Insider

Insider Report April 2024

May 02, 2024 by Dave Michels

Curated Enterprise Communications News and Insights from April 2024

Feature

AI Winter? April was a relatively quiet month after most of the enterprise comms sector unloaded its news pipeline at Enterprise Connect in March. For what is perhaps the most complete list of announcements from EC24, see the TalkingPointz Report on Enterprise Connect 2024 (full subscription required).

Though I don’t think we are anywhere near an AI winter (it will come), this month there were several signs that AI is becoming less shiny.

Meta reported its best-ever Q1 this month but saw a sell-off of its stock. Meta plans to spend $35B-$40B this year on AI, and the market doesn’t get it. Meta’s investments are up there with Google and Microsoft, but investors don’t see the applications, services, or advertising business to warrant the investment.
Last February, Gartner predicted that search traffic volume would fall 25% by 2026. It’s too early to validate, but just a few months later, the assumption seems less likely to prove true. AI is good at fast answers, but it is not so good at referring users to find the information they seek, and that appears to be what users want. There is no indication that traditional search is declining. Although AI bots received record initial trials, users lost interest quickly. 2024 new word: AI-fatigue from too many pop-ups and dubious claims.
In enterprise comms, we are mostly seeing incremental benefits related to summarization, which can save some time and drive better insights. Not the revolution in agentless customer service many expected.
New AI-based products such as the rabbit r1 and the Humane AI Pin are better described as concepts.

These changes are a good thing — we need to get past the hype. After all, we’ve been here before. Consider Alexa Skills: Not long ago, the Alexa App Store was the future. How many meeting providers enabled “Alexa, start the meeting”? This month, Amazon effectively killed Alexa Skills. Alexa, along with Siri and Google Assistant, are machine learning (ML) parlor tricks. You can ask them anything, but they can only answer what they know. This asymmetry makes it hard to know what can be asked (or how to ask it). Large language models (LLMs) are different: They answer everything intuitively, sometimes truthfully.

Increasingly, generative AI appears to be a solution that’s looking for a problem. The technology is clearly exciting, but the models aren’t good enough to be relied upon. The race up the slope of enlightenment is on. The resources AI consumes, including chips, power, and all the investment capital, are staggering. A shift is occurring away from the ambiguous benefits generative AI will bring and toward the length and exponentially increasing cost of the slope.

David Danto has joined TalkingPointz and contributed to this Insider Report. He has been an active participant in the video and broadcast sector for his entire career, most recently at HP Poly. I met David a decade or so ago while he was working as a Principal Consultant for Dimension Data specializing in videoconferencing. He has strong options about the space and agreed to share them via TalkingPointz. You will be able to read and watch them on TalkingPointz.com, LinkedIn, and several other places.

General

Net Neutrality Restored: Net Neutrality is back, and no one cares. That’s because nothing noticeably changed in its absence (though this can be explained). Under new management, the same FCC that got rid of it voted to bring it back. Net Neutrality is important and should remain in effect, but it probably won’t. There’s not much more to say or write on this topic.

How it became a left vs. right political issue is more confusing than the actual debate. Political jerseys aside, the real victors of ending net neutrality are the big providers that enjoy charging Americans among the highest rates globally for internet services. The providers are expected to challenge the FCC’s return to common sense in court. That strategy probably won’t work, because the FCC anticipated this outcome and revised its wording to align with recent judgments. More likely the next flip will come from the next set of FCC commissioners. There’s likely no end to this saga.

Byte Me: The US approved its first law on tech regulation. ByteDance must sell or shut down TikTok’s US operations. While most Americans remain utterly shocked that Europe and other markets are attempting to reign in American tech companies, the US took a much stronger stance on Chinese-owned TikTok.

There is no suggestion whatsoever that China could weaponize TikTok any differently than Facebook or Google can their services. The main difference is that Chinese companies must comply with Chinese government “requests,” while US companies just do so voluntarily. It is unclear if this new ban is legal, and ByteDance intends to take it to court. There will be a lot of drama on this for a while until things return to how they were yesterday. #DejaVu.

Teams Numbers: Microsoft announced that there are now more than 1M Teams Rooms. It is so exciting when Microsoft reveals stats, even totally new ones. That’s a lot of rooms. I am curious how many are dedicated. That would be a tougher number to figure out. Most Teams rooms can be rebooted to work with Zoom. (Cisco rooms can work with Webex without a reboot.)

