Research Radar: 2018
If this past year is any indication, we are in for another whirlwind year of surprises and major changes in the fast-evolving business communications space. It’s that time again. Another year has gone by, and we look back to see…
Unify’s OpenScape Cloud: A Q&A
Recently, Unify (a division of the European IT service company Atos) released the OpenScape Cloud service, an integration of the company’s Circuit team collaboration software-as-a-service (SaaS) application and its OpenScape Voice solution as a single cloud-based service. Each solution on…
Tuesday Keynotes (Apple, Slack)
Last Tuesday there were two events with keynotes: Apple and Slack. Both left me whelmed. Let’s start with Apple. The big reveal of the iPhone X was a big disappointment. Let me count the ways. Apple has more leaks than…
Atlassian Stride Rhubarb
Atlassian launched a new workstream messaging app called Stride. Rhubarb, Rhubarb. This is a totally new messaging app that fosters team collaboration with persistent messages, rhubarb, integrated video rhubarb, and light workflow management tools. It will soon replace HipChat. Atlassian, despite…
Fuze Streamlines User Packages
Fuze, a Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) provider based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, recently streamlined its user packages down to two offerings to help simplify its multi-tenant UCaaS offer for mid-size and larger businesses. By pricing the solution as a…
Avaya’s Zang Office UCaaS
About a year ago (in March 2016), Avaya entered into the cloud-based communications platform-as-a-service market, announcing the new Zang subsidiary and new application development environment where developers and end users can build and deploy custom communications-enabled applications for mobile devices,…
On Our Radar for 2017
The challenges and requirements of the modern workplace are bringing about the need for new business communications solutions. Today, knowledge workers are likely to be spread among different locations, with many working remotely from a home office or frequently on…
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…
Facebook Jumps the Shark
Facebook Workplace is Facebook’s new enterprise service. The company is going to attempt to expand from its consumer social-app that is associated with wasted time and cat videos to an enterprise communications and collaboration tool associated with productivity. Good luck…
I chat on WeChat
I am biased because I spend a lot of my life in Asia. But it is no wonder to me why WeChat is such a popular messaging service. In Asia I never, ever run into anybody that isn’t on WeChat….
Getting the Message
Over the past several months I’ve been using Cisco Spark and Unify Circuit for projects and communications. Here’s a few take-aways from the experience. I get it. There’s a reason why messaging apps (Facebook Messenger, Line, WeChat, Hangouts, Snapchat, and more)…
Blab with @DisruptiveDean on BroadSoft and Intellinote
BroadSoft announced it acquired Intellinote – this is part of its Project Tempo vision announced last Fall. Adding Workstream Messaging to the UCaaS mix is a good move. I wrote about it earlier this week here. Dean Bubbly of Disruptive…
BroadSoft Fixes Project Tempo
Last Fall BroadSoft announced a slick new concept called Project Tempo. It was a collection of APIs that made the BroadSoft UC experience much more useful. What many people don’t realize that that APIs are actually more useful than clients….
PureCloud FY2015
I’ve said before that Interactive PureCloud is the sleeper among these new workstream communications and collaboration (WCC) services. That’s because of Interactive’s willingness to think outside its box. Interactive is one of the very few UC vendors that still has its founder,…
The Workstream Team in UC
I’ve written before that collaborative messaging apps and UC are on a collision course. I believe that Workstream Communication and Collaboration (WCC) will replace UC as the killer app for group collaboration. There are several UC firms that are already…
Blabbing with Zeus
Zeus and I lost our virginity together – we did our first Blab. Blab is where video conferencing and social media intersect. We talked about Workstream Communications and Collaboration and jointly addressed several questions and topics including: How is WCC different…
Workstream Communications and Collaboration
The transition from voice to UC was the first show. The next show is UC to WCC. Workstream Communications and Collaboration is a new form of communication that starts with group messaging and blends in real-time and other asynchronous communications. While…
Why the Slack Bubble Will Burst
Slack is a fascinating phenomenon. The company was only launched 16 months ago. Last April, it reported 750k “active users.” It is a freemium business application with an unusually high conversion rate (+25% of its users pay for services). Slack…