Podcasts about telecoms channel news

As part of the submissions for the inaugural UC Awards we spoke to award nominee GCI about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019. GCI are a leading converged IT and communications supplier who have been well established within the UK for over 20 years. They are also one of the fastest growing managed service providers within the UK with a suite of possible support and maintenance options for all manner of businesses. In this episode their CEO, Adrian Thirkill, was available to give us all the information on their position within the industry and plans for the future.

As part of the submissions for the inaugural UC Awards we spoke to award nominee Natterbox about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019. Natterbox provide cloud communications solutions that embed in the Salesforce platform. During 2018 they have experienced some remarkable growth and their Sales Director Ian Moyse is on hand to take us through all of the news.

As part of the submissions for the inaugural UC Awards we spoke to award nominee Crestron about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019. It has been an incredibly busy time for Crestron and not without its challenges. Robin explains that the European market has transformed dramatically so the away Crestron work has also changed. Industry demands from customers are shifting hugely with the greater onset of cloud technologies and the rise in popularity of collaboration platforms.

As part of the submissions for the inaugural UC Awards we spoke to award nominee ZaiLab about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019. Asonele Kotu, Head of PR and Events for ZaiLab, is Patrick's guest on the podcast to discuss an incredibly busy year in one of the world's most innovative and disruptive companies. ZaiLab launched their 100% cloud-cased, pay-as-you-go contact centre platform earlier this year so expanding their footprint and raising brand awareness has been their main focus. ZaiLab have ambitious plans for the future so we hear what they have instore for 2019 and beyond.

As part of the submissions for the inaugural UC Awards we spoke to award nominee Red Box about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019. Their CEO Richard Stevenson joins Patrick on the podcast. Richard gives us a brief history of Red Box and explains how they have transformed into one of the world's leading voice capture and analytics specialists. The use of voice data is changing and Red Box are at the forefront of the new frontier in terms of analytics and insights.

As part of the submissions for the inaugural UC Awards we spoke to award nominee Tollring about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019. Tony Martino who is the CEO of Tollring joins Patrick on the podcast to take us through all of the latest Tollring news as well as discussing the increasing importance of security and compliance across industry. Shifting work patterns are also impacting the requirements for organisations to be able to monitor and analyse data.

As part of the submissions for the inaugural UC Awards we spoke to award nominee Zoom Video Communications about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019. Daniel Creigh, Head of the UK and Ireland for Zoom, joins Patrick on the podcast to take use through some of the huge growth that Zoom have been experiencing around the globe as well as discussing the additional functions and features that they are constantly adding to the platform.

We have launched our inaugural UC Awards 2018. The awards will be recognising the most disruptive and innovative companies and solutions across the Unified Communications and Collaboration industries. An industry esteemed judging panel will evaluate the applications and crown the winners in each of the seven categories. The winners, and those deserving of a special mention will be announced in November. As part of the submissions we spoke to award nominee Five9 about their year so far, the main industry trends impacting them, and their plans for 2019.

Call analytics and reporting can provide huge benefits to customers around the world who want to better understand and enhance their service provision. But often this information is in a format that is difficult for customers to understand and interpret. Node4 the UK based managed service provider are aiming to change that with the launch of their call reporting and analytics feature.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are two technology areas that raise questions about the legitimacy of various human jobs roles moving into the future. Many people have postulated that developments in AI and ML will lead to the redundancy of humans across many industries in job roles that can be easily assimilated by machines. But is this the case and will machines be taking our jobs? In this episode of Out Loud we hear from an expert in the field who explains more about this very topic.

With modern networks transforming at such a rapid speed it is critical for enterprise organisations and service providers to be able to ensure security throughout every network layer. What are the most useful tools that enable companies to do this? In this episode we are joined by Ribbon Communications and Nectar who have partnered to offer a centrally located unified communications diagnostics (UCD) system to monitor multiple, geographically dispersed SBCs and identify network issues affecting communication systems.

As the financial year draws to an end at Cisco we review all of the latest news and updates from the summer in their world of collaboration. Next month Cisco have their annual sales conference GSX and we examine all the features that will be discussed during the event. Normally the FY year end brings some restructuring so it will be interesting to see what will unfold. We look at updates to the Webex meeting platform including expanded device support and democratised meetings.