It’s interesting that this is the measure Microsoft chose to share. All this return-to-office nonsense buries the story that it only takes one remote participant to drive a meeting online, not to mention the impending real estate disaster caused by empty office buildings.

Regardless, that’s a lot of MTRs, and it will likely continue to grow. At this point, there are really only four major solutions (Teams, Meet, Webex, and Zoom). Many options are disappearing (Poly and LifeSize). Lots of smaller players with good solutions remain, such as Dialpad and RingCentral.

We also learned that Teams Phone now has 20M PSTN users (up 30% YoY). Microsoft did not share any figures on Teams Phone Mobile adoption—they are surprisingly quiet about that one. As of July 1, the Microsoft Teams Classic app will no longer be supported.

Meta Platform: As anticipated, Meta intends to offer its VR/AR software stack, dubbed “Horizon OS,” to external entities. Meta positions the solution as open, especially compared to the Apple Vision Pro (open to developers but not OEMs). Windows beat Apple in the ’90s by being more open, but Apple’s iOS continues to beat Google’s more open Android. #NotOpenSource. Meta hopes its open play will boost the limited traction it is getting in AR/VR with consumers.

Threads Passed X: Threads now has 150M MAUs (and has overtaken Twitter in the US). Zuck reported 130M last February. The company also plans to release its API to a wide set of developers by June, allowing them to build experiences around the social network.

AI Scheduler: Scheduling is an obvious opportunity for AI. I’ve written several posts lamenting that our calendars are all online, yet scheduling remains a manual time sink, with modern online calendars still mimicking paper-based processes. Reclaim.ai is attempting to reinvent time and task management. It can move commitments based on constraints, learns user patterns, and forces its users to clarify priorities. Let’s hope they can crack the code.

Meetings and Messaging

MS Unbundles Teams: Evidently, Microsoft agreed with me that its attempt to appease Europe with a European-only modification in bundling was silly. So, Microsoft has made its new European model the global model. By that, I mean Microsoft is unbundling Teams globally. Office 365 E1/E3/E5 and Microsoft 365 ME3 and ME5 suites with Teams will no longer be available to new enterprise subscribers worldwide. Instead, those laggards who forgot to subscribe will have to purchase Teams for an additional fee of $5.25/user/mo. In other words, most of the world remains unchanged, and laggards will further increase Microsoft’s revenue.

This all stems from Slack’s 2020 complaint that Microsoft’s bundling of Teams was anticompetitive. That was back when Slack was a competitive threat, today it’s a footnote. The EU promptly responded by opening an investigation in July 2023, and Microsoft agreed to unbundle in the EU in October and now globally. Meanwhile, Teams is less anti-competitive because there are fewer competitors.

Google Cloud Next ’24: The big event in April was Google’s Cloud Next ’24, though it is not particularly big for enterprise comms. Google may be an AI leader, but it’s not leading in UCaaS. At Next, Google announced new generative AI features in Google Meet, such as real-time note-taking and translation capabilities (coming) — features currently available from the likes of Microsoft, Cisco, and Zoom. Google Chat can now support 500K (up from 20K) users in a single chat space (kill me now!). Google Chat interop with other messaging systems, such as Teams and Slack, is now available to all Google Workspace customers. This trick is accomplished via its partnership with Mio (launched in beta last year). As usual, no announcements regarding telephony. As another analyst commented, “These new features and enhancements demonstrate Google's commitment to improving the Google Workspace experience.” I agree, and it’s not good.

Other Workspace news at the event included Google Vids, a new AI-driven video creation and sharing app for the workplace (more on this below), automatic detection and translation of captions for Meet (coming in June), and improved Gmail features for writing emails on mobile. An instant polish feature for emails, done without a prompt, is also coming to Gemini-boosted Gmail. Security improvements also got a nod with a new AI Security add-on that allows IT staff to automatically find, classify, and protect sensitive files on Google Drive.

Zooming: The latest new version of Zoom — announced at last month’s Enterprise Connect — is now available for download/update. The team of evangelists at Zoom have been posting all over social that “this is an update you really shouldn’t miss — even if you don’t usually update.” The new format adds a bunch of new features and rearranges some icons to new places on many of the screens. For example, the “end meeting” button is now in a stop sign-like red hexagon in the lower right - or sometimes a stick figure running for an exit. Zoom is making a very big deal of the fact that you can use Workplace as your primary hub, even if you are a Microsoft or Google user. (I loved the idea of making the Zoom calendar my central one to aggregate all my other ones, but sadly, you can only add one Google calendar account to the app — a limitation that is clearly a miss.) While Zoom is pushing the idea of users updating ASAP, their partner integrations are also updating. For one example, Liminal’s ZoomISO has added support for other devices such as AJA Video Systems, Blackmagic Desktop Video, and others. A new Liminal app (Tiles) for customization and branding is also heading toward beta access, and other Liminal apps are now included in the Zoom Events platform. DJD

Slack AI: Slack AI is now available to all on paid plans. Slack AI has been around since February but is now available with some new features, including recaps, search answers functionality, and conversation summaries. More languages are also supported (Spanish, Japanese, and English).

