Communications Market Needs More Fish Out of Water

B. Shimmin

Summary Bullets:

• Despite marketing rhetoric, Enterprise Connect and its exhibitors are still struggling to blend communications and collaboration.
• One solution is to invite unusual exhibitors steeped in collaborative business solutions outside of the realm of unified communications.

As a dyed in the wool software enthusiast, I often feel a bit out of my element at trade shows like last week’s Enterprise Connect, where solutions come in rack unit increments and business value is measured in port densities. Over the past year, especially after show organizers dropped the VoiceCon moniker in favor of a less PBX-centric name, Enterprise Connect has shown signs of becoming a venue capable of reflecting the needs of enterprise customers both today and tomorrow. That is, an enterprise where collaboration and communication not only co-exist but also understand and directly drive business value. But as my compatriot IT Connection blogger, Jerry Caron, pointed out yesterday, most of the vendors exhibiting at Enterprise Connect have not yet heeded this memo.