As the financial year draws to an end at Cisco we review all of the latest news and updates from the summer in their world of collaboration. Next month Cisco have their annual sales conference GSX and we examine all the features that will be discussed during the event. Normally the FY year end brings some restructuring so it will be interesting to see what will unfold. We look at updates to the Webex meeting platform including expanded device support and democratised meetings.

We are living in the age of technological revolution. There are a number of new innovations that are affecting organisations tech strategies around the globe. What are these different megatrends and how can the world, and industry utilise their innovations to transform? Century Link join the podcast today to examine the trends, such as the rise of IoT, Cloud and Big Data, and try to understand how enterprise organisations are reacting.

Collaboration is one of the biggest rising trends through the technology world, enabling organisations to work together more efficiently across geographical locations and internal departments. Have the established players taken the best approach to enable the most effective collaboration? Unify have a fresh approach with their collaboration tool, Circuit. Circuit has a number of unique features that differentiate it within the market. In this episode we hear all about it and how effective collaboration is needed to create a self-service culture.

Everyone who has worked in an office knows that the way in which different people use technology varies dramatically according to their personality. Leading hardware solutions provider, Plantronics, have looked at this in depth with their research into the effect of personas. Would you work best with a desk phone or maybe just with a headset that is compatible with a mobile device? Plantronics have mapped seven different personality types and examined how technology can best be used to enhance each users working efficiency.

Collaboration platforms are one of the hottest areas of technology that we examine at UC Today. Enabling effective communication and teamwork the platforms are becoming a vital business system within industry and professional environments. With the enormous rise in their uptake, the security of the platforms appears to have taken a back seat. Shadow IT is another aspect of business communication that organisations need to address to combat the use of consumer collaboration and communication tools. In this episode we discuss security with Wire who are arguably the world's most secure collaboration platform.

Omnichannel communication now forms the basis of customer to business interactions across the globe with the days of single communication paths behind us. But why is omnichannel communication so important and is it getting harder for organisations to offer viable omnichannel customer experiences? Zendesk are one of the world's leading providers of customer service and support software and they examined why companies are looking to omnichannel to improve their CX provision. Their benchmark report analysed data from more than 45,000 of their customers in 140 countries and today we talk to them about the findings in detail.

One of the most important aspects of any business are its communication systems. Connecting the organisations, often, global workforce, enabling communication with customers and partners is critical to operational success. How can you be sure that your systems are working as well as they can be? In this episode we examine the sort operational efficiency goals that organisations should be setting themselves and how best they can achieve those.

Contact Centre is one of the fastest developing areas that we cover at UC Today. We hear from leading provider Five9 to examine their full portfolio. The world of the contact centre is changing so we wanted to understand how different products and services suit different customer requirements. As one of the leading providers of customer contact centre solutions we asked to break down their full product portfolio for us in this episode.

It has been a record breaking summer around the globe weather wise and the scorching temperatures have been mirrored in the hot bed of news and gossip within the unified communications and collaboration industries. The UC Today team look back over the last few months to summarise all the latest news for you. The team look back at the recent events, provide a news round up and look ahead to the next couple of months.

Our expert guest Tom Arbuthnot takes us through July's monthly update for Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business. As always there is loads of news for Microsoft Teams with a host of new features that Tom runs through for us. The biggest news however is that Skype for Business Server 2019 has been made available in public preview. It will be the next stage for customers looking to continue their Skype for Business use on premise and Tom updates us on any new features and changes from the last version.

More and more businesses are looking to the cloud to host their next communication platform. The enhanced feature availability, flexibility and resiliency offered by cloud platforms is becoming more and more appealing to organisations. The landscape in terms of provisioning is transforming rapidly and with the greater spectrum of options now available the decision on which path to choose is undoubtedly a difficult one. Avaya have made a huge effort to transform their offerings to specialise in cloud platforms and today we hear from some of their experts to break down the options available so that navigating the cloud course can be a little bit more simple.

