UC Today

In the communication and collaboration industries we are always hearing about 'unity'. Whether it's within unified communications or in other areas such collaboration, integration and interoperability features are always of interest due to the benefits that they offer to users. Cisco and Microsoft have been leaders in the space for decades and have rivalling platforms in a number of key areas. In this podcast we hear how Cisco is holding firm on its premise of 'building bridges not islands' by offering a growing number of integration features with Microsoft's productivity application suite. As well that, the pod also discuss new Webex features and an interesting development in the world of Cisco digital signage. The pod team also address some questions that have been sent in by listeners. 

Businesses are looking to improve and enhance their processes all the time and recently we have seen increasing focus placed on UCaaS platforms. Unified communications as a service offers organisations new features, integration possibilities and functionality that would not have been possible previously with traditional communication systems. What does a modern UCaaS solution look like and how are they being utilised by businesses to transform their internal systems? Today we are joined by PGi whose UCaaS platform, GlobalMeet, is helping businesses around the world take advantage of the latest communication technology solutions to enhance their own processes.

There is huge hype surrounding emerging technologies within the communication and collaboration industries. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT and big data all get a lot of attention but are businesses really able to apply these technologies to help improve their processes yet? Taking the complexity out of technology and applying its benefits with easily quantifiable metrics is key now for any technology vendor. In today's episode LogMein join us to tell us how it helps its customers leverage the power of emerging tech trends, often without them even knowing they are doing it. 

Some of the most important organisations globally are those most invested in helping their local community's or global causes. Registered charities and non-profit organisations play a crucial role providing critical services and funding to those most in need of assistance. With their focus on reinvestment, not profit, often the funds available for technological investment can be reduced. Charitable organisations, however, have the same requirements and demand for the benefits that technology can bring. Providing their users or donors with the best possible experience can be the difference between success and failure. Non-profits often rely on the assistance of the technology community to provide discounts and support so that they can leverage the most cutting edge platforms. In today's episode we hear how CRM Integration experts, AMC Technology, do exactly that. 

Sports teams and franchises represent some of the world's most beloved organisations. Just like all businesses sports specific industries have vital technology requirements. Mitel have been providing cutting edge communication and collaboration solution to sports teams, and franchises, for decades and Mitel join us in this episode to discuss its work most recently with Major League Baseball for its London Series event. Technology plays a critical role in various aspects of sports entertainment, from the front line to ensuring smooth and effective behind the scenes processes. Mitel have experience of all areas so can deliver a unique insight into the rigorous demands of one of the world's most high octane verticals. 

Analytics is a hugely important area of any customer experience technology platform. How can you be sure that your organisation is providing the best service possible if you aren't reviewing and subsequently improving your CX provision. Xarios know how to help service providers and end customers by providing cutting edge analytics with more than 20 years' experience in the industry. At this year's KAZOOcon conference Xarios launched Dimensions, its fully cloud native solution utilising the powerful APIs of 2600Hz's KAZOO CPaaS platform. In this episode we hear from Xarios to fully understand the capabilities of Dimensions and gauge some of its future plans.

Market research can often unearth some fascinating insights into technology trends and misconceptions. Ribbon Communications have revealed the findings from its latest market research survey. In this podcast Ribbon join us to explain more about the survey and unveil some of its most interesting results. The wide ranging research uncovered results that elude to a huge opportunity for those operating within the UC and collaboration markets. The study also allows us to compare technology adoption across different areas of the market, from business size to vertical segments.

Over the last two years there has been a huge boom in the uptake of virtual, or digital, assistants within consumer markets. The success of products like Amazon's Alexa and Google Home have led to millions of households around the world utilising the tools to enhance all sorts of tasks from playing music, setting reminders and controlling appliances. So often with emerging technologies this sort of functionality is now starting to permeate the business world. Using tools designed for consumer markets has obvious ramifications for enterprise use in terms of security and compliance, but the potential benefits in terms of efficiency are clear to see. In this episode we discuss the potential for virtual assistant technology within business and examine solutions to alleviate some of the potential pitfalls. 

Presenter Patrick brings you the latest news update from 2019. The UC Today News Update will bring you regular videos and podcasts summarising the biggest stories from the worlds of unified communications, collaboration and customer experience.

There have been some pretty major developments in the worlds of Cisco communication and collaboration over the past few weeks. Some further details have emerged clarifying Cisco's provision of cloud calling within its Webex platform. In this episode the guys analyse the latest news in terms of Webex Calling and PSTN provision. As well as the latest platform updates they also explore Cisco's product portfolio in terms of hardware. The new Cisco headsets complete the full stack solution which can offer a host of benefits to organisations as a whole. Get all of the latest feature update news and some speculation about possible future developments in this episode.