Futurum Tech Webcast

At Enterprise Connect 2023 held in Orlando last week, Shelly Kramer had the opportunity to chat with Salesforce's Ryan Nichols, SVP & GM of Contact Center as part of our Futurum Live! From the Show Floor video interview series.

Her conversation with Ryan was terrific and centered on the following:

* This is a contact center show – what is Salesforce doing at Enterprise Connect?

* Thoughts on what customers are looking for in Salesforce as it relates to all things customer engagement

* What companies are thinking about — and perhaps should be considering — as they are considering utilizing and/or maximizing Salesforce's offerings (including Data Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Contact Center, etc.) and how these all can be woven together to help customers deliver on the customer experience front.

In this episode of our Live! From the Show Floor Video Series, Shelly Kramer had the chance to sit down at Enterprise Connect 2023 this week with Zoom's Global CIO Gary Sorrentino as part of our Futurum Live! From the Show Floor video series for a quick catch up. Our conversation revolved around the following:

• Zoom's evolution from a killer app to a killer platform has been the company's focus over the course of the last year or so. Gary shared thoughts on how this process has been and what he's thinking about ahead.
• We talked a little about the future of work and how that's evolving, and where he and the team at Zoom are heading on that front.
• And of course, we talked about AI. Like many vendors here at Enterprise Connect, Zoom has been developing AI since the early days, it's not a new thing by any stretch. Given the rapid rise of generative AI and all the buzz around ChatGPT and others in the space, we talked a little about Zoom is going with AI and what's ahead.

This is a great conversation you don't want to miss!

In this episode of our Live! From the Show Floor Video Series, here at Enterprise Connect 2023 in Orlando, Futurum's Shelly Kramer sits down with Geoff Huang, VP Solutions & Product Marketing for a quick catch-up on Webex by Cisco's many announcements this week.

This included:

• Webex's devices portfolio driving re-imagined workplaces
• The ability to create a meeting room out of any space with meeting zones
• Changing a collaboration space into an AI-powered meeting zone to help remove distracting background noises
• Cisco's exciting vision for the future with Cinematic Meetings — think of a conference room equipped with multiple cameras controlled with powerful video intelligence capabilities
• Optimized collaboration delivered by Cisco's Webex Suite

Geoff also shared thoughts on what's happening from an industry perspective and some of the insights he's gained over the course of the last few days at Enterprise Connect.

We wrapped up the conversation talking about AI, the current buzzword du jour, and some thoughts on what customers should think about when leveraging AI for collaboration or customer experience solutions.

Daniel Newman, a founding partner and Chief Analyst at Futurum Research, shares his insights on Amazon's announcement that Sidewalk is now open for developers. He gives a brief overview of what Amazon Sidewalk is, the three key wireless technologies it's using including Semtech's LoRa® technology, and what it means for device connectivity and consumer IoT.

He also covers some of the first third-party Amazon Sidewalk products, which are now available, that were also announced today.

Learn more about today's announcement from Amazon here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-invites-developers-test-sidewalk-125900528.html

Learn more about the new third-party products that are based on Semtech's LoRa technology here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230328005459/en/Semtech-Announces-First-LoRa%C2%AE-enabled-Third-Party-Products-Based-on-Amazon-Sidewalk-Are-Now-Available.

In this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast, host Shelly Kramer is joined by Carsten Storm, Head of Marketplace for the SAP Digital Experiences team for a conversation around our latest report: 2022 B2B Digital Buyers' Journey: Forces Shaping the Future of Enterprise Procurement, done in partnership with SAP.

In 2019, our team at Futurum Research collaborated with SAP to understand the trends, practices, and challenges in relation to the digital buying of enterprise software solutions. That first edition of the report offered an inside look at the shift that was happening within procurement. But then, our world underwent a cataclysmic shift. Last fall, we again partnered with SAP to understand the forces that have shaped both the demand for and the process of enterprise software procurement.