The explosion in the amount of data available is transforming our ability to analyse business interactions throughout industries. This explosion is only expected to continue with the rise and onset of IoT. But how can organisations utilise this data for their benefit? Not all data is good data and being able to clarify the relevant sources from the background white noise is critical in enabling the most enhanced analytics. With the developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning, optimisation of analytics is not so much a future concept as it is with us right now. Workforce optimisation and analytics specialists Calabrio join Patrick on the podcast to discuss the topic.

Augmented, mixed and virtual reality are some of the most exciting technologies emerging at the moment. But what are the different realms of reality? This episode of Out Loud explores the differences, benefits and practical applications of each realm. Our expert guests explains the nuances of each and provides some examples of how these can we used within industry and business.

Cavell Group is the thought-leader in the European future voice and VoIP marketplace providing analytics and insights across the industry. In June this year they hosted their Cloud Comms Summit in Washington DC and we were there to bring you all the news and themes from the event. Along with the Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA), Cavell hosted the summit which is the leading event for Service Providers in the cloud communications industry to share best practices, discuss key trends and meet the industry vendors. One of the attendees were 2600Hz, whose business is founded on the premise of open source communications.

8x8 specialise in cloud communication and customer engagement solutions and they have just announced the general availability of their next generation platform, X Series. Up until now there has been no offering within the industry boasting to combine one cloud solution for voice, video conferencing, contact centre, team messaging and collaboration but now there is. X Series is available across mobile and desktop devices and 8x8 are aiming to change the game with this all-encompassing new platform. We hear all about it in this episode of Out Loud.

The cloud telephony market is a crowded and competitive one. The market itself has grown more slowly than other markets where other applications and business functions have been migrated more readily to the cloud. It does appear now through that the cloud communication market is catching up and demand within organisations is growing. Within the UK the traditional channel market has already started to change. From the original setup of ICT resellers and voice specialists the lines are now blurring and the most resourceful and successful providers can provide all aspects of a business's technology needs.

Emerging technologies and the changing consumer landscape have transformed what customers expect from their business interactions. The traditional model of the contact centre has to transform too. In many cases it already has. With the massive increase in cloud based contact centre platforms many would argue we have already reached a new era. Brain Solis, author of Contact Center 2.0: The Rise of Collaborative Contact Centers, is the expert guest on the podcast today to provide an overview of his report which was commissioned by RingCentral. The report focusses on the premise that digital transformation is making contact centres more unified, collaborative and intelligent.

UCaaS and CPaaS platforms are some of the most innovative within the communications market and can enable some real benefits for organisations that leverage them fully. One of the most desirable attributes for a business is that of agility, allowing them to react quickly and decisively in their often competitive industries. UCaaS and CPaaS platforms can really assist to create agile structural models for business and in this episode we look at how they can do this. Ribbon Communications have an intense focus on helping their customers and partners to achieve agile processes so are the perfect guest to join Patrick on the podcast for a deep dive into how they do this.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. Mitel are one of the huge players in the communications landscape. They have made an enormous effort when it comes to transitioning their customers into the cloud. At the event they were showcasing their latest cloud contact centre solutions and we were there to discuss them and take a look.

Cavell Group is the thought-leader in the European future voice and VoIP marketplace providing analytics and insights across the industry. In June this year they hosted their Cloud Comms Summit in Washington DC and we were there to bring you all the news and themes from the event. Along with the Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA), Cavell hosted the summit which is the leading event for Service Providers and the cloud communications industry to share best practices, discuss key trends and meet the industry vendors. As the industry is in flux it provided great insight into the main changes and trends that will be shaping the landscape in the future.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. One of the most disruptive players in the communications market has been Twilio. Their innovative development based platform has captured the imagination of a huge amount of customers. As a CX focused event CCW's main premise suits the Twilio proposition so well as their platforms are hugely flexible, allowing organisations to tailor solutions to enhance their customer service as much as possible.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. In this episode we hear from Talkdesk who is a leading cloud contact centre software provider. As a provider of customer contact systems events like CCW are vitally important for Talkdesk for a number of different reasons. We examine the main themes from the show and also look at some of this year's biggest industry trends.

