrates practical ways AI can improve productivity, reduce friction, and support work-from-anywhere strategies.Keith also highlights the partners involved in bringing the experience to life, including Q-SYS, Crestron, Logitech, Shure, Legrand, and Sony.

How can universities deliver consistent learning experiences when students, faculty, and classrooms are spread across an entire state?At InfoComm 2026, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Kevin Reeve, Academic Technology Officer at Utah State University, about how the institution uses Zoom Rooms to support distance education across 30 locations.Kevin explains why faculty demand helped drive the move to Zoom, how Canvas LTI improved adoption, and why access to tools like whiteboarding, chat, and AI Companion has created more interactive learning experiences for students.He also shares how Utah State University has reduced room deployment costs by 30 percent to 50 percent, why institutions should avoid overcomplicating AV design, and what comes next as the university explores self-healing classrooms.The conversation also looks at the wider InfoComm 2026 trend toward network-based AV, software-led infrastructure, and more proactive classroom support.

What does it take to build AV for a campus arena that needs to serve student-athletes, commencements, external events, and 24/7 operations?Live from InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas, UC Today's Marcus Law speaks with Patrick Eisenhauer, Director of Audio Visual and Event Services at the University of St. Thomas, about the university's major athletics and events facility project with Panasonic.Patrick explains how the University of St. Thomas made the jump from Division 3 to Division 1 athletics, why that move required a new multi-purpose facility, and how Panasonic professional displays became a key part of the AV strategy.The discussion covers the scale of the arena, the importance of aligning technology choices with university standards, and why consumer-grade displays were not the right fit for a venue expected to support heavy daily usage.Patrick also shares why InfoComm remains essential for higher education technology leaders, from education sessions and vendor relationships to spotting the solutions that will shape future campus experiences.

For Mike Pedersen, Infocomm always feels like coming home. "It's a little bit like a family reunion," he told UC Today at this year's show in Las Vegas. "I get to see so many people I know and acquaintances I've made." But beyond the networking, Pedersen, Audiovisual Experience Manager at Iowa State University, had serious business to attend to, including speaking at the HETMA Higher Education Summit, a day-and-a-half event dedicated entirely to higher education AV professionals.His session focused on a topic close to his heart: standardisation. For universities managing dozens or even hundreds of classrooms, standardising AV systems delivers benefits that ripple across the entire institution. "Instructors can walk into any room, and it looks familiar," Pedersen explained. "They don't have to worry." From an operational standpoint, fewer SKUs mean bulk purchasing and tighter cost control, a significant advantage for institutions under constant budget pressure.Day-to-day, however, the challenges are more human than technical. Helping instructors feel comfortable with classroom technology remains an ongoing task. "Sometimes you've got to tell them how to share their laptop screen onto the projector," Pedersen admitted. The solution, he finds, is patience and careful one-on-one support.On the wider industry landscape, Pedersen is watching AI closely. He highlighted a prototype system from an Australian university that uses AI to autonomously test classroom AV equipment overnight, checking projector output and audio quality, then raising a ticket if something is off. "Those are the types of things that are coming," he said. "Labour savings and improving overall reliability, that's going to be huge."AV over IP is another trend he expects to accelerate, with falling price points making the technology viable for an ever-growing number of spaces.His takeaway from Infocomm 2026 was unambiguous: "AI is everywhere. If you're not coming up to speed on it quickly, you're getting behind."

InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas was the stage for the global debut of the OpenMeet 2 UC.Ray Cheng, Product Manager at Shokz, says the device represents the company's second generation of bone conduction technology for the office.The OpenMeet 2 UC is built around bone conduction technology, an approach that sits firmly outside the mainstream of enterprise headset design.Where traditional headsets deliver audio through the eardrums, bone conduction transmits sound via vibrations through the cheekbones, directly to the inner ear. The result: users can hear their calls clearly while keeping their ears open to the world around them.For Cheng, that distinction is everything."Most customers want ANC – that's fine. But some of them want to keep their ears open, and for office headset users, they've had no choice until now."The ideal customer, Cheng explains, is someone clocking four to six hours of calls and meetings daily who finds traditional headsets physically uncomfortable over long periods.Rather than competing head-to-head with the likes of Jabra or Poly on noise cancellation, Shokz is carving out a different lane entirely – comfort and awareness for heavy headset users."We don't want to build a similar headset," Cheng said. "We want to provide something new."InfoComm, the world's largest AV integrator show, was a deliberate choice for the launch.Shokz sees the event as the right platform to signal its ambitions in the enterprise space, where the OpenMeet and OpenCom series form the foundation of its office portfolio – with more products potentially on the way.For businesses rethinking how their teams communicate – especially those with employees splitting time between busy offices and home environments – Shokz is making a compelling case that open ears might just be the smarter option.

Managing AV and collaboration technology across hospitals, clinics, classrooms, and event spaces is no small task, and for Justin Scord, Senior Manager, Collaboration & Media Services at Stanford Medicine, the challenge isn't just keeping the lights on. It's knowing where to start."There's always so much change, so much technology, so many different manufacturers," Scord told UC Today at InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas. "Keeping that North Star and making sure we're building systems that are scalable and supportable is really our focus."Scord oversees a broad footprint at the Palo Alto-based academic medical system – from patient rooms and conference spaces to live event broadcasts. If there's a screen, a microphone, or a speaker involved, his team has a hand in it.That sprawling remit gives him a sharp perspective on where the industry is heading.On AI, he's optimistic – but rigorous. "I'm all about the data," he said.Stanford's in-house data science team actively researches which AI models perform best for specific workflows, and Scord believes the wider AV industry should be asking the same hard questions."Ask the manufacturers where they got the research and data to choose the models they're using. That alone is going to weed out a lot of manufacturers."His concern is that too many AI deployments are driven by commercial partnerships rather than genuine fit. "If they're not choosing the right models based on workflow and using data to show it's actually going to provide ROI, it's probably not something you want to pursue."At InfoComm, Scord spoke about agentic AI and its potential to augment – not replace – project teams. His message was clear: AI should aggregate data, surface actionable insights, and make day-to-day work more manageable, without diminishing the people doing it."Get educated around machine learning and AI at a high level," he said. "Understand the limitations, and start slowly incorporating it into your workplace."

Is your meeting room ready for the agentic AI era?At InfoComm 2026, UC Today speaks with Sohail Tariq, Senior Director of Product Management at Microsoft, and Nathan Glotfelty, Senior Director of Alliances at Q-SYS, following their Innovation Stage session on the future of intelligent workspaces.The conversation explores how Microsoft Teams Rooms, Copilot, Facilitator room skills, and Q-SYS hardware and software are coming together to give AI richer context from both the digital and physical meeting environment.Sohail and Nathan also discuss Microsoft's Redmond Experience Center deployment, where Q-SYS has helped consolidate room systems onto a single software-defined AV platform. They explain why visibility, reliability, and accurate room data are becoming critical as enterprise IT teams prepare spaces for more intelligent, automated, and scalable collaboration experiences.The interview also covers the latest phase of the Microsoft and Q-SYS partnership, including the launch of a Microsoft Teams Rooms on Windows bar and a Q-SYS Scheduling Panel built on Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform (MDEP).

In this episode, Kristian McCann, Presenter at UC Today, sits down with Morgan Adamski, Principal at PwC, to unpack how organizations are actually operationalizing AI inside the Security Operations Centre (SOC). With alert fatigue rising, analyst capacity stretched, and attackers accelerating their use of AI, this conversation gets straight to what matters: how AI is changing day-to-day security operations—and where many teams are still falling short. Adamski explains why simply “adding AI” isn't enough, and why leading organizations are redesigning their entire security operations model with AI at the core.* Why AI is transforming SOC triage, reducing manual analysis and accelerating threat detection* The shift from bolt-on AI to fully integrated, AI-first SecOps strategies* Where to draw the line between AI agents and human decision-making in high-risk scenarios* The critical role of vulnerability management, third-party risk, and breach readiness in an AI-driven threat landscapeNext Steps* For more news on how to keep your company secure, visit https://www.uctoday.com/