So, what do procurement officers and businesses need to know? What did we learn in the report? That's exactly what Carsten and Shelly discussed in this episode. Their conversation covered the following:

• The business world has undergone immense changes in the last few years, and we kicked off the show by discussing how this has impacted purchasing.
• Our research showed that a whopping 89% of B2B organizations reported changing their business models during the past two years — and we discussed what these changes look like.
• Our research also showed that 78% of respondents reported looking for ways to streamline the procurement process, while 27% say their current process never or only occasionally operates as efficiently as it did in the past. We explored why streamlining procurement is important and the challenges organizations face in that undertaking.
• We talked about the fact that how we shop, and our shopping preferences — both as consumers and as B2B buyers — has changed, how these changes impact how we do business, and how that has spurred a rise in consumer marketplaces.
• We explored what enterprise organizations are doing to adapt to a change in procurement practices and what their challenges are as it relates to software procurement.
• We know that the future of procurement is digital, and our conversation explored what our research showed that organizations want from their procurement processes.
• B2B procurement pros are very clear: they want to purchase primarily online, through a vendor's site or a digital marketplace, they want a one-stop shop where possible, featuring multiple vendors, and almost 20% today expect to purchase at least half of their enterprise software through a digital marketplace.

Given these very clear preferences from B2B buyers, how can enterprise organizations thrive in today's marketplace and serve those buyers' needs efficiently and effectively? To get the answers to that question, you'll need to tune in and hear what Carsten has to say.

On this episode of The 5G Factor, part of The Futurum Tech Webcast, Shelly Kramer is joined by fellow analyst and colleague Ron Westfall to talk about 5G network builds and some of the things 5G network decision-makers should consider when they are focused on things like streamlined builds, operational capabilities that provide AI-powered intelligence and end to end automation, along with all things sustainability, which is a key business focus today. And when we mention sustainability, that includes sustainability in operations, sustainable systems overall, and sustainable architecture.

Thinking all things 5G networks means that we're going to take a deep dive into Juniper's Cloud Metro offering and the role it is playing in all things related to 5G network builds.

Our conversation included the following touchpoints:

* What is Cloud Metro and why is it important to the 5G ecosystem?

* Juniper positions Cloud Metro as being all about Volume, Velocity, and Variety

* New applications shifting service delivery into the Metro

* Metro becomes the "New Edge" with big growth potential

* The expanded Cloud Metro solution

* Cloud Metro: New category for sustainable business growth

* How you can get to sustainable business growth with traditional Retro Metro

* Juniper Paragon Automation as a Service

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast – Interview Series, I am joined by Chris Hollies, CTO Oracle Practice for Capgemini UK and David Cottee, Senior Director Solution Engineering at Oracle.

In our conversation covered the following:

• Sovereign cloud offerings in the UK and EU regions
• An overview of recent MySQL heatwave announcements
• How sustainability is becoming a large part of business for Capgemini's customers
• A deep dive into the Capgemini Oracle partnership

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast Interview Series, I am joined by Ignacio Contreras, Senior Director Product Marketing at Qualcomm Technologies to talk about AI, next generation modem technology, and more.

In our conversation, we discussed the following:

• Qualcomm's latest modem, Snapdragon X75
• The modem's AI capabilities
• The industries that can leverage the Snapdragon X75 and modem-RF system
• Top benefits for OEMs and their consumers

Hosts Daniel Newman and Joe Doria welcome special guest Mark Wilson, Founder and Technical Director at Vertali. Together they cover the wide-ranging implications of transforming your security posture and why it matters to your digital strategy and business reputation.

It was a great conversation and one you don't want to miss. Like what you've heard? Check out Episode One of The Main Scoop, Episode Two of the Main Scoop, Episode Three of the Main Scoop, Episode Four of the Main Scoop, Episode Five of the Main Scoop, Episode Six of the Main Scoop, and Episode Seven of the Main Scoop, and be sure to subscribe to never miss an episode of The Main Scoop series.

On this episode of the Futurum Tech Webcast – The Power of Tech Education Series, host Daniel Newman is joined by Eric Fusilero, Vice President of Global Enablement and Education at Splunk, for Part Two of the series, to talk about how Splunk is contributing to tech education and working to close the skills gap in the industry.

Their conversation covers:

* How the journey of continuous improvement enables learners to increase job satisfaction, among other benefits

* The challenges with the technological skills gap, and what Splunk is contributing to close the gap

* How Splunk is developing their products to support the trends in IT and security

* The integration of education, training and certification in the industry

* Splunk's commitment to enabling the next generation of tech innovators