Unified Communication systems seem to be the last bastion of an organisations infrastructure to move into the cloud. This can be the result of a number of factors but Avaya and their partners are keen to ensure the industry is fully prepared in all aspects. They have shifted their focus over recent years to their cloud portfolio. Today we hear from one of their specialist cloud partners, Formation Tech, about how their business started and why they chose Avaya's cloud platform as the foundation for their solutions.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. Genesys were one of the most visible brands at the event with various presenters and speakers taking part in the conference itself. One of the most interesting ideas we heard at CCW18 was the use of storytelling within CX experiences. Not fanciful tales to mislead customers but using narratives to ensure the customers get the best experiences possible.

Deploying a new communication or collaboration system across a business is undoubtedly a huge undertaking. How can you be sure your network is capable of successfully managing the traffic required? Today we look a tool from the experts at Modality Systems which can enable businesses to ensure their network environment is ready for such a large system change. Their Impact Assessment is specifically designed to test customer networks prior to deployment to mitigate any potential risk when a Microsoft Skype for Business or Teams project is initiated.

Call routing has always been considered a dark art with little or no recognition within businesses, despite the crucial role it plays within system functions. From Automatic Call Distributors through the development of CTI systems, the development of routing has come a long way. Queue based routing was the original premise with skills based routing a later enhancement. Now we have reached the age of predictive routing where AI can be utilised to maximise potential.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year, which took place in Las Vegas in June. Five9 was the main sponsor and one of the most visible and prominent brands at the event. Patrick is joined by some of their executive team to discuss the event from a Five9 perspective but also review their position in the industry.

As usual loads has been going on in the world of Cisco collaboration. Our monthly update for June brings you all the latest news and updates for the platforms. Webex Teams has a new user interface (UI) and our Cisco expert takes us through the main changes. The changes all tie into Cisco's drive to make the platform as simple to use as possible. Further integration with the WebEx meetings platforms has also been enabled.

As usual loads has been going on in the world of Cisco collaboration. Our monthly update for June brings you all the latest news and updates for the platforms. Webex Teams has a new user interface (UI) and our Cisco expert takes us through the main changes. The changes all tie into Cisco's drive to make the platform as simple to use as possible. Further integration with the WebEx meetings platforms has also been enabled.

Security threats continue to grow, evolve, and multiply, continually threatening organisations with a variety of undesirable outcomes. Now more than ever it is vital to clearly establish the most efficient and effective way of protecting your business systems. As organisations adopt more collaboration and communication solutions the risk of breach potentially increases with more access points for intruders. Security cannot be an afterthought it must be present through all stages of planning, deployment and usage.

Our expert guest Tom Arbuthnot take us through June's monthly updates for Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business. It's been another busy month in the world of Microsoft collaboration and communication news. Teams is now available on US government tenants, meeting the compliance standards required opens up a new landscape of public sector users to the world of Teams. There are also further updates in terms of Teams availability on the Microsoft Surface Hub and some news about Skype for Business and Teams calling plans.

Workforce behaviour is changing dramatically, the rise in remote and flexible working is dictating the requirements for employers. The youngest members of the workforce have very different ideas about how they are most productive, the traditional office setup and the tools businesses provide may not align with that. We also need to consider the next workforce generation who are not yet in employment but will be the graduates of the future in the next 5 to 10 years as their ideals might be even more radical.

Organisations spend huge amounts of money on their public image. Branding, websites and marketing materials all play a crucial role in amplifying and enhancing a company's public image, but what about your telephony on hold systems? For too long phone systems have had unprofessional and inefficient on hold systems, often considered to be unimportant they actually play a huge role in the frontline of customer services. In this episode we discuss these systems and how they can be enhanced.

RingCentral have commissioned some research in their Zen Survey examining collaboration, where they try to establish the most efficient ways of working. The huge amount of communication and collaboration platforms available has increased the complexities for organisations when trying to optimise their workflows. Communication and collaboration methods vary according to various factors, including industry verticals but also within the different generations of an organisation's workforce. We take a look at the best ways to avoid disruption and ensure productivity.

Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular collaboration platforms on the planet. We wanted to understand more about how it's growing with customers on a global scale. Modality Systems is the world’s largest Microsoft communications practice so they are perfectly placed to explain more about how Teams is being deployed and used by their customers. They join the UC Today team for a group discussion focusing on Microsoft Teams on the frontline in terms of deployment and the most critical factor, adoption.