Videobars, the Next Generation: Neat has released a new iteration of the Neat Bar that features a more streamlined design. It also sports a five-microphone array for voice pickup, four microphones for camera tracking, an advanced audio processing algorithm, a wide-angle 50MP camera, fast video … and, of course, AI. An updated TalkingPointz review and evaluation of the Neat Bar 2 with Neat Center is coming soon.

Customer Engagement

The Impending CCaaS Bloodbath: I wrote a top-of-mind post on LI that generated a lot of interest. “It’s not all about features. If you are evaluating #ContactCenter and #CCaaS solutions, another key consideration is if the provider will survive the impending bloodbath that will take place in a year or so. Most won’t.”

Consolidation is going to occur in CX very soon. There are simply too many vendors and too many changes occurring. Realistically, there are 50 vendors in the #CX space, closer to 100 with broader definitions. The space is under pressure from several adjacencies, including CRM and other enterprise apps. The traditional moats protecting the vendors, such as specialized hardware or esoteric telecom expertise, are disappearing. The hypervisors are circling like vultures. They have the AI and, often, the needed enterprise data to use it. The conversational channels are rapidly shifting to apps like WhatsApp. I also observe that generative AI — a technology no CCaaS provider owns or controls — is dominating the CX conversation.

Everything is changing quickly. The core tech, user expectations, barriers to entry, channels, vendor landscape, and more mean that surviving the bloodbath will require management acumen, agility, luck, and a lot of cash.

Verint and Webex by Cisco: Cisco introduced Verint Open Platform’s Data Hub to its Webex Contact Center customers. The Data Hub centralizes behavioral data from various sources and third-party tools, transforming siloed data into meaningful insights. Compared to building a data lake, the Data Hub streamlines data integration, enabling real-time use cases and unlocking new value.

The pattern to recognize here is that both Verint and Cisco keep making relevant announcements in contact center. Verint continues to align with just about every provider that isn’t NICE, and Cisco is clearly focused on Webex Contact Center.

Intercom Fin AI Copilot: Intercom introduced a Copilot (clever name — does anyone realize aviation copilots don’t do much?) for its agents, which fetches relevant info from managed/restricted content sources, including past conversations.

Google Vertex AI Agent Builder: At Cloud Next, Google introduced a no-code tool to build AI agents. Unlike the previous generation of chatbots, these agents can do more than simply answer questions. These agents are intended to interact with back-end systems. The tool is based on Google’s Vertex AI Search and Conversation product, Gemini, RAG APIs, and vector search, which helps reduce hallucinations. The company believes its new approach will improve answer quality through a process called grounding. Similar to Adobe’s Firefly and GenStudio, this tool allows building any type of agent, but the question arises whether off-the-shelf solutions may be more efficient. The new capabilities are already available and support multiple languages and country-based API endpoints in the US and EU.

Five9 & Zendesk: Five9 introduced enhanced integrations with Zendesk Talk Partner Edition, supporting features from the latest Zendesk release that bring relevant and contextual data to agents via Voice Comment and Standard Call Object. This integration will also make it easier to leverage Five9’s AI capabilities for guidance, transcriptions, and summaries.

Zendesk/Anthropic/AWS: Zendesk announced that it will use Amazon Bedrock and Claude 3 to boost its AI.

Calabrio Bot Analytics: Focused on QM, the new Bot Analytics tool suite tracks the performance and quality of voice and chatbots, delivering data on chatbot responsiveness, resolution, and CX scoring. Virtual agent conversation analytics, NLU model performance evaluation, and AI-driven topic segmentation are also in the mix.

Kore.ai Experience Optimization Platform: New enhancements to the Kore.ai Experience Optimization (XO) Platform (version 11.0) aim to get companies on AI. The release includes a unified, single interface across all the Kore.ai integrated products, agent assistance, and outbound campaigns. The platform incorporates multi-LLM GenAI, XO GPT models, and advanced RAG.

