UC Today

Kristian McCann speaks with Avi Pardo, Co-founder and CBO at LeapXpert, to unpack why messaging governance has become one of the most urgent issues in public sector UC.

Consumer messaging tools weren’t built for compliance — but that hasn’t stopped government employees from using them every day. In this video, Avi Pardo explains why now is the time for IT and UC leaders to get ahead of the governance gap.

Key discussion points:

• Why messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal have become the public sector’s biggest governance blind spot — and how it happened.
• The critical role of compliant communication under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and the risks of leaving messages unrecorded.
• Common architectural mistakes UC and IT leaders make when trying to block or control consumer messaging.
• How Microsoft Teams integrations can bridge the gap between consumer convenience and enterprise-grade compliance.
• Why modern governance technology can now deliver control without adding friction for employees or external parties.

Next steps:
To learn more about regulated messaging in government and enterprise environments, visit LeapXpert website for details on compliant messaging solutions.

Join Kristian McCann from UC Today and Kevin Kieller from Enable UC as they kick off February 2026 with an in-depth look at Microsoft Teams' latest security enhancements and market momentum. Special guest Oleg Danyliuk, CEO of Duanex, shares his company's five-year journey dual-licensing Slack and Teams—and why Teams is finally winning him over.

This month's topics:

🔵 France goes sovereign – The country plans to ditch Teams and Zoom for a homegrown government platform by 2027, raising questions about data sovereignty versus vendor lock-in.

🔵Teams-Meet interoperability arrives – Google and Microsoft enable cross-platform meeting joins for conference room hardware, though implementation complexity remains a concern for IT teams.

🔵 Report suspicious calls feature – Microsoft adds spam call reporting to combat the 72% success rate of voice phishing attacks, though advanced protection still requires additional security licensing.

🔵 External collaboration admin role – New granular controls for managing external access without full tenant permissions, currently PowerShell-only but expanding IT delegation options.

🗣️ End user perspective – Oleg explains how Teams evolved from a weak Slack competitor to a comprehensive platform that finally matched Slack's integrations, workspace support, and cultural features—while offering better calendar integration and unified meeting experiences.

👇 Tell us in the comments which story caught your eye!

In this episode of UC Today, host Kristian McCann sits down with Jim Johnstone, CISO at Yorktel-Kinly, to explore the new realities of AV security in the modern enterprise. As AV systems evolve from isolated room setups to deeply integrated network components, the line between facility tech and IT infrastructure is disappearing. But has security thinking kept pace? 

Johnstone unpacks the transformation of AV systems and why organizations need to elevate their approach from project-based oversight to lifecycle governance.

In this in-depth conversation, you’ll discover:
🔵 How AV’s shift from isolated rooms to connected infrastructure has expanded the security perimeter.
🔵 Why shared ownership among IT, facilities, and security teams is creating blind spots.
🔵 Common overlooked missteps — like stale credentials and unmanaged firmware — that open quiet entry points for attackers.
🔵 How to translate enterprise-grade frameworks (ISO, NIST, CIS Controls) into practical AV security workflows.

Subscribe to UC Today for more expert insights on AV, UC, and workplace technology.

In this insightful talk, UC Today's Kristian McCann sits down with Roberta Terranova, Chief People Officer at Wildix, to discuss the trends HR leaders have to contend with in the coming year. 

From AI adoption and workflow optimization to data-driven culture and remote leadership, Terranova shares real-world lessons on navigating the intersection of people, process, and technology as AI redefines the workplace. 

Key discussion highlights include:
🔵 AI as a co-pilot, not a replacement: Why guardrails, not hype, define responsible adoption.
🔵 HR’s new role in operational design: How workflow optimization and people analytics drive smarter decisions.
🔵 Overcoming connective overload: Simplifying tools and communication channels to reduce friction.
🔵 From tech adoption to integration: Building employee experience ecosystems instead of siloed HR systems.

Terranova also unpacks how manager upskilling, intentional communication, and co-creation with employees form the foundation of sustainable AI integration.

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In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann sits down with Mick Heys, Vice President at IDC, and Nathan Budd, Senior Director of Consulting at IDC, to explore the IDC’s latest research in collaboration with Shure that tangibly links collaboration effectiveness to productivity and ROI from tech investments.

Together, they unpack how organizations can move beyond simply buying technology to understanding its measurable business impact. If you’re looking to sharpen your collaboration strategy, quantify productivity, and avoid the hidden cost of inaction, this discussion is one to watch.

As hybrid work matures, IDC’s research shows that collaboration is no longer a soft skill — it’s a strategic differentiator. But many organizations still fail to connect technology investments with real business outcomes. In this conversation, Mick and Nathan explain how businesses can unlock measurable ROI from AV and UC strategies while making AI investments work smarter, not harder.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

• The cost of inaction: Why failing to optimize AV and collaboration tech quietly drains budgets — and how to quantify it.
• Collaboration archetypes: Discover IDC’s four organizational models — Electronic, Orchestral, Jazz, and Rock — and what they reveal about your collaboration approach.
• The AI connection: How poor AV setups undermine AI accuracy and productivity, and what to do about it.
• Outcome-based frameworks: Learn how to align people, processes, and technology to measure success where it matters most.

Explore how your organization’s collaboration archetype and collaboration setup impact your productivity and ROI by reading IDC and Shure's report.