PeterConnects offer a variety of innovative solutions to enhance Microsoft’s Skype for Business and Cisco’s Unified Communications Manager platforms. Their customer contact centre solutions comprise an Attendant, ServiceDesk, ManagerAssistant, OmniDirectory and a ContextManager. We hear from their CEO where we discuss the penultimate leg of their European partner tour and the future of their portfolio.

The traditional sales landscape is changing. The different purchasing models used by businesses and also within the consumer environment require a shift in sales approach. Many more services are moving to consumption models. Historically a sale for a particular product or service might have been made only once every few years before an upgrade. Now though with the rise in the consumption economy and with increased buyer power, flexibility on the behalf of the buyer is enhanced. We consider these changes and how selling may need to morph to reflect changing industries.

Ribbon Communications are one of the largest communications equipment and software manufacturers after the merger of GENBAND and Sonus Networks. Their annual event 'Ribbon Perspectives 2018' took place in Los Angeles and UC Today were there to hear from some of their senior executives and bring you a summary of the event. We hear about the importance of the gathering and also about some of their innovative new solutions that took centre stage during proceedings.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. This year's event starts on the 18th of June in Las Vegas and UC Today will be there to bring you all of news. One of the biggest and most exciting brands attending will be Five9 who provide leading cloud contact centre software. In this episode we speak to them to preview the event to find out why it is so important for providers of CX enablers.

Unified Communication platforms are some of the most important business systems utilised by organisations. Providing the vital links between departments, colleagues, partners and customers they are the lifeblood of nearly all industries. But are they working to their full potential? Research conducted by UC management specialists Virsae indicates that many are not. Over provisioning, inefficient design and underutilised capacity are just some of their many findings which could be costing businesses millions worldwide. We hear from Virsae about the research and look at the best ways for businesses to try and improve their systems.

May has been a huge month for Cisco, following all the April news from their collaboration summit where they announced the end of Spark. The rebranding in full began in earnest in May. We follow up all the news and look at the changes that have come into force. Most of these changes seem to be in line with a general transition in terms of strategy from Cisco, where they are looking to focus more one product set, Webex. There was also some breaking news in terms of departures so we explore those as well.

May has been a huge month for Cisco, following all the April news from their collaboration summit where they announced the end of Spark. The rebranding in full began in earnest in May. We follow up all the news and look at the changes that have come into force. Most of these changes seem to be in line with a general transition in terms of strategy from Cisco, where they are looking to focus more one product set, Webex. There was also some breaking news in terms of departures so we explore those as well.

Digital and business transformation is one of the main focus areas for organisations looking to modernise and ensure they remain relevant within their industries. Avaya have a huge customer base and their latest promotion is designed to help their customers on their transformation journeys. For every organisation digital transformation is a unique process but Avaya are in a critical position to help their customers examine their communication platforms to ensure that they enable the benefits that transformation can bring.

Emerging technologies like AI are really creating a buzz within the industry, but how do customers take advantage of the benefits? Pure-cloud communications provider Dialpad are here to help. They have added a specialist AI business TalkIQ to their platform and plan to enhance their existing proposition by adding further AI features and tools to their three main business offerings.

RingCentral were one of the biggest brands at UC EXPO 2018, we hear from them about their attendance at the event and some of the main trends from this year. Once we hear about their expo exploits we then move on to get their take on the current communication industry.

In this month's Microsoft Monthly update we hear from our usual expert Tom Arbuthnot who takes us through all of the latest news for Microsoft's collaboration platforms that emerged during May. Tom and Patrick review UC EXPO 2018 where Teams was one of the platforms that people and partners were discussing most. Tom then goes on to give us information on the three main updates that related to Skype for Business and Teams over the last month.

Toll fraud has for a too long been a major problem within the UK Communications industry. Every year businesses fall victim to various sophisticated schemes which run up huge bills and leave the businesses to pick up the tab. In today's episode we host a panel of expert guests who all see fraud from a different angle within the UK. Tollring are specialists in fraud detection and prevention and they are joined by their partners BT and Daisy Group to discuss the issues and how the industry can better deal with this threat.