Are you treating your meeting room AV as an afterthought and risking your entire Microsoft Teams rollout?In this InfoComm 2026 interview, Marcus Law sits down with Josh Arnold, Director of Collaboration Product Strategy at Q-SYS, to uncover why IT and facilities leaders must rethink their collaboration spaces. With the launch of the RoomSuite Collaboration Bar and new scheduling panels, Q-SYS is transforming how organizations deploy Microsoft Teams Rooms. Learn how to turn basic audio and video signals into actionable workplace data, ensuring your spaces are ready for AI tools like Microsoft Copilot. Discover the three pillars of a future-proof AV strategy that lowers operational risk, reduces customer effort, and delivers immediate time-to-value across global deployments.

In this episode of UC Today, Christopher Carey sits down with Irwin Lazar, President & Principal Analyst at Metrigy, to unpack the key takeaways from InfoComm 2026 in Las Vegas. From AI-powered room management and deep fake detection to MCP-enabled data federation, Irwin breaks down how AI is reshaping the AV and workplace collaboration space – and what to watch for next. Topics covered include: AI use cases in AV and video conferencing, NetSpeek's Lena agent for multi-vendor management, Neat Pulse's MCP integration, deep fake detection from Zoom/BrightHire, privacy and security concerns, and what Irwin wants to see at Infocomm 2027.

Are meeting rooms still built for the way people actually work?In this UC Today interview, Marcus Law speaks with Javed Khan, CEO of Neat, about how artificial intelligence, edge computing, and distributed hardware are reshaping the enterprise meeting room.Khan explains why Neat's architecture treats every camera and microphone as an intelligent device, rather than relying on a central box to manage the room experience. He also explores how AI at the edge can reduce latency, improve privacy, and support smarter real-time features such as intelligent layouts, transcription, translation, and contextual meeting experiences.The conversation also covers Neat's role across Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet environments, the rise of bring your own device meeting rooms, and why underused collaboration spaces may need to become more than places for video calls.Khan shares how Neat plans to evolve from a disruptive challenger into a broader enterprise force by expanding its product portfolio, strengthening customer success, and developing applications that connect meeting room activity to wider enterprise workflows.Watch the full interview to learn how Neat sees the future of intelligent rooms, workplace technology, and enterprise collaboration.

What makes a country truly AI-ready in 2026? In this episode of UC Today, host Christopher Carey sits down with John Durcan, Chief Technologist at IDA Ireland — Ireland's Foreign Direct Investment Agency — to explore how enterprises are approaching AI adoption, what's driving global tech investment decisions, and why regulation might actually be Europe's secret weapon.John shares insights from his conversations with multinational companies on the ground in Ireland, covering:What separates AI-ready countries from the restHow the EU AI Act is shaping enterprise strategyThe rise of agentic AI across financial services, MedTech, and life sciencesWhy digital sovereignty is now a boardroom conversationThe real impact of AI on jobs — and what companies are doing about itWhether you're a technology leader, investor, or enterprise decision-maker, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.

What happens to compliance when enterprise voice moves to the cloud?In this UC Today interview, Marcus Law speaks with Matthew Carey, Director of Product Management at Theta Lake, about why cloud voice migration is not just an IT modernization project. As organizations move away from legacy on-premises phone systems, Carey explains how the compliance model changes, where governance gaps can appear, and why regulated businesses need to think beyond basic call recording.The conversation explores how communications now span voice, chat, video, screen sharing, SMS, whiteboards, email, and AI-generated summaries. Carey argues that compliance teams need to reconstruct the full conversation lifecycle, not simply capture individual calls. He also discusses the risks of fragmented platforms, the limits of legacy recording tools, and the importance of involving compliance teams before users go live.Carey also looks at the role of artificial intelligence in unified communications, including why organizations must start governing not only what employees say, but what AI says on their behalf.Watch the full discussion to learn how IT and compliance leaders can prepare for cloud voice migration, reduce risk, and build a governance foundation that can keep pace with modern UC platforms.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

