Vonage Shines @ Enterprise Connect 2021
Enterprise Connect Conference & Expo is the foremost event for the enterprise communications and collaboration technology industry. This year’s event took place from September 27-29 after being postponed from its usual March timeframe due to the pandemic.
Although the show typically takes place in Orlando, this year’s event was virtual - also due to COVID concerns. But Vonage’s presence there was no less impressive.
Enterprise Connect 2021
Vonage participated in seven earned speaking opportunities where executives lent thought leadership across several panels:
The Next Strategic Platform: 2 Industry Vision Addresses
Vonage CEO Rory Read provided a high level view of the industry, a vision of what's essential in next-generation communications, and how advancements in business technology are providing businesses across the globe with the ability to enable employees to connect and collaborate - from anywhere.
"Now, more than ever, businesses rely on cloud communications to seamlessly connect employees, customers and partners across the globe for better, more personalized experiences. We're just at the beginning of this Communications Revolution and it’s going to transform every business, every industry and every customer interaction." - Rory Read, Vonage CEO
The Future of Communications Technology: Keeping Your Enterprise Ahead of the Curve
Savinay Berry, Vonage EVP, Product & Engineering joined a panel discussion of industry peers to discuss hybrid work and the new,modern workplace. The session was moderated by Enterprise Connect Program Co-Chair and No Jitter Editor Beth Schultz, and Jim Burton, Founder & CEO of BCStrategies:
"You have to make sure your video collaboration solution works with your CRM and applications your teams are already accustomed to using. This is how innovation happens." - Savinay Berry, Vonage EVP, Product & Engineering
Understanding the CPaaS Landscape
BCStrategies’ Jim Burton also led another panel in which Berry participated, discussing the power of CPaaS and how the API Economy is changing expectations and the way providers develop and integrate their communications solutions for their customers:
“We’ve been talking about the convergence of UC, CC and APIs for years now, and we believe it has to be built from the ground up - that’s the Vonage Communications Platform. With a composable architecture, businesses can build customer and employee engagement using all three modalities that surprise and delight users. Ultimately, we’re focused on making our customer’s lives easier, and turning notifications into actual conversations.” - Savinay Berry, Vonage EVP, Product & Engineering
UCaaS and CCaaS as Part of the Whole Cloud Strategy
The conversation on the convergence of communications continued with Brian Gilman, Vonage Vice President of Product Marketing, and a discussion on UCaaS and CCaaS as integral parts of a business’ communications model:
"The pandemic has shifted business' strategies to meet changes in consumption trends and, as we shift to an increasingly digital environment, integrated platforms are becoming more of a part of today's customer engagement model." - Brian Gilman, Vonage VP of Product Marketing
Re-building the WAN for the Post-Pandemic Office
Sanjay Srinivasan, Vonage VP & Chief Architect dove into the growing need for SD-WAN and redundancy in a remote and, now, hybrid world:
"The pandemic forced the workforce to go remote quickly and at scale, with the need to support calls and video, securely, across different levels of broadband from all over the world. Thankfully, technology like SD-WAN have helped provide a path to resolving this issue." - Sanjay Srinivasan, VP & Chief Architect, Vonage
The Composable Enterprise: What It Is and What Role Communications APIs can Play
Zeus Kerravala, Founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research, led a panel that included Vonage’s Brian Gilman on the topic of Composability and how today’s enterprises need to lean into APIs to ensure they are agile enough to compete in the new marketplace:
“For us, composability is at the heart of what we do - both for our packaged unified communications and contact center solutions as well as our API platform. Composability is how we build Vonage solutions. Our API building blocks allow us to build with speed and layer on top of our UC and CC applications to meet customer needs. Composability is critical to our customers and to how we run our business.” - Brian Gilman, Vonage VP of Product Marketing
Enterprise Summit: Preparing for What’s Next
Rounding out Vonage’s speaker sessions was the Enterprise Summit featuring a panel of IT professionals, including the Chief Care Officer from Vonage customer, Hallmark:
“With Vonage Contact Center for Salesforce, we are supporting our remote agents by employing omnichannel routing, automated business processes and case management to empower them with the tools they need to be productive - from anywhere - while keeping our focus on driving engagement through customer care. As we move into a hybrid environment, the flexibility that Vonage provides us to support our team members - regardless of where or how they choose to work - means our customers will receive the same level of care, no matter what.” Ted Stodolka, VP and Chief Care Officer, Hallmark
Despite this year’s virtual setting, Vonage’s virtual booth allowed partners, prospective customers and analysts the opportunity to experience demos of Vonage’s full product portfolio under four key themes - Customer Service and Engagement, At-Home Work, Consumer Conversations and Commerce, and AI for Everything - including this month’s newly launched products. Vonage also launched several new products leading up to and during the show, which were included in these virtual demos, showcasing the evolution of the Vonage Communications Platform (VCP): HIPAA SMS, Vonage Video Express, Vonage Contact Center is now Chrome Enterprise Recommended and AI Virtual Assistant.