8x8 CC Updates: 8x8 Engage, Proactive Outreach, and Supervisor Workspace got an interface revamp that personalizes metrics and queue views. 8x8 Smart Channel Routing integrates new messaging channels (one-time password messages can be routed to WhatsApp and Zalo).

Unified Communications

NEC Exiting Premises-Based UC: NEC will be exiting the premises-based PBX business in all markets except Japan. For the record, not a single PBX leader successfully made the transition to UCaaS without a major acquisition (Cisco and Microsoft). Most of the PBX leaders from 20 years ago are gone. That said, NEC’s 2024 exit from the space is odd. We are past the bloodbath, and Mitel and Avaya are back to growth. It’s especially odd considering that NEC intends to continue in Japan.

The primary benefactor is Intermedia — at least, that’s the intent. NEC partnered with Intermedia to create UNIVERGE BLUE. It’s proven to be a good partnership, and Intermedia will undoubtedly see a spike in interest. NEC is directing its customers to UNIVERGE BLUE. Of course, many other UCaaS providers will also target those customers globally.

Some NEC customers will use this as an incentive to move to UCaaS, but as we’ve found with ALE, Avaya, Cisco, Genesys, and Mitel, many organizations have no intent to migrate to a cloud-delivered solution. NEC has not provided a migration path for these customers — though that can still happen. More in this NoJitter post.

8x8 Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams: Operator Connect is clearly superior to Direct Routing for both customers and partners, but Microsoft lowered the limbo bar for partners even lower. Now, with MS offering 99.999% SLA (they completely skipped 99.99%), partners will have to bend over backward even more to win customers. 8x8 shifted quickly to Operator Connect and announced native Operator Connect services with direct peering to Azure, a familiar user experience, and improved provision and management from Teams. Available through an invitation-only preview in 8x8’s Early Access Program.

RingCentral Upgrades RingSense: RingCentral keeps the pedal to the metal regarding its RingSense platform play. This month, RingCentral introduced new features that let users build workflows without code. With RingSense AI APIs, users can generate transcriptions and “speaker diarization” for audio and video recordings. A new video API and SDK allow developers to integrate live video meetings into their apps. Social messaging APIs let developers integrate with nine social media platforms. The new Workflow Builder enables users to create custom and automated workflows to improve workplace efficiency and customer experiences. These new APIs are currently available in beta to RingCentral Video Pro+ and RingEX customers, free of charge.

Enreach & HP: Enreach has certified Poly Edge E-series desk phones into Enreach UP for Service Providers.

Audio and Visual

With David Danto joining TalkingPointz, we are adding a new section on AV to the Insider Report.

AI-Produced Videos: Google announced that Google Vids will be released to users of Google Workspace in June. Vids can automatically complete all steps of creating a video, including writing, graphics, narration, production, and editing. Google claims it pieces your draft idea together for you as if it were a whole production team — minus the bickering and takeout food. The announcement was part of a number of AI enhancements that will soon be available (for $10 per month per user for each) to Google Workspace users.

Vids will not be the only service that uses AI to automatically create videos. Some other examples available today include SundaySky, VideoGen, and 10KM.ai (which was introduced at CES 2024.) However, so far, Vids is the only one that will be available as a bolt-on to an office productivity suite. Don’t bet that the others won’t pick up the gauntlet. Vids is aiming to be a content creation engine that informs in a more entertaining way than slides ever could. Google wants you to use Vids instead of PowerPoint, claiming it’s easier to create with, easier to use AI to help create, and more compelling and impactful to watch. AI-created videos can become a Pandora’s box of issues, with questions about who owns the content, where it can be used (as more platforms are beginning to create rules for the use of AI-created content), and whose jobs it replaces. More to come as we keep an eye on these applications.

IPMX — a New AV Over IP: Without diving into the weeds, a new standard of AV over IP (including control, security, management, and more) has been formally released. Companies including Matrox, Netgear, Bosch, Canon, Panasonic, Barco, and more have signed up as members of the AIMS Alliance to support and incorporate the release of the new standard. It has the potential to replace HDbaseT, SDVoE, and HDMI in production and enterprise applications. This is a feature compatibility to be aware of as future products come to market. I wonder which of the events solutions (RingCentral, Webex, or Zoom) will be the first to embrace IPMX in the products they certify for their various production studio applications.

