Next week is Enterprise Connect and I’m getting pretty fired up to head down to Orlando and see what the buzz is this year. Let me know if you’re attending. If you’re exhibiting, what’s your booth number? I’ll try to swing by. Most important, what parties are you attending, and can I get a pass?
What to Expect at Enterprise Connect
Here are 10 things, in no particular order, that I wouldn’t be surprised to see this year in Orlando.
- Lots of UCaaS and hosted UC…maybe too much. Will we see acquisitions and consolidation coming down the pike?
- Video, but in a different way than in the past. Whereas video and desktop video was a key focal point of recent events, my guess is this year there will be of an “it’s expected as part of a solution” vibe.
- Plenty of buzz about Lync changing to Skype for Business. Also, is Microsoft going to offer their own hosted version, cutting out the channel? Many companies have bet big on hosted Lync as a service, so that could get ugly.
- Cloud-based Contact Centers are going to take center stage. Businesses like 8X8, Five9, Tata Communications, Interactive Intelligence, Thinking Phones and several others are going to be working to convince you that going to CCaaS makes business sense.
- On the WebRTC-front, we’ll see proof-of-concepts and some applications, just not many mission critical ones.
- More networking and application performance companies are exhibiting. I think they are finally realizing UC, Video and VoIP going over the network is mission critical and needs bulletproof infrastructure.
- Lots of talk (especially around the conference) about driving adoption of UC
- Free as a business model. Will this be the year that free comes to UC and other types of communications – like Conference Calls?
- The tipping point for SIP Trunking is at hand. If you’re not using SIP, you’re looking at moving there. Great place to connect with SIP resources you can use..
- Security. Companies are looking to limit vulnerability on their communications networks and network security firms, session border control companies and system integrators will be lining up to help them.
What do you think? What are you expecting / hoping to see this year? What do you think will create the most buzz?