Uc Today - Out Loud

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.

Big news came out of Phoenix, Arizona, where Cisco announced that Spark was being rebranded. Their collaboration platform had failed to gather enough notoriety in the industry so Cisco intend to capitalise on the Webex brand by renaming Spark, Webex Teams. Out Loud hear from an industry expert and Cisco partner who has more information on the reasons behind the changes and what this means for the future of Cisco collaboration. 

Arguably the two biggest collaboration platforms on the planet are Microsoft Teams and Cisco Spark. We decided it was time for an evaluation of the two proposals. Out Loud brings you debate from two expert guests who will provide contrasting viewpoints from both perspectives. We discuss the history of both Spark and Teams and then compare and contrast their respective features. 

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.

One of the biggest collaboration platforms globally is Cisco Spark and this new Out Loud podcast series will bring you regular updates on developments and updates within the platform. The first episode provides an overview and background for Cisco Spark as well examining the ideology behind Cisco's development of the platform.

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

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.

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.