A bit delayed. I can usually get the EC note out in April. Instead, I focused on getting out the Research Note on Conversational AI, then came the Sprinklr analyst event, and then I got sick. But here it is – all 14 pages. The Deep Thoughts section (section 10) starts on page 7.

1. Introduction

1. Enterprise Connect is the largest industry event for the enterprise communications industry. The themes, speakers, and technologies change yearly — sometimes more than others. 
2. March 2023 was the first “normal” EC since 2019, with the return of its full M-Th schedule. However, 2023 felt smaller, as many organizations continue to restrict travel. Although the industry fared well during the pandemic, conferences still have not fully recovered. 
3. No official attendance reports have been provided. Organizations and individuals remain cautious about travel, but the industry seemed well represented (vendors, analysts, and consultants). It was essential and gratifying to see (and meet) so many colleagues. 
4. The EC conference is an excellent snapshot of the industry regarding topics, technologies, and vendors receiving the most attention. This allows us to observe shifts and trends on a year-to-year basis. We can also see changes in the exposition hall regarding topics and vendors present. 

2. EC23 Awards

• Best of EC Awards

1. 1. There was a tie for Best of Show for the first time: Bandwidth and Theta Lake. Best of Show candidates are the Best of Enterprise Connect category winners. Bandwidth’s Maestro won the Cloud Communications category. Theta Lake won the Collaboration Security category. 
      1. Bandwidth’s Maestro is a next-generation cloud communications platform integrating best-in-class real-time voice apps across UC, CC, and AI solutions — expected to be generally available in Q3-23. 
      2. Theta Lake was recognized for its latest release of its Risk and Compliance Suite, which provides compliance and security for collaboration platforms. 
   2. Most Innovative Use of AI and Best Innovation in Customer Experience were awarded to Poly Company for its Customer-Led Conversational Assistant, an AI-driven, voice-focused customer service assistant.
   3. Best Innovation for Employee Experience Management was awarded to Vyopta. It’s a User Insights product, available to all customers of the company’s business collaboration monitoring and analytics product. 
   4. Best Innovation for Accessibility was awarded to Zoom for its Virtual Agent that can live transcribe conversations for the hearing impaired. 

• Innovation Showcase

1. 1. The theme for the Innovation Showcase this year was Collaboration Reinvented. The judges were Jon Arnold, Dom Kent, and Venkat Kandhari. 
   2. We expected new takes on UCaaS, or how it would be invented today, including project management or elements of enterprise social. The responses were far more varied than expected. 
   3. The spirit of the showcase is to introduce new vendors to the EC audience. Learn more about the Showcase and all six companies in this NoJitter post.
   4. The companies are listed below, and the links go to a short video interview at EC23. 
      1. Callroute
      2. ConnX
      3. Humantelligence
      4. Mobeus
      5. SIPPIO
      6. TekVizion

Full report 14 pages