Are your meeting rooms really being used, or do they just look busy in the booking system?In this UC Today interview, Marcus Law speaks with Bill Dellara, Chief Product Officer at VOSS, about why meeting room analytics has become a critical issue for IT, workplace, and real estate leaders navigating hybrid work.Bill explains why booking data often shows intent rather than reality, and how unused or poorly utilized rooms can quietly undermine return on investment, employee experience, and workplace planning. The discussion explores the problem of “phantom space,” the rise of heavily favored “hero rooms,” and the importance of combining booking data with telemetry, occupancy signals, environmental data, and equipment usage insights.The conversation also looks at how smarter analytics can improve room recommendations, support better hybrid working decisions, and help organizations understand whether their meeting spaces are genuinely fit for purpose.

In this episode of UC Today, host Kristian McCann sits down with Magen Gicinto, Chief People Officer at Nisos, to discuss one of the fastest-growing threats facing technology companies: fraudulent job applicants linked to nation-state operations. Drawing from her own experience interviewing a suspected North Korean operative for a technical role, Gicinto provides rare insight into how these actors navigate recruitment processes, leverage AI-powered deception, and gain access to organizations. For HR leaders, hiring managers, security teams, and business executives, this conversation offers a practical look at a threat that extends far beyond talent acquisition and into enterprise risk, data security, and operational resilience.Key discussion points:

In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann sits down with Irwin Lazar, President and Principal Analyst at Metrigy, and Josh Blalock, Global Director of Alliances & Engagement at Shure, to unpack a growing issue in enterprise collaboration: why AI-powered productivity tools are failing to deliver without the right infrastructure underneath. AI is transforming how work gets done, but if your meeting rooms can't keep up, you're leaving value on the table. In this discussion, Metrigy and Shure break down why collaboration infrastructure,not AI itself, is the real bottleneck.Discussion inludes:Why “good enough” audio and video fail in an AI-driven workplace, where accuracy fuels downstream insights and automationHow outdated hardware cycles (3–5 years) clash with rapid AI innovation across platforms like Microsoft Teams and CopilotWhere collaboration breakdowns really happen, from BYOD setups to poor content sharing and fragmented workflowsThe rise of meeting data as a business intelligence asset, and why capture quality now impacts compliance, decisions, and cultureIf you're investing in AI but not seeing the returns, this is the missing piece.Next Steps:Audit your meeting rooms for audio, video, and device integration gapsAlign hardware refresh cycles with AI software innovation timelinesExplore solutions that enhance full-room capture and AI-ready data accuracy at https://www.shure.com/en-GB/solutions/enterpriseFor more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

UC Today sits down with Jamison Vandenberg, Academic Technology Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, to unpack the biggest takeaways from InfoComm 2026.From AV-over-IP and networking communication challenges to AI on the show floor, Jamison shares what caught his eye, what the industry is getting right – and where it still needs to do better. They also discuss the challenges of AV in higher education, inspiring the next generation of AV professionals, and what Jamison hopes to see at future events.For more Unified Communications & Collaboration Tech News visit https://www.uctoday.com/

In this episode of UC Today, host Christopher Carey sits down with Fabio Esposito, CEO of Leia Inc. and former Meta Reality Labs executive, to explore the growing impact of spatial intelligence and immersive technology.Fabio unpacks the biggest misconceptions about spatial computing, why it's far more than just hardware, and how adding visual depth is transforming industries from healthcare and education to remote work and industrial operations.They discuss what makes immersive communication genuinely useful rather than a novelty, how spatial tools can improve the doctor-patient experience, and whether spatial displays will replace or coexist with traditional screens.Fabio also reflects on what he believed about AR/VR five years ago that he no longer agrees with — and why he thinks the future belongs to technology that meets consumers where they already are.Topics covered: