Uc Today - Out Loud

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. 

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. 

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.