Key Issues Heading Into Enterprise ConnectKey Issues Heading Into Enterprise Connect
From the cloud to mobility, real-time communications, SIP trunking and more, enterprises have a lot to consider as they plan their ways forward.
January 7, 2016
From the cloud to mobility, real-time communications, SIP trunking and more, enterprises have a lot to consider as they plan their ways forward.
Planning the program for Enterprise Connect is a real exercise in getting down in the weeds: Trying to condense and synthesize what folks have been telling us and writing on No Jitter for the past year. As the New Year turned over, I finally had a chance to step back and look at what I think it all amounts to -- where we're at in enterprise communications as we go into 2016.
Here's the list I came up with as some of the most important issues that we face, and which will make up a good chunk of what we'll be addressing at the show March 7-10 at the Gaylord Palms hotel in Orlando:
The biggest strategic vendors in communications say the delivery model is moving from CPE to the cloud. They're going at different paces, with different business models and technology architectures. There's Microsoft bringing Skype for Business into Office 365. There's Cisco buying Tropo and positioning the Spark application as the front end of a cloud service that's custom-built for collaboration. The rest of the incumbents have their cloud stories, too, while pure-play UC- as-a-service (UCaaS) providers like 8x8 and RingCentral are trying to crack the market as well.
The industry is moving into a time of transition and, hopefully, innovation. It's been three years since the end users on our opening General Session panel agreed unanimously that they hoped not to buy another PBX. But the question of what comes next has yet to be fully answered. Navigating the transition and getting to the next phase will be more complex than any transition the industry has been through previously.
I hope you can join us in Orlando. If you haven't already, please check out the event and register here by Friday, Jan. 8, to save an additional $200 off the advance rate. This special discount, available using the code NJPOST for those signing up for an entire event pass or Tuesday through Thursday conference pass, represents a total savings of $900 off the onsite price! Plus, register three or more attendees from your company for even bigger savings.
