UC Expo may not be the biggest show in the AV calendar but it punches above its weight when it comes to covering topics crucial to our industry and bringing in top class guest speakers. The 2018 edition looks to follow in the footsteps of previous years in this regard. Here’s a few we’re particularly looking forward to attending.
Our first stop will be the Keynote Theatre at 11am on the first day of the show (16 May). Here Dr Nicola Miller, who heads up customer insights and futures in BT’s Innovation Team, will be debating The Collaboration Conundrum. She will ask the question: with more and more business being carried out in the digital space, do we need offices anymore and, crucially, how do we create “common ground” for collaboration, as we bring together a diverse, disparate, and dispersed set of people? Miller will also consider whether employees actually need a different kind of digital leadership.
A topic that never fails to provide interest is The Future of Enterprise Communications in the Workplace. Duncan Feakes, head of channels at Starleaf, will be discussing just this at 12.20 in the Video and Collaboration Theatre.
If we do, indeed, need physical meeting rooms in this digital age, technology evangelist Marie Pettersson will look at how the design of such spaces is critical to maximising the output of teams and individuals. She will also look at how meeting rooms can be futureproofed and how infrastructures can cope with changing tech needs. Find out more at 1pm in the Future of Work Theatre.
The second day of the show looks set to be equally informative, with Workstream Collaboration is Trending – Why Should You Care? at 11am in the Cloud & UCaaS Theatre. Doug Jones, assistant vice president at AT&T Conferencing, will explain the benefits of workstream collaboration and how it can transform your business – enhancing productivity and decision making.
And finally, a topic that has been touched on many times and always provokes interest: How to Drive End User Adoption of Unified Communications and Collaboration Solutions. As Blair Pleasant, president and principal analyst of COMMfusion and a co-founder of UCStrategies will explain, insufficient planning, lack of understanding of business goals and inadequate end user training can all impact negatively on new technology adoption. She’ll offer advice on how to get the most out of a UC investment and how to drive adoption and useage.