Communication and internet privacy is a hot topic, not just within industry but around the world globally. Government, big business and cyber-crime networks are all working to track and utilise data gleaned from your user activities, whether that’s what you look at or who you communicate with. Providing insights on how to ensure your privacy online BestVPN not only offer comparative VPN reviews but also other insights onto how to try and keep your data private online.

UC EXPO is Europe's biggest communication and collaboration event and 2018 did not disappoint. UC Today attended the event as media partners so in this episode of the Out Loud podcast we take you through all of the main news from the show. From Cisco through to Microsoft and stopping off on the way to discuss the emerging technologies on show at the event, we cover off all of the news for you if you weren't able to make it to the Excel in London.

GDPR comes into force on Friday the 25th of May and the hugely anticipated deadline has created so much buzz in the industry. A set of regulations that further enforce and tighten the restrictions around organisations and businesses managing the personal data and privacy of EU citizens. There are threats of huge fines for those who don’t comply with the new regulations. We speak to Five9 about how they have been preparing and helping their customers to be as ready as possible.

Slack recently announced they have reached an impressive 8 million daily users. So in this episode we speak to them to get their take on the current collaboration market. Since their inception the market has changed dramatically and many new players have entered as competitors. Not only has the competition increased but the market dynamic has changed with a much greater uptake of collaboration tools, like Slack, rapidly expanding the available market for providers.

Creating the optimal user experience is often the main focus for collaboration technology providers but if you don’t meet the general requirements of business it's redundant. Enterprise organisations must ensure security and compliance when looking to implement technology solutions. What are the main considerations for businesses and how can they manage their own requirements for deployment and management whilst enabling users to operate the solutions easily? In this episode we speak to DisplayNote to find out how they address this.

There have been some major changes within Cisco's collaboration unit recently with the rebrand to Webex and some senior staff departing. During a partner collaboration event in London we caught up with Vice President and General Manager of Cisco's collaboration unit Snorre Kjesbu. Snorre was presenting at the event, which took place on the top floor of the Shard building in London and we had the chance to discuss all things collaboration.

There have been some major changes within Cisco's collaboration unit recently with the rebrand to Webex and some senior staff departing. During a partner collaboration event in London we caught up with Vice President and General Manager of Cisco's collaboration unit Snorre Kjesbu. Snorre was presenting at the event, which took place on the top floor of the Shard building in London and we had the chance to discuss all things collaboration.

As an expert in the field Brian Martin talks to us about voice biometrics. Fingerprints and DNA have long been used within the security industries and law enforcement to identify criminals and fraudsters. The next phase in within security provision maybe a voice database. Companies like Spitch have developed speech solutions to such a degree that keeping the voices of criminals or fraudsters in a database could prevent some of the most common fraudulent tactics that the industry falls victim to currently. We hear from the speech solution specialists about how voice solutions can assist in compliance and how the solutions can assist within all industries when it comes to avoid fraud.

Deployment and management of IP devices has been a headache for organisations, resellers and distributors historically. Solutions that can assist with this often time consuming and inefficient process are invaluable. In today's podcast we hear from Swoop Datacom and Westcon about ForgeServe a solution that can revolutionise device deployments.

Omnichannel communication is one of the hottest trends within unified communications and collaboration technology but in today's episode we focus on voice. The most traditional communication method between customer and organisations voice is still the most important tool in customer service. Red Box Recorders specialise in voice capture and understand the use of voice more than most so we put our questions to them to try and understand more about how it has developed historically.

April 2018 has proved to be one of the hottest months in Unified Communications and collaboration with loads of breaking news. Publisher of UC Today Rob Scott joins Patrick for a review of the month where they discuss all the biggest and most popular stories. The pair also look ahead to the month of May to speculate about what may occur and examine some of the upcoming deadlines such as GDPR.

Has the realisation that customer service and CX is the most important factor within business finally dawned on global industry? One of the buzz phrases within UC and C currently, it appears that many organisations have realised that the customer and their experiences are so critical to enable business success. Today on Out Loud we discuss the provision of customer service and how technology platforms are important but not the most vital factor in providing great customer services.