In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann sits down with Reid Walsh, Chief Human Resources Officer at NEOGOV, to explore how HR teams — especially in the public sector — can shift from data collection to data‑driven problem‑solving. 

Reid shares practical lessons from her experience modernizing people analytics in government and private organizations, revealing how HR can evolve from reactive to strategic by applying purposeful analysis to every stage of the employee journey.

Key takeaways include:
🔵 Pinpointing business problems first. Start with the “pain points” — where friction or noise exists — to focus your data analysis where it matters most.
🔵 Bridging HR and IT silos. Align governance, system access, and analytics capabilities to foster collaboration across departments.
🔵 Uncovering internal mobility opportunities. Use workforce data to promote internal movement and match skills to emerging roles.
🔵 Training staff for the data future. Build confidence and super‑user skills among HR teams to maximize the potential of modern HCM platforms.

Subscribe to UC Today to see more great interviews on digital transformation and workforce analytics.

In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann sits down with Sabra Sciolaro, Chief People Officer at FirstUp, to unpack the growing problem of tech fatigue in modern workplaces.

Technology is meant to make work easier — but for many employees, it’s doing the opposite. In this conversation, Sciolaro explains how constant platform changes, tool sprawl, and fragmented communication channels are creating attention fatigue, slowing execution, and draining momentum across organizations.

Key takeaways include:
🔵 Why tech fatigue isn’t just about “too many tools,” but about constant change, poor orchestration, and lack of clarity
🔵 How attention fatigue leads directly to disengagement, slower decisions, and stalled innovation
🔵 What “intentional tech deployment” looks like in practice — fewer channels, smarter personalization, and AI-driven orchestration
🔵 How leaders should measure success beyond usage metrics, focusing on clarity, alignment, action, and outcomes

Subscribe to the UC Today channel for more interviews with security experts shaping the future of UC and collaboration technology.

In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann sits down with Sabra Sciolaro, Chief People Officer at FirstUp, to unpack the growing problem of tech fatigue in modern workplaces.

Technology is meant to make work easier — but for many employees, it’s doing the opposite. In this conversation, Sciolaro explains how constant platform changes, tool sprawl, and fragmented communication channels are creating attention fatigue, slowing execution, and draining momentum across organizations.

Key takeaways include:
🔵 Why tech fatigue isn’t just about “too many tools,” but about constant change, poor orchestration, and lack of clarity
🔵 How attention fatigue leads directly to disengagement, slower decisions, and stalled innovation
🔵 What “intentional tech deployment” looks like in practice — fewer channels, smarter personalization, and AI-driven orchestration
🔵 How leaders should measure success beyond usage metrics, focusing on clarity, alignment, action, and outcomes

Subscribe to the UC Today channel for more interviews with security experts shaping the future of UC and collaboration technology.

In this UC Today interview, host Kristian McCann sits down with Sabra Sciolaro, Chief People Officer at FirstUp, to unpack the growing problem of tech fatigue in modern workplaces.

Technology is meant to make work easier — but for many employees, it’s doing the opposite. In this conversation, Sciolaro explains how constant platform changes, tool sprawl, and fragmented communication channels are creating attention fatigue, slowing execution, and draining momentum across organizations.

Key takeaways include:
🔵 Why tech fatigue isn’t just about “too many tools,” but about constant change, poor orchestration, and lack of clarity.
🔵 How attention fatigue leads directly to disengagement, slower decisions, and stalled innovation.
🔵 What “intentional tech deployment” looks like in practice — fewer channels, smarter personalization, and AI-driven orchestration.
🔵 How leaders should measure success beyond usage metrics, focusing on clarity, alignment, action, and outcomes.

Subscribe to the UC Today channel for more interviews with security experts shaping the future of UC and collaboration technology.

In this January 2026 edition of the UC Big News Show, Kieran Devlin (Host, UC Today) sits down with a sharp panel: Blair Pleasant, Craig Durr (The Collab Collective), Jon Arnold (J. Arnold & Associates) and Dom Black (Cavell). Together, they unpack where Unified Communications, collaboration, and workplace AI are really headed—cutting through hype to ask the questions IT buyers and business leaders actually care about: Where’s the value, who’s getting it, and what needs to change for 2026 to be the year pilots turn into outcomes?

AI is everywhere—but the results aren’t. The panel reacts to sobering CEO sentiment on AI value, digs into why trust, training, and culture keep getting overlooked, and debates whether Zoom’s AI Companion benchmark moment signals a real shift toward orchestration and multi-model strategies. Then the conversation turns to a hot industry reality: with budgets tight and vendors building their own roadshows, are independent events like Enterprise Connect evolving—or sliding toward irrelevance?

In this episode, we cover:

Why the “AI value gap” is widening—and why revenue growth deserves as much attention as cost cutting
The overlooked blockers: responsible AI processes, transparency, user adoption, and prompting skills
What Zoom’s federated, multimodal approach suggests about the future: orchestration, connectors, and “best model for the job”
The 2026 events debate: why ISE is booming, why software shows must reinvent themselves, and why vertical-specific events may win

Next steps:
Audit where AI is actually used in your org (including shadow AI) and map it to measurable outcomes
Publish and socialize a responsible AI policy employees can understand and trust
If you’re attending ISE / IT Expo / CCW Berlin / Enterprise Connect, drop a comment with where you’ll be—UC Today’s team would love to connect