Do E-Boards Foster or Hinder Collaboration?
“I believe whiteboards are an evil presence in meetings … Simply going to the board and picking up a pen changes the whole dynamic of meeting ownership, agenda, control and creates a power-dynamic that is pretty hostile to collaboration.” These…
Microsoft Teams: Two Steps Forward
At Microsoft Ignite this week, and there’s lots of interesting announcements. Ignite is Microsoft’s biggest conference of the year. It is aimed at IT Pros. Also here in Orlando, Microsoft is concurrently hosting Envision aimed at IT Decision Makers. Tons…
Microsoft versus Cisco: A Classic Three-card Monte Con
If you are spending time debating between Cisco and Microsoft communications solutions, you are likely falling victim to the classic three-card monte con. The Three-Card Monte Con The three-card monte con is simple. A dealer places three cards face down…
Thoughts on Microsoft’s #EC17 Keynote
SfB saw very few improvements over the past year, so I was curious as to how Microsoft would fill its keynote slot at Enterprise Connect. The speaker, Ron Markezich, is new to me. The former CIO is a CVP within…
Surface Pro Winning Mac Fans?
There’s a very popular news story this week about the Surface Pro computers winning over Macbook Pro customers. From The Verge Microsoft has been targeting Mac users with its Surface commercials recently, and it appears they might be paying off….
MS Teams With Andrei Soroker (podcast)
When it comes to messaging apps, Andrei is a pro. I tracked him down to get his take on MS Teams. Andrei Soroker is the cofounder and CEO of Sameroom, an interoperability platform for real-time communication services, like Skype, Slack,…
Microsoft Teams Arrives – Free 2Pager
When I describe Workstream Messaging I inevitably make a reference to Slack. That’s about to change as most of the world is about to discover the concept from Microsoft with its newest offer: Microsoft Teams. There was a rumor sometime ago…
iSchadenfreude
Finally – Apple is falling. I take a little joy in this post because it’s been hard being a PC type during the rise of Apple. I will be the first to admit that Apple devices have offered a superior…
UC and Conferencing
Does UC include conferencing? The vendor pitch is always yes, but in reality conferencing is often acquired separately. My wife just started work at a new company and on her first day she was given a Skype for Business account…
Post Ignite #Skype4B 2Pager
I was really looking forward to attending Microsoft Ignite. No other UC product has impacted the enterprise more than Skype4B. The product was on a fairly linear development path that started with basic IM over a decade ago. But things accelerated over…
The Explosion After Ignite
This week was Microsoft Ignite – its now annual conference for IT Pros. I will be posting more about Ignite soon, including a new 2Pager next week. The week’s biggest Skype4B news wasn’t really at Ignite. News is spreading now that both…
Logitech Materializes Project Rigel
Microsoft continues to improve the Skype for Business video experience. Recent updates include the launch of the Surface Hub, broadcast and translation services, international POPs for conferencing, the upcoming ability for multinational organizations to keep meetings regionalized, and now a new…
What Happened to Skype?
Everyone uses Skype. That’s why MS bought it. But something is terribly wrong. I use Skype on multiple devices, and it’s no longer in-sync. My laptop is marking lots of conversations as unread, even though I read them – even…
A Fork in Avaya’s Road
There is quite a bit of speculation about Avaya’s near term future. As you may recall Avaya announced plans to evaluate options regarding its capital structure. I wrote about this here. Based on gossip and chatter, it seems that something…
Skype Meetings Simplifies Confuses
It was too good to last. Microsoft had it all nicely organized. There was Skype – the consumer app that everyone knew and Skype for Business (SfB). Lync was a great name, but for those unfamiliar with Lync the quickest…
Why I Don’t Like My Surface Pro
I got my Surface Pro 3 in the Spring of 2014. I ordered it before they were were shipping. Microsoft has done well with these machines. They are very popular and it seems most people I see with them really…
Newz Snippets Spring-2016
Sometimes being succinct, yet thorough, and presenting details without fluff and hype is refreshing. Here, we round-up recent advancements around business telephony and unified communications products and services – in a brief, quick-take type of format. Read about some of…
Similarities and Differences in Rowan and Zig Keynotes #EC16
I find it interesting how similar and dissimilar the Microsoft and Cisco keynotes were at Enterprise Connect 2016. The two tech giants have overlapping messages and visions with entirely different approaches; visions and objectives. Both spokesmen are pros and they…
Microsoft’s Skype for Business Cloud PBX
Microsoft has introduced a new premium Office 365 Enterprise Suite subscription plan called E5 that adds enterprise voice features to its hosted service, Office 365. Microsoft’s new E5 bundle makes it possible for businesses to use Office 365 as their…
Tough Week due to Redmond
Obviously this didn’t happen all happen in the same week, but it hit me all in the same week – last week. Before I start shitting on Microsoft – let’s be clear that I’m allowed. I’m a PC – I don’t have…