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

Power to the Callers

It’s that time of year again, a time when there are increased power outages. What can you expect? Silence if...

RingCentral, Dimelo, and the CC Space

Today, RingCentral announced its plans to acquire Dimelo. Last month Vonage acquired NewVoiceMedia. Other acquisitions over the past few years...

Let’s Chat about Workplace by Facebook

By Dave Michels 10.9.18

A new chat feature is among several enhancements Facebook has introduced for Workplace, its enterprise collaboration service.

#MitelNext 2018

By Dave Michels 10.4.18

Here’s my post-event quick thoughts video on #MitelNext 2018. Very interesting event. I think it’s the most committed and aligned...

TalkingHeadz #15 Chris Burgy of Ooma

By Dave Michels 10.3.18

Ooma is suddenly on the enterprise UCaaS stage. Like Vonage before it, Ooma has broken free of its consumer VoIP...

To Install or Not to Install a PBX?

By Colin Berkshire 10.2.18

Our company has a number of small branch offices. These are sales offices with 3~10 people in them, scattered variously...

September 2018 – Whadda Month!

By Dave Michels 10.1.18

Just sent to subscribers my monthly recap for September. Yikes. It was a tough month. It was tough for two...

Double Your Smartphone Warranty for Free

By Colin Berkshire 9.27.18

The Apple iPhone (and most smartphones) comes with a 1 year parts & labor warranty. But if you buy your...

My Thoughts on #MSIgnite 2018

By Dave Michels 9.26.18

I will, of course, put together a more comprehensive analysis of this event in a research note, but it won’t...

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...

Sticks and Phones

By Dave Michels 12.13.17

It may be common for field staff to attack their competitors, but it’s rare for senior executives to publicly engage...

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...

Facebook Jumps the Shark

By Dave Michels 10.11.16

Facebook Workplace is Facebook’s new enterprise service. The company is going to attempt to expand from its consumer social-app that...

Veep Matters

By Colin Berkshire 9.12.16

No matter who we choose for president, the odds are that they will die in office. So you should spend...

Power to the Callers

By Colin Berkshire 10.14.18

It’s that time of year again, a time when there are increased power outages. What can you expect? Silence if...

RingCentral, Dimelo, and the CC Space

By Dave Michels 10.11.18

Today, RingCentral announced its plans to acquire Dimelo. Last month Vonage acquired NewVoiceMedia. Other acquisitions over the past few years...

Let’s Chat about Workplace by Facebook

By Dave Michels 10.9.18

A new chat feature is among several enhancements Facebook has introduced for Workplace, its enterprise collaboration service.

#MitelNext 2018

By Dave Michels 10.4.18

Here’s my post-event quick thoughts video on #MitelNext 2018. Very interesting event. I think it’s the most committed and aligned...

TalkingHeadz #15 Chris Burgy of Ooma

By Dave Michels 10.3.18

Ooma is suddenly on the enterprise UCaaS stage. Like Vonage before it, Ooma has broken free of its consumer VoIP...

To Install or Not to Install a PBX?

By Colin Berkshire 10.2.18

Our company has a number of small branch offices. These are sales offices with 3~10 people in them, scattered variously...

September 2018 – Whadda Month!

By Dave Michels 10.1.18

Just sent to subscribers my monthly recap for September. Yikes. It was a tough month. It was tough for two...

Double Your Smartphone Warranty for Free

By Colin Berkshire 9.27.18

The Apple iPhone (and most smartphones) comes with a 1 year parts & labor warranty. But if you buy your...

My Thoughts on #MSIgnite 2018

By Dave Michels 9.26.18

I will, of course, put together a more comprehensive analysis of this event in a research note, but it won’t...

Time Doesn’t Fly on Airplanes

By Dave Michels 9.26.18

Fragments of offline productivity still exist, but they won’t for much longer.

Video Interview Zeus Kerravala

By Dave Michels 9.23.18

In this video interview, Zeus (LinkedIn, Twitter) and I (LinkedIn, Twitter) discuss some of the recent announcements and changes at...

A Few TalkingPointz on Vonage and NewVoiceMedia

By Dave Michels 9.21.18

Vonage announced it is acquiring NewVoiceMedia (NVM). It’s a bit surprising, but not out of character. Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE...

TalkingHeadz #14 Thuy Ha of the New CenturyLink

By Dave Michels 9.19.18

In this TalkingHeadz, Evan (Twitter and LinkedIn) and I (Twitter and LinkedIn) discuss the role of electro-mechanical switches in a...

IOS 12 is the least rewarding upgrade, ever

By Colin Berkshire 9.18.18

I just upgraded to iOS 12. It’s as boring as Tim Cook. I cannot see anything different or improved…or even...

Talking About Teleworking

By Dave Michels 9.18.18

I took a business trip to Wisconsin and met Sorell Slaymaker at his lakefront office to discuss the teleworking lifestyle....

National Service in War and Peace

By Colin Berkshire 9.17.18

Forgotten history. Here’s a lightly edited excerpt from “A history of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: National Service...

The New CenturyLink

By Dave Michels 9.14.18

CenturyLink held its first, post-L3-merger, analyst event. The new Centurylink is unlike any other company – and that includes CenturyLink...

Slack Frontiers 2018

By Dave Michels 9.12.18

Slack hosted its second user conference last week, and I was able to attend. This was the first Frontiers, in...

What’s the fuss about 5G?

By Colin Berkshire 9.10.18

From the onset I have been rather cold to the idea of 5G, and I think this sets me into...

Don’t Call Slack a Team Chat App

By Dave Michels 9.10.18

Slack showcases its value as a platform at Frontiers user conference.

Home Automation Sucks 3

By Colin Berkshire 9.7.18

Have I been unkind to the Home Automation people? Unkind that their programming systems look like they were designed in...

First Take on #SlackFrontiers

By Dave Michels 9.6.18

Exciting few days at Slack Frontiers this week. The young company has no intention to cede its workstream leadership to...

Industry Veteran Joe Manuele to Head Highfive

By Dave Michels 9.5.18

With an eye on enterprise growth, this cloud video startup brings on new leadership.

Real Life Voice SPAM

By Colin Berkshire 9.4.18

(This has actually happened to me, last night. This is not theoretical.) We just had the most horrible thing happen...

Home Automation Sucks 2

By Colin Berkshire 9.1.18

My continued rant on Home Automation. It is complicated, inflexible, and clunky. I bring this up in a telecommunications-centric blog...

An Office Is a Terrible Place to Work

By Dave Michels 8.30.18

The office is noisy, full of germs and sick people, uncomfortable, unsafe, and inconvenient.

TalkingHeadz Tom Schollmeyer

By Dave Michels 8.29.18

In this TalkingHeadz, Evan (Twitter and LinkedIn) and I (Twitter and LinkedIn) discuss the state of customer engagement with Tom Schollmeyer, former CEO of...