Large Displays With Pantone Colorimetry: At the just-concluded NAB 2024 conference, Neoti showed what they describe as the world’s first “direct view LED displays to be Pantone validated and Pantone SkinTone validated.” Getting colors correct, and getting all displays and display components to look the same, has always made the setup and operation of multiple displays more complicated than it should be. This is the first time Pantone has stepped into the large-format display discussion. (In the Enterprise, these are generally the displays used in boardrooms, large conference rooms, common area signage, and more.) Marketing professionals who care about the Pantone color palette will likely embrace this new certification. Competitors in the large-display space will likely try to explain why they believe their products are still better.

New Bundles Coming to Market: About five years ago, the all-in-one videobar usurped the small and medium room videoconferencing market from multiple component integrations, but now component manufacturers are attempting to regain a foothold in the space by partnering and bundling their gear. Sony and Nureva have taken their components to the market as buddies. Their bundles ostensibly give users the best of both worlds — Nureva’s microphone and speakerbar for audio, and Sony’s PTZ camera to get the kind of close-ups that bars can’t (yet) in larger spaces. It remains to be seen how users respond to this un-simplification, but bundles always make distributors' and channel partners’ lives easier.

Another new bundle is Neat working with audio company Shure. They announced they have “joined forces to bring you seamless integration” between their Neat Bar Pro and multiple Shure Microflex audio systems. This, of course, raises a question: If you take an all-in-one videobar device and add a center-of-room camera, a few ceiling microphones, a smattering of ceiling speakers, and some outboard audio processing, is it still OK to market it as an all-in-one videobar? The pendulum swings back toward the complexity that videobars removed.

InfoComm24: TalkingPointz will be at Infocomm in mid-June. Infocomm is a unique show that has some overlap with Enterprise Connect but has more focus in the world of AV. This will be about the 30th time Dave Danto attends, and he is looking forward to some announcements from Barco, Crestron, DTEN, HP-Poly, Q-SYS, and many others. The latest version of Huddly Crew will also be on demo. To our knowledge, Huddly Crew is the first AI-based, multi-camera room system that truly emulates TV directors by adding automatic reaction shots. Coping in the world of AI hype will certainly be on display everywhere at the conference, with some innovative uses and some BS marketing bolt-ons (think AI toothpaste …). Please contact [email protected] to schedule briefings.

Carriers and CPaaS

Sendbird Business Messaging: Messaging and notification services remain critical and are slowly evolving into robust platforms. This month, Sendbird introduced an omnichannel messaging solution that offers SMS push, WhatsApp, and in-app notifications. Three key features: no-code notification builder, campaign builder combining audience channels and delivery strategy, and analytics. Beta customers claim increased open rates.

Infobip and Oracle: Infobip deepened its relationship with Oracle by becoming an independent software vendor (ISV), giving it access to the Oracle Integration Cloud. Additionally, Oracle added Infobip’s solutions to its Cloud Marketplace.

8x8 CPaaS: 8x8 announced three new CPaaS features to strengthen its CCaaS suite: SMS integration with CleverTap, self-registration for WhatsApp Business accounts, and SMS Sender ID on 8x8 Connect.

IntelePeer and OpenAI: IntelePeer integrated with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to embed OpenAI GPT into its communications platform and intelligent virtual agent (IVA). This could be interesting because it potentially brings automation capabilities to CPaaS messaging. IntelePeer is positioning it for customer service, but I don’t believe generative AI should be used for customer-facing use cases with current models.

Life After CPaaS: Jeff Lawson, the recently departed CEO of Twilio, resurfaced as the new owner of The Onion. Lawson joins Bezos (WA Post), Benioff (Time), Powell-Jobs (The Atlantic), Kushner (Life), and Soon-Shiong (LA Times) in the billionaire-becoming-publisher trend. Lawson claims that he has always enjoyed The Onion and believes the brand and its satirical approach have untapped opportunities. I think it’s great, wish him the best, and expect he will appreciate working at a private company.

The Business Section

Presidio Acquired: Clayton Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) and BC Partners announced a definitive agreement for funds affiliated with CD&R to acquire a majority ownership position in Presidio from BC Partners. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Presidio is a leading provider of IT and digital solutions with over 6,660 customers, partnerships with leading technology providers, and 3,500 team members. It offers a comprehensive suite of solutions to help customers keep pace with digital transformation, security needs, and workplace demands.

Intermedia Refinances: Intermedia completed a $345M refinance of its balance sheet, giving it more flexibility for business investment and an extended maturity timeline. Just in time to go after that abandoned NEC base!

