Connecting at Enterprise Connect

By my count, 2024 marks the 12th year I will be presenting an independent overview of Microsoft's communication and collaboration tools at Enterprise Connect.

Back in 2012 when I first presented, a key focus was on connecting voice and data onto a single IP network. This was seen as a little bit of magic. It was the era of separate IT and PBX teams; people debated who should "own" voice, as if voice was a unique medium. Certainly the "IT people" running the servers initially did not understand the needs of real-time media such as voice.

In 2012 many thought Microsoft could never deliver reliable voice, even as hands-on, pragmatic testing demonstrated it could be done.

I would suggest that the "Connect" in Enterprise Connect initially, and for many years, represented technology connections: data+voice, application integrations, federation.

Now It Is About the People

While understanding how to connect the appropriate technologies is still something you can learn more about at EC24, for me, over the past several years, and certainly last year post-pandemic, it is the opportunity to connect with a wide variety of people that makes Enterprise Connect special.

Enterprise Connect brings together all of the leading communication, collaboration, and contact center vendors. This is not a "rah rah" single vendor conference; but rather, a mash-up of engaged and intelligent professionals with different views on many important topics: AI, analytics, best-of-breed versus best-of-suite, cloud versus on-prem, etc.

The show floor is filled with competing vendors making it easy to get a "pitch" from one immediately followed by a "pitch" from another.

But for me, it is the pre and post session conversations that are most educational. It is the questions asked by enterprise customers that focus on real-world business benefits; this year I expect lots of questions related to the use cases and measurable benefits from AI.

It is also the chance to reconnect with fellow consultants and analysts. As a member of the BCStrategies.com Experts group, I welcome the opportunity to connect in person with the other Experts, who are collectively participating in 17 Enterprise Connect sessions! (List here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/bcstrategies_ec24-activity-7153028714832781312-K6Qe)

This year the agenda has a number of topical meetups designed to facilitate networking: Schedule | Enterprise Connect.

Also, the Monday night opening reception sponsored by RingCentral and the Wednesday night conference party sponsored by Twilio are great places to catchup in a more informal setting.

Let's Connect

If you are attending Enterprise Connect at the end of March, I would welcome the opportunity to connect at one of my two presentations:

MICROSOFT TEAMS COPILOT: IS IT READY FOR YOUR ENTERPRISE (AND ARE YOU READY FOR IT)?

Monday, March 25, 2024: 9:00 - 9:45 am

I'll be providing the latest independent assessment of Teams and Copilot and discussing factors that help determine for whom it makes sense to pay $30/user/month for a Copilot for M365 license.

Complete session details here.

NAVIGATING THE LLM LANDSCAPE: UNDERSTANDING AND LEVERAGING AI-POWERED FEATURES

Wednesday, March 27, 2024: 2:00 - 2:45 pm

Brent Kelly and I will be discussing Cisco's 网迅 AI Assistant, Zoom 's AI Companion, 谷歌 's Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot . We will be focusing on how to best leverage whatever AI(s) your organization has deployed. We will also cover best practices and challenges.

Full session details here.

If you are are "on the fence" about attending, when you register you can use registration code Kieller400 to save $400 off conference passes.

Connecting 1:1 at Enterprise Connect

If you are an organization looking for expert help to develop your unified communications and collaboration strategy, could benefit from experienced Teams Voice implementation coaching, or wanting to optimize your Teams environment with respect to quality, reliability, user satisfaction, or licensing through analytics, please setup an in-person meeting with me using the link below.

If you are a vendor looking for strategy, messaging, or unique content creation, you can use the same link to schedule an in-person meeting.

https://outlook.office365.com/book/[email protected]/ (BTW, this uses the Microsoft O365 Bookings app that not enough people know about.)

Connecting Digitally Pre or Post Conference

Of course, not everyone is able to attend Enterprise Connect in person; the Gaylord Palms can only accomodate so many people.

Look for post-event summaries from myself and the BCStrategies team and feel free to reach out.

While I love technology and what it can do when properly applied, I am grateful that a large part of the connecting at Enterprise Connect is focused around the people.

Kevin Kieller co-founded enableUC, to help organizations successfully leverage Microsoft collaboration, communication, and cloud technologies.

Kevin and his team help vendors better understand the market, position their products, and make the most of the Microsoft ecosystem.

He helps large and medium-sized organizations select and successfully implement and leverage Microsoft technologies, with a strong focus on communication, training, and using analytics to drive adoption and deliver measurable business outcomes. He believes there are large benefits every organization can unlock with proper analysis and guidance.

Kevin has led the development of numerous technology strategies for medium and large organizations, served as Bell Canada's lead UC strategist, developed new practice offerings for Softchoice (Softchoice.com), and advised hardware and software companies interested in expanding within the Microsoft ecosystem. He is a member of the elite BCStrategies Experts team.

Kevin fell in love with technology developing video games for the VIC-20 and Commodore 64. In 2021, he returned to his software development roots, overseeing the design and development of Trivia Engine for Teams, a knowledge reinforcement solution that uses gamification and an engaging "quiz show" format.