In this month's Microsoft Monthly update we hear from our usual expert Tom Arbuthnot who takes us through all of the latest news for Microsoft's collaboration platforms from April. With lots of news within the industry in general, Microsoft are not to be out done releasing various updates and some important news relating to end of life products and platforms.

One of the fastest growing cloud platforms is CCaaS and one of the leading providers for workforce optimisation is Calabrio who understand the benefits. This podcast explores the importance of customer service and how cloud platforms can enhance an organisation’s ability to provide great service.

Emerging technologies and UC and C platforms within organisations are often cited as being critical to the success of the business but really the people and staff using the systems are more important. User uptake when it comes to technology is crucial to any deployment's success. But how do you know you have the right people to fully utilise technology in the first place? Recruitment, staff training and employee satisfaction are critical factors and today on Out Loud we examine those.

Watson Workspace is IBM's communication and collaboration platform and UC Today bought you the news last month that they would be utilising Zoom video as part of its offering. Out Loud are joined by Zoom and IBM to find our why the partnership is such a great fit and the reasons behind it. We also explore the potential for the platform moving forward utilising Zoom's video tools and the benefits that can bring to users.

The modern workplace has changed dramatically since the turn of the century. From the traditional idea of a workplace 20 years ago in the archetypal office to the modern idea of remote working, the environment has transformed completely. In this episode we are joined by Mike Adams who is Channel Manager for Zoom Video Communications. Mike and Patrick discuss the new ideology of the workplace and how modern technology can enable much more innovative design when it comes to the 'office' wherever that might be.

The qualities of a successful entrepreneur are often hard to define and quantify, especially within the technology sector. Dave Dadds undoubtedly has those qualities. He spoke exclusively to UC Today about his industry history and how he managed to move from being a BT engineer in the 1980s to now being CEO of various successful technology businesses. Founder of VanillaIP and Uboss, Dave was one of the first to recognise the potential value in cloud communications and capitalise on this by providing great services to customers.

Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and the Internet of Things are all hot topics within business, but does anyone fully realise the practical applications? LogMeIn have a real understanding. Making use of these emerging technologies within organisations is key to their success so we discuss some of the practical applications now and the future possibilities.

The last few months within UC and C have certainly been eventful. Publisher of UC Today Rob Scott joins Patrick for a review and round up of all the news. From last week's breaking story of Plantronic's Polycom acquisition to the confirmation of the Cisco BroadSoft deal's ratification we review all of the goings on and what might be to come in the next few months.

Collaboration technology and tools are often lorded as the best way for organisations to increase efficiencies for their end users, quantifying that efficiency is often more difficult. Realising those productivity gains is critical to proving value and providing accurate information in relation to ROI. With companies using a variety of different collaboration and communication mediums the issue of data analysis is made even more complex. We look at the correlation between accurate data analysis and providing great customer services

It's been a very busy month in the world of Microsoft Teams with a host of new features and updates released at Enterprise Connect 2018. Microsoft magician Tom Arbuthnot joins Patrick again for a breakdown of all the news including new feature updates and logistical changes making Teams a more open platform for voice calls.

Often one of the lowest priority mediums within collaboration and meeting technology, sound is sometimes overlooked. Enhanced video capability and a simple user interfaces seem to be the number one targets with little attention paid to the quality of the audio. We spoke to Andrew Border from Dolby and he explains why this should not be the case and that sound and audio quality should be the number one priority for enabling functional and effective remote collaboration.

One of the most interesting angles at EC 2018 last week was the potential disruption caused by the new big players entering the market such as Amazon. The success of Alexa within the consumer world has driven a real desire for professional organisations to be able to leverage this technology in the workplace. We were lucky enough to be able to secure some time with General Manager for Alexa for Business Collin Davis so he could explain how they are looking to change the existing market.

Last Thursday during Enterprise Connect 2018 we conducted our review of the week's action with analysts David Danto and Tim Banting. Both previous guests on the Out Loud podcast and veterans of previous Enterprise Connect Events David and Tim take us through the week and give us their highlights. We compare this event to previous years and analyse the changing trends that have shaped the event in 2018.

