VOSS - Discover more from UC experts

Jamie Litherland discusses the growing security risk known as LLM jacking, where stolen AI model API keys can be exploited to incur massive costs at machine speed. Using a case study from METR where an attacker burned $600,000 in credits, the video explains why AI agents increase this risk through key storage, susceptibility to social engineering, and noisy traffic patterns. The presenter proposes a security framework modeled after banking controls: using tokens instead of raw keys, implementing hard spending limits, applying merchant restrictions, setting up real-time fraud alerts, and enabling rapid revocation. Jamie concludes by introducing VOSS AI, a solution designed for AI agent accountability that utilizes gateway keys, individual budgets, and anomaly detection to mitigate these financial and security risks.

In episode four of the Fireside Chat series, APAC General Manager Brett Johnson discusses the transition from deploying AI agents to ensuring their accountability with Chief Product Officer Bill Dellara. The conversation introduces VOSS AI Agent Accountability, a product built on three pillars: See It, Govern It, and Prove It. The framework aims to address common organizational challenges such as tracking agent inventory, controlling costs, and measuring business value. The product allows organizations to register agents to see their activity, set budgets and routing policies to govern them, and use outcome analytics to prove their impact in terms of hours saved and dollars. Additionally, the solution offers easy integration via the VOSS Gateway and provides data sovereignty options for ANZ organizations by allowing the gateway to run in local environments.

Hear the strategies for reducing wasteful spending during the IT budgeting season. Highlighting how organizations often roll over unchanged licenses and contracts due to lack of visibility, leading to significant costs from unassigned seats and over-tiered users. Using a hypothetical 5,000-person organization with 8% waste, hear how this inefficiency can cost $240,000 annually! Ask four key questions before renewals: audit what is licensed, compare it to what is assigned, check actual usage, and calculate the cost per active user. Introducing VOSS UC Analytics and VOSS License Management as automated solutions for continuous visibility and license reclamation moving beyond manual spreadsheets and one-off audits.

Discussing the hidden financial and operational costs associated with managing multiple disconnected vendor portals for unified communications. Identifying four primary cost drivers: direct costs from duplicate licenses, time costs from manual reconciliation, governance risks from fragmented access control, and currency/billing risks due to varying vendor terms. To demonstrate the impact, an example is shown of an organization maintaining both Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex licenses for the same users. Introducing VOSS UC Automation as a solution to provide a single pane of glass for managing users and services across all vendors, as well as VOSS UC Analytics for monitoring adoption and ROI -> Contact VOSS for a cross vendor assessment.

Discussing the risks of using large language models for direct, unmanaged automation within IT environments. Outlining three primary pitfalls: using probabilistic tools for deterministic tasks, security vulnerabilities like over-privileged service accounts and prompt injection, and the high long-term cost of ownership for homegrown tools. To mitigate these, the presenter advocates for a hybrid approach where AI handles user intent and natural language understanding, while a deterministic platform like VOSS manages the execution, validation, and auditing of tasks. By utilizing the Model Context Protocol (MCP), organizations can connect AI assistants to governed workflows rather than granting them direct admin access to complex ecosystems involving Cisco, Microsoft Teams, and other platforms.

Introducing the VOSS MCP server: a new standard Model Context Protocol server designed to allow IT administrators to interact with VOSS directly through existing AI tools like Claude or Copilot. Explaining two integration paths: using the traditional VOSS REST API for custom-coded, repeatable workflows, and using the new MCP server for ad hoc, agentic tasks that require natural language reasoning. Watch the demonstration showing the AI assistant performing user onboarding for a new employee, Pauline Harris, and querying live data to generate inventory charts. Emphasizing that the MCP server maintains existing security, governance, and role-based access controls by tying every AI-driven action to a specific authenticated administrator.

ScienceLogic's flagship conference will be on from October 5th to the 8th in Reston, Virginia. Hear how the strategic partnership between VOSS and ScienceLogic provides broad operational visibility alongside deep application and NetFlow inspection to improve user experience. See traffic patterns and capacity needs, as well as real-time insights into network and application traffic with VOSS. Visit the Logicians Corner and learn about recent launches including Skylar1 and new VOSS NetFlow feature sets, which allow users to identify top talkers and applications directly within the platform. Schedule a meeting with VOSS and see how you can enhance your infrastructure visibility.

In the third episode of Fireside Chat, Brett Johnson discusses the concept of automation fabric with Chief Product Officer Bill Dellara. The discussion shifts from siloed automation tools toward a connected model built on four pillars: an automation engine, monitoring, analytics, and integrated AI. Exploring the benefits of integrated systems, such as automatically tracing and remediating call quality issues, and addressing the build versus buy dilemma for APAC IT leaders facing budget and skill constraints.

Discussing the financial inefficiencies caused by poor meeting room utilization, noting that average utilization often sits between 38%-40% despite healthy targets being 60%-80%. Watch out for these five specific signs of wasted space: ghost meetings where rooms are booked but empty, mismatches in room size versus meeting headcount, a lack of data ownership across facilities and IT, unreported equipment issues, and discovering usage patterns only during lease renewals. The steps to combat these issues, include: auditing real occupancy rather than just booking data, assigning ownership of utilization metrics, and automating ongoing monitoring. Turn booking data into continuous occupancy insights with VOSS.

Outlining 5 critical signs of Microsoft 365 licensing waste to help organizations optimize costs before their next renewal: Identifying ghost accounts, duplicate coverage, unassigned seats, lack of departmental ownership, and reactive renewal management as the primary drivers of unnecessary spending. Jamie Litherland, VP Business Development at VOSS, notes that Microsoft's July 2026 pricing changes, which increased E3 by 8.3% and E5 by 5.3%, make unused licenses even more costly, and to combat these issues, he recommends a 3-step process: conducting an audit of actual usage versus assignment, assigning ownership beyond IT or procurement, and implementing automated, continuous monitoring. To identify specific areas for savings, try a discovery session with VOSS.