TalkingPointz provides the latest viewz, opinions, and research on enterprise communications and collaboration

TalkingHeadz Podcast with Paul Jarman

By Dave Michels 11.14.19

It’s always NICE to be inContact with Paul Jarman. He is a CCaaS pioneer that saw his vision for the...

Cisco Brings Innovation to Rooms, Desks With Latest Devices

By Dave Michels 11.13.19

It’s a phone; it’s a video solution – wait no, it’s Cisco’s new Desk Pro!

A Tale of Two Messaging Apps

By Dave Michels 11.11.19

With Yammer and Teams, Microsoft has two competent messaging apps. But is two too many?

Introducing Avaya IX Onespace

By Dave Michels 11.6.19

Avaya’s Onespace app is streamlining how employees interact, use, and manage enterprise applications – all from a single interface.

VonageAR19

By Dave Michels 10.31.19

Here is my at-site Video from the Vonage Analyst Relations Event and Vonage Campus User Conference in San Francisco. Vonage...

Humanizing Collaboration: AI’s Next Frontier?

By Dave Michels 10.31.19

While AI promises a world of sci-fi wonder, a new paradigm based on blending machine and human capabilities might be...

Will Google Acquire Slack?

By Dave Michels 10.29.19

I just spent a few days with team Slack at its Spec conference. I’ve had pleasant conversations with both of...

TalkingHeadz with Julien at Workplace by Facebook

By Dave Michels 10.28.19

A dirty secret about enterprise communications is that it’s rarely the same thing as “enterprise-wide” communications. That’s because most enterprise...

SlackSpec19

By Dave Michels 10.24.19

Slack continues its role as workstream collaboration pioneer. I don’t typically attend developer conferences, but this was a great opportunity...

The Difference Between 5G and 5G

By Colin Berkshire 4.24.19

Are you confused about the difference between 5G (for WiFi) and 5G (for cellular)? They have the same name, and...

TalkingHeadz Podcast: Michael Quinn

By Dave Michels 3.14.19

We cover a wide range of topics including the appropriate use of a gong and reasons to live in Amsterdam....

My 2018

By Dave Michels 1.2.19

It’s that time again, time for my longest post of the year – my annual report post. This is where...

Future of Meetings Is Upon Us

By Dave Michels 5.14.18

Auto-framing, facial recognition, background manipulation… these and other features are all about improving the meeting experience.

The #CCTR Revolution is Upon Us

By Dave Michels 5.7.18

Four major Contact Center developments in three weeks. Cisco After the Cisco Collaboration Summit, Cisco hosted a separate add-on day...

TalkingHeadz #3 Vonage and Alan Masarek

By Dave Michels 3.29.18

In this interview, Evan and I chat with Vonage CEO Alan Masarek who evidently doubles as CFO. A real...

The Curse of the New HQ (Apple)

By Colin Berkshire 3.13.18

I have a personal theory about “Corporate Palaces”. When a company decides that it is time to build a Corporate...

The breakup of Ma Bell

By Colin Berkshire 3.12.18

Few people know much about the Bell System or if the breaking it up. Most will describe it as busting...

The Humanity of AI

By Dave Michels 2.27.18

I recently enjoyed the movie Sully. Spoiler Alert: He lands the plane in the Hudson River. After the crash, or...

Post 11, Avaya 2018

By Dave Michels 2.9.18

There’s been lots of Avaya coverage recently, both here on TalkingPointz and everywhere else. Avaya is the most misunderstood UC...

Avaya: Success in 2018 and Beyond?

By Brent Kelly 2.8.18

This article presents the author’s views on what Avaya needs to do to ensure success following its emergence from bankruptcy...

Progress with Verizon OneTalk

By Colin Berkshire 1.12.18

Four days ago I was interested in Verizon OneTalk, a service that lets me move my phone number into the...

Messaging Coins

By Dave Michels 1.11.18

Cryptocurrencies have huge ramifications to commerce and distributed computing. They may also impact enterprise communications. Telegram is about to launch...

My 2017

By Dave Michels 1.1.18

Time for my the annual report. See previous Annual Reports here: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013. Through an enterprise comms lens...

Vidyo Got a Cloud

By Dave Michels 12.19.17

No other vendor in enterprise communications solicits such broad reactions as Vidyo. I think it is one of the most...

UnAuthorized FAQ Regarding Cisco and BroadSoft

By Dave Michels 11.9.17

Last month, Cisco upstaged BroadSoft’s annual Connections conference with news that the two companies agreed to be one. Acquisitions and...

Microsoft Teams: Two Steps Forward

By Dave Michels 9.25.17

At Microsoft Ignite this week, and there’s lots of interesting announcements. Ignite is Microsoft’s biggest conference of the year. It...

Please hold for digital transformation

By Dave Michels 5.3.17

Enterprise communications is a fun gig. I thrive on digging into the vendor nuances in vision and action. It’s a...

6 reasons why Slack is the next Netscape

By Dave Michels 3.27.17

Netscape provides an excellent illustration as to how tech darlings come and go. Netscape created and sold Navigator, the browser...

Cisco Has a Secret

By Dave Michels 1.4.17

Cisco has a secret it can’t wait to tell. It won’t be much longer though – the cat comes out...

My 2016

By Dave Michels 1.1.17

Time for my annual look-back post. See previous Annual Reports here: 2015, 2014, 2013. Through an enterprise comms lens 2016...

Why I Gripe Yet Still Buy Apple

By Colin Berkshire 12.19.16

A little over five years ago I switched from Windows to Apple products in my personal life and at work....