On Monday during Enterprise Connect 2018 we were lucky enough to speak to RingCentral's John Finch, AVP for Product Marketing, and Jose Pastor VP of Product Management. John and Jose take us through the latest RingCentral news and provide some insight on the current market. As well as updates we find out what an event like EC 2018 means to them and their main drivers for sponsorship.

Earlier this week during Mitel Next 2018 in Munich we were lucky enough to speak to a host of senior Mitel Executives to hear their thoughts and opinions on the technology world and how Mitel fit into it. VP for UK & I and EMEA Channels Richard Roberts, CMO Wes Durow and EVP of Mitel Solutions Bob Agnes were all guests on Out Loud live giving us their opinions on all the latest trends.

Joining Patrick on the pod today was Koldo Loidi, Avaya’s Global Data Privacy Officer, to discuss upcoming GDPR implementation. A specialist in the field Koldo explains some of the steps that Avaya have taken already to ensure their internal processes are up to the new legislation and how that will protect their customers.

In this debut episode Tom gives us a brief history of the Microsoft Collaboration platforms, both Skype for Business and Teams. We discuss the differences between the two platforms and the plans that Microsoft have for each over the next month. Tom also explained some of the licensing changes that Microsoft have made around the new edition of Skype for Business. Then we look at the changes that Microsoft have made within Teams such as the new shortcut commands.

Kira Makagon is on the pod today. Kira is the Executive Vice President of Innovation at RingCentral so has a great insight into the UC marketplace. Kira looks ahead into the rest of 2018 to examine some of the emerging technologies that are shaping the industry. We also discuss their focus on simplicity for users and their development plans for the rest of the year.

Joining Patrick on the pod today was Vishal Brown from Yorktel to discuss the potential workplaces of the future and how they can be achieved with Unified Comms and collaboration. Vishal explains that to achieve the agile and mobile workplaces organisations demand, work is required from all factions from end users to systems integrators.

On Tuesday during Avaya's Edge World Tour we were lucky enough to speak to Fadi Moubarak, VP of International Markets at Avaya about their world tour and how they want to boost their partner's Avaya offering. We also spoke to some Avaya partners to find out how the event helps them and what they expect to happen with their Avaya business going forward.

Whilst attending ISE 2018 in Amsterdam last week we asked all of the vendors that we spoke to about why they go to huge amounts of effort to attend events. We tried to find out their main drivers for attending and if that justifies some of the huge costs behind the scenes.

André Hordagoda, co-founder of GoInStore, told us all about their proposition and how the future of online customer services and ecommerce might be drastically different in the future. With over 10 years' experience on the retail technology sector Andre is very familiar with the current systems in place and how these might develop in the future.

Today we look at SD-WAN with Atchison Frazer of Talari. One of the original innovators within software defined wide area networks Talari have great experience of the market. Atchison has a long history within the network industry both in the UK and the USA so was able to give us an overview on the benefits of SD-WAN and talk us through Talari's unique features.

With a long history in the UK channel, working within data centres and cloud service providers, Karl Roe of Nuvias is perfectly placed to give his Cloud Service predictions for 2018. Through the importance of IP and AI as a default for businesses, listen in as Karl gives us his breakdown for the year ahead.

Irwin Lazar joins us on 'Out Loud' as we look at the emerging market trends within the collaboration space. Currently Vice President Service Director at Nemertes Research, Irwin has a broad range of experience across the market sector and is currently working on analysis of the data relating to market trends within Unified Communication and Collaboration.

Following on from our interview with David Danto on Huddle Rooms, UC Today 'Out Loud' discusses his time at CES 2018. David filled us in the most interesting collaboration tech that he saw and also gave us the details on the infamous power outage that took place during the event. The most exciting products that David discusses are universal translators that finally appear to have reached a practical level, after years of promise, that could breakdown the language barriers around the world.

UC Today 'Out Loud' are joined in this episode by David Danto currently a consultant at Dimension Data. With years of experience across a range of industries David gave us his insights into how Huddle Rooms have developed and the trends for collaboration spaces going forward. We also discussed the ideology of such spaces and how organisations can better utilise such a resource in the modern world.

For the first episode of Out Loud I thought who better to speak to than the founder and publisher of UC Today Rob Scott. Rob gives us an insight into the history of UC Today, his plans for its future and insight into the UC World.