What to Look for at IT Expo

26 Aug 2013

IT Expo in Las Vegas is upon us. There's no shortage of panels and presentations to see, no matter what your area of interest may be. For those of you who are attending the expo, here are a few highlights and suggestions to keep an eye out for.

The UCStrategies team will be well represented. Phil Edholm will kick off IT Expo with the Special Technology Innovation Panel, and will also be moderating and participating in several other sessions, including "How WebRTC Will Impact the Enterprise," and "5 Technologies Critical to the Future of Business."

Blair Pleasant will be presenting "Unified Communications: What You Need to Know and Why," and moderating a panel on "How to Build Stronger Customer Relationships using the Cloud," which includes Bobbi Chester of Interactive Intelligence, Ilan Dar of LiveOps, and JD Peterson of Zendesk. She will also be moderating a panel discussion on "What Every Executive Needs To Know about Social Media," with Garrett Smith from Smith on VoIP and Jeremy Watkin of phone.com.

Jon Arnold will moderate "Solving the Customer Experience Equation," with Steve Brubaker from InfoCision Management Corporation, Steve Chirokas of VoltDelta, Zeacom's John Cray, and Ann Sung Ruckstuhl from LiveOps.

There are multiple tracks at the conference, each with presentations and panelists relating to a specific topic. For instance, the Mobility track will be focusing mostly on mobile technology and communication, while Customer Interactions is pretty self-explanatory. The five tracks (which include Enterprise, Next Gen Service provider, and Case Study U, along with the two aforementioned ones) will provide attendees with a vast range of information about the subject at hand. Here are just a few examples of what to look for:

If you're interested in the mobile experience, the Mobility track has several panels and presentation. For instance, "Transforming Your Mobile Workforce," features Andy Abramson of Comunicano, Jeff Valentine of Fonality, Dave Gilbert of SimpleSignal, and TOA Technologies' Neil Ringers. According to Jeff Valentine, "More and more, businesses are pushing for an increasingly efficient mobile experience. It's essential that companies provide employees with features to help them do their jobs better and more efficiently." This session will help attendees learn how to create an optimized mobile workforce.

Another mobility session takes aim at virtualization. "Business Benefits of Virtualized UC" includes experts such as Jerry Stabile of eZuce, Jeff Wissing from ADTRAN, and Avaya's Mark Monday.

For those who are curious about the cloud, there are several sessions, such as "Business Reasons for Creating and Adopting a Cloud Strategy," which will provide information on the benefits of a cloud strategy, and what businesses can gain from moving to the cloud. The session is moderated by Frank Stinson of IntelliCom Analytics, and panelists include Bobbi Chester of Interactive Intelligence, Jay Christensen of Verio, and Patrick McCallum of Appcore. In another cloud session, "Making Sense of the Options: Hosted vs. Cloud vs. On-premises," the panelists will try to sort through some of the confusion surrounding the cloud. Presenters include Bobbi Chester of Interactive Intelligence, Skip Chilcott of Microsoft, Kevin McMahan of nexMatrix Telecom, and Frank Ohlhorst of eWeek.

Unified Communications will be covered in several sessions. The panel "Moving Beyond Interoperability - the Next Phase of UC" will touch on the future of UC, with experts such as NextPlane's Farzin Shahidi, Tim Holve of IntelePeer, and David Shepard of Blue Chips Networks. Other UC sessions include: "Turning the Demand for Truly Unified Communications into Revenue," and Driving Adoption - The Last Inch of UC, featuring panelists Billy Chia of Digium, Jason Moss of Logitech, Hardy Myers of AVST, and moderator Frank Stinson of IntelliCom Analytics.

If you'd rather not spend time at panels, the main hall is filled with vendors aplenty. Some of the usual suspects will be exhibiting, including AT&T, Sprint, and AudioCodes, but there are lots of companies that may not be on your radar - yet - including companies like Cbeyond, IntelePeer, and Plivo. For example, snom and Patton Electronics will be showcasing a new telephony bundle based on the recent partnership between snom, Patton, and ABP Technology. Yealink will display its T4 series IP phone and W52P DECT phone. Voxvalley Technologies will be showcasing Vox Suite, an enterprise communication suite, along with its IP PBX solution Vox PBX.

If these sessions and exhibitors are on your to-do list, you're probably set for a good IT Expo. If not, now you know what to keep an eye out for. Many of the companies that will be presenting have been proud friends of UCStrategies for ages, and are known for their expertise and quality; the panels should certainly be worth listening to while you're there.

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