Bold Predictions from the Gartner Data Center Conference

By Sorell Slaymaker 12.13.16

By 2020, 30% of your strategic network suppliers will change. Your current incremental network strategy will not meet the future...

Time to Kill IM

By Dave Michels 10.24.16

Time to Kill IM Workstream messaging tools are the right tool for modern business needs. Workstream messaging tools are the...

What I Saw at Cisco Oslo

By Dave Michels 10.18.16

I recently spent a cold October day at Cisco Oslo. This office supports about 500 Cisco employees, 80 percent of...

TalkingHeadz Podcast with Paul Jarman

By Dave Michels 11.14.19

It’s always NICE to be inContact with Paul Jarman. He is a CCaaS pioneer that saw his vision for the...

Cisco Brings Innovation to Rooms, Desks With Latest Devices

By Dave Michels 11.13.19

It’s a phone; it’s a video solution – wait no, it’s Cisco’s new Desk Pro!

A Tale of Two Messaging Apps

By Dave Michels 11.11.19

With Yammer and Teams, Microsoft has two competent messaging apps. But is two too many?

Introducing Avaya IX Onespace

By Dave Michels 11.6.19

Avaya’s Onespace app is streamlining how employees interact, use, and manage enterprise applications – all from a single interface.

VonageAR19

By Dave Michels 10.31.19

Here is my at-site Video from the Vonage Analyst Relations Event and Vonage Campus User Conference in San Francisco. Vonage...

Humanizing Collaboration: AI’s Next Frontier?

By Dave Michels 10.31.19

While AI promises a world of sci-fi wonder, a new paradigm based on blending machine and human capabilities might be...

Will Google Acquire Slack?

By Dave Michels 10.29.19

I just spent a few days with team Slack at its Spec conference. I’ve had pleasant conversations with both of...

TalkingHeadz with Julien at Workplace by Facebook

By Dave Michels 10.28.19

A dirty secret about enterprise communications is that it’s rarely the same thing as “enterprise-wide” communications. That’s because most enterprise...

SlackSpec19

By Dave Michels 10.24.19

Slack continues its role as workstream collaboration pioneer. I don’t typically attend developer conferences, but this was a great opportunity...

Zoomtopia19

By Dave Michels 10.17.19

I thought Zoomtopia was a great event this year. A nice mix of announcements, entertainment, and education (good food too)....

TalkingHeadz Podcast with Nidal of Avaya International

By Dave Michels 10.16.19

I have known Nidal for about three years, and have come to admire his relationship-first approach to business. To Nidal,...

Poly Analyst Day and Studio X Appliances (video)

By Dave Michels 10.15.19

Poly hosted its first analyst day. Well, first as a Poly, the result of the merger between Polycom and Plantronics....

GITEX 2019 (Video)

By Dave Michels 10.13.19

This is video from the GITEX 2019 show floor (Avaya booth) in Dubai. Unfortunately, I had some trouble with the...

TalkingPointz Research: Avaya-RingCentral Partnership

By Dave Michels 10.11.19

My intense focus on Avaya began unexpectedly during the RingCentral analyst event last week. RingCentral choreographed it perfectly. We spent...

Cisco Retools Leadership Team, Embraces CC Changes

By Dave Michels 10.8.19

With a series of recent executive appointments, Cisco is gearing up for radical changes to the CCaaS industry.

Mitel Summit 2019

By Dave Michels 9.27.19

Mitel hosted a summit for analysts and consultants in Dallas in September 2019. A packed full day of overviews, roadmaps,...

World <> Flat

By Dave Michels 9.24.19

For most of my life, I’ve been hearing about (and actually witnessing) the world getting smaller. Smaller, flatter, whatever the...

Huawei Connect 2019 (Video)

By Dave Michels 9.19.19

It’s been a few years since I’ve been to a Huawei event, and boy a lot has changed. Here’s my...

TalkingHeadz Podcast with Mark Strassman our GoTo SVP GM

By Dave Michels 9.18.19

Goto is one of the newest brands in enterprise communications, yet its solutions have a long history and proven track...

6 Trends to Watch Out for in Online Meetings

By Dave Michels 9.18.19

As online meetings become ubiquitous, conferencing providers will need to focus on innovation, price point, and other factors to succeed...

a digital illustration with a man pushing a circle

Genesys: Try This App for Free

By Dave Michels 9.10.19

With single-click free trials for premium applications, Genesys is hoping to shake up the procurement model — lowering the barrier...

Talkingheadz with Vonage CTO Sagi Dudai

By Dave Michels 9.10.19

I consider Vonage one of the most innovative providers in enterprise communications. It was back in 2016 when Vonage confused...

Magical UCaaS Providers Without a Quadrant

By Dave Michels 8.30.19

This TalkingPointz research note describes three, top-of-mind providers that didn’t make the 2019 UCaaS Magic Quadrant Report: Verizon, Vonage, and...

Cisco Nabs CloudCherry

By Dave Michels 8.26.19

Today, Cisco announced its intent to acquire CloudCherry, a Customer Engagement Management (CEM) company that will soon reside in Cisco...

TalkingHeadz Podcast with Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom

By Dave Michels 8.22.19

It’s been such an amazing show to watch Eric start Zoom and built it into one of the most valuable...

Making Sense of Mitel & Avaya Merger Speculation

By Dave Michels 8.21.19

Perhaps this purported deal is best thought of as a merger, not an acquisition.

Best Options for Avaya

By Dave Michels 8.20.19

In last week’s Q3 earnings call, Avaya management disclosed in was in advanced discussions regarding several strategic review options, and...