C1 Restructured: ConvergeOne, rebranded as C1, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure its balance sheet and receive fresh equity. The company has been negotiating with creditors to reduce its debt and is seeking support for a pre-packaged Chapter 11 filing. Vendors are expected to be paid in full, and ConvergeOne will receive additional funding from existing lenders and current shareholder CVC Capital Partners. The company has been facing challenges due to supply chain problems, rising interest rates, and operational issues.

Leadership Changes

Dave Danto joined TalkingPointz and will broaden coverage of collaboration and enterprise AV.

Talkdesk has promoted Miles Ennis to Senior VP of Worldwide Sales. Ennis formerly held the VP Sales Americas position for about a year. The company also announced its new CTO, Munil Shah. Shah has had stints at UiPath and Microsoft and brings cloud automation and AI experience.

Google Cloud announced Jerry Dischler, President of Cloud Applications, will be responsible for augmenting SaaS applications, developing new applications, and rethinking others in an AI-first world. One goal is to expand the focus on users (vs. developers) with low/no-code tools and out-of-the-box solutions. Among his direct reports is Kevin Shatzkamer (Conversational AI Incubation & Delivery), who leads CCAI.

T-Mobile for Business has named Mo Katibeh as CMO. Katibeh was at AT&T for 20 years before his recent stop at RingCentral, where he served as COO. Jennifer Lee has been named Co-CEO of Intradiem. Lee has been with the company for a while, most recently as President/COO. Cresta has named Russell Banzon as its new CMO. Banzon came from Gong and, before that, Talkdesk.

Bill Dunnion has been appointed Chief Information Security Officer at Mitel. Dunnion has been in IT and cybersecurity roles at Calian Ltd, 2Keys Security Solutions, and Bell Canada.

Noah Desai Weiss, the Chief Product Officer for Slack, has stepped down. In the interim, product strategy will be led by Slack CEO Denise Dresser and CTO Parker Harris. Byron Deeter is retiring from the Twilio board after serving about 14 years. Twilio’s board will shrink to nine directors. The company also announced it will request board approval to declassify the board and have directors elected to one-year terms.

Futurum Group’s Practice Lead for Workplace Collaboration, Craig Durr, has moved on to something else TBD.

Goodreads

Navigating the Challenges and Opportunities of Synthetic Voices Microsoft shares a preview of its Voice Engine model.
Scoop: Congress bans staff use of Microsoft's AI Copilot Copilot will be removed from and blocked on all House Windows devices, as the application is deemed a threat to leaking House data to non-House-approved cloud services.
HR’s Broadly An Absolute Train Wreck The next wave of HR will involve HR as a “Big Data” center. HR has information on hire date, how hired, time to hire, opening salary, performance reviews (if they do those), etc. They basically have a full rundown of company cradle to company grave.
Large language models can do jaw-dropping things. But nobody knows exactly why Figuring out why deep learning works could unlock the next generation of LLMs — as well as reduce their formidable risks.
Will A.I. Boost Productivity? Companies Sure Hope So Economists doubt that artificial intelligence is already visible in productivity data. Big companies, however, talk often about adopting it to improve efficiency.
A new bill would try to make tools like Zoom and Teams work together securely Proposed Secure and Interoperable Government Collaboration Technology Act will encourage video and messaging tools used by the federal government to interoperate with high security standards.
The Fried Chicken Is in New York. The Cashier Is in the Philippines. Zoom servers? Some restaurants in NY are trying virtual staff members to greet customers, take calls and orders, and coordinate deliveries.
The US Government Has a Microsoft Problem Microsoft’s history of security issues is catching up to it, and the government’s over-reliance on the company’s products is getting a closer look.
Apple Plans to Overhaul Entire Mac Line With AI-Focused M4 Chips Apple is preparing to overhaul its entire line with a new family of in-house processors designed to highlight artificial intelligence.
Vision Pro brings a new era of spatial computing to business Apple’s take on enterprise use cases for the Vision Pro.
Meta says Llama 3 beats most other models, including Gemini Meta blog post says the latest generation of its LLM LLama is performing better than similar models in certain benchmarking tests.
What it will take for telcos to unlock value from network APIs Network APIs offer telcos a chance to finally generate sizable returns on their massive 5G investments, but doing so will require changing some of their traditional ways of doing business.
Meta’s License to Spend on AI Gets Checked Perhaps spending billions on AI with no clear plan of returns isn’t so logical.

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By Dave Michels

Dave is an independent analyst and founder of TalkingPointz which is focused on enterprise communications. In addition to this (free and paid) content on TalkingPointz, he contributes to industry sites, can be found at major industry events, and provides advisory services to vendors and financial analysts.