Welcome back to another weekly roundup of the most exciting stories from the last seven days in Unified Communication, Collaboration, and Customer Experience. As each week passes, we draw slightly closer to the end of 2020 and the beginning of a new year, with the promise of new technology and solutions on the horizon.
This week, we’ve explored the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Meeting Solutions in 2020 and explored Twilio’s decision to purchase a new customer data platform. We also took this week as an opportunity to introduce you to the upcoming UC Trends 2021 segment!
Didn’t have a chance to read everything? Don’t worry, here are the reports you don’t want to miss.
Exploring the Gartner MQ for Meeting Solutions
Gartner, a leader in market analytics, recently released one of the most sought after reports for this year – the Magic Quadrant for meeting solutions in 2020. According to Gartner, there are plenty of companies worth considering if you’re searching for the right meeting technology right now. The leaders in the field are Zoom, Cisco, and Microsoft, with Google, Huawei, and LogMeIn following close behind as challengers.
Gartner also drew attention to a selection of niche players in the form of Adobe, Kaltura, Quanshi, Avaya, and TrueConf. Finally, the visionaries were Pexip, BlueJeans, and StarLeaf. Check out all of the advice and insights into the top performers in the Meeting Solutions sector here.
Direct Routing Uncovered: Your Guide
You’ve decided that you want to run your business through Microsoft Teams – one of the most innovative tools for productivity and collaboration on the market. It’s a good choice, there are tons of features to explore, from video conferencing, to file sharing, and more. There’s just one thing missing – voice. Although Microsoft does have its own voice offering, it’s not quite what many of today’s business leaders are looking for.
Fortunately, there is an alternative. Thanks to Direct Routing, you can bring your existing voice carrier into your Microsoft Teams stack. Now, all you need to do is figure out how Direct Routing works. Our guide to Teams Direct Routing will answer all of your questions here.
Twilio Prepares to Buy Segment
Twilio, one of the market leaders in CPaaS solutions and APIs, has a mission to build one of the world’s leading customer engagement platforms. Recently, the company took another step forward towards achieving that goal by agreeing to purchase a customer data platform. The purchase of the “Segment” platform for $3.2 billion is a massive turning point for Twilio.
With access to Segment’s platform, tens of thousands of companies working with Twilio will be able to access a behind-the-scenes look at their customer’s behaviours. This crucial data platform will open the door to more meaningful business decisions, and essential insights. Check out the full story on Twilio’s recent purchase here.
Nvidia Believes AI Will Solve Video Issues
As video conferencing tools emerge as the new must-have for business communication, no-one can afford to struggle with a less-than-perfect system. We’re all using video to keep teams engaged and informed in an environment where face-to-face connections are difficult to achieve in person. So, what happens when the all-too-common video issues start to hit?
Nvidia believes the answer is in Artificial Intelligence. With Nvidia Maxine, companies can process calls in the cloud with market-leading GPUs. The result is an enhanced experience that realigns faces in a video conversation to improve eye contact. Maxine also helps with video compression and real-time transcription too. See the full list of features here.
Introducing UC Trends 2021
2021 is just around the corner – but what kind of experiences will it bring to the world of communications? Every year, the UC Today team runs a series called UC Trends, which examines the year ahead, and the trends we’re likely to see. Throughout the course of the next 5 weeks, we’ll be unveiling a selection of video interviews and written roundtables for you to check out.
The latest UC Trends 2021 content will address all the topics and ideas that are most important to you as we make our transition into another new year. You’ll be hearing from all of our UC Awards finalists and winners, so you’re sure to end up with some incredible insights. Check out the details here.
Which were your favourite stories from the last seven days? As always, join the conversation on social media, or reach out with your own reports.
