Page 10 - October November 2018

10 Telecom Reseller
TEnterprise Connect to Focus on the Cloud...and Beyond
Manager & Program Co-Chair No Jitter, Publisher
which may be developing (or stagnating) at a completely different pace.
The same goes for contact centers, which have been the leading application to move to the cloud; and also for discrete communications functions, which
have driven the impressive growth of Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) providers like Twilio and the Nexmo subsidiary of Vonage.
October/November 2018
KRAPF
he enterprise communications
industry is fragmenting, a dynamic That’s why the “traditional” Unified A consultant recently described the changing
we’re seeing play out on the show Communications as a Service (UCaaS) nature of the vendor relationship he’s
floor at Enterprise Connect. The old CPE- by Eric Krapf players—RingCentral, 8x8, Vonage, Fuze, observing in the cloud transition. In the days focused platform just isn’t flexible enough Enterprise Connect, General and many others--have made intensive when you selected a CPE platform vendor,
to accommodate the pace of this change, so we’re seeing enterprises turn to cloud- based services to get the sort of quick wins that they hope will provide an immediate business benefit.
Take video conferencing. If your enterprise sees the opportunity for a quick business benefit by deploying video to dozens of offices, a cloud video provider like Zoom or BlueJeans can respond with a pretty appealing solution that lets you focus on that particular need, without you having to deal with the other elements of your communications environment—all of
efforts to diversify their service offerings. (And yes, it does seem remarkable for
an industry as young as UCaaS to have “traditional” players.) If you need to ditch your old PBX, these companies will sell you a straightforward cloud-based service that provides equivalent capabilities, to ease the transition. But all of them, to one degree or other, have expanded into contact center, CPaaS, and video, and can sell you any or all of these functions. They’re no longer just a PBX in the cloud.
The transition to the cloud has other implications for enterprise decision-makers.
it was critical to select a company you could truly work with as a partner—after all, if the thing lasted 20 years, that meant you could be shackling yourself to this company’s product and vision and business model for the better part of your career.
With a Cloud Communications provider, the equation is different. In theory, if you don’t like the service you’re getting from the first provider you chose, you can just switch to another. The consultant noted that, in practice, it’s not that simple—though you probably still can extricate yourself from the relationship in far less time than you could with a CPE vendor. The overriding point is that the relationship will be different, and so you need to realistically assess what you’re getting into when you “partner” with a cloud vendor.
Every company’s experience with cloud-based communications is going to
be different, but it’s almost certain that
your enterprise will be acquiring some
such experience in the coming years, if
you haven’t already. Enterprise Connect Orlando will once again feature a track on Cloud Communications, and cloud will
also be a key topic in many of our other tracks, including Contact Centers/Customer Experience; Embedded Communications
& APIs; and Video Collaboration & A/V. Registration is now open for the event, which takes place March 18-21 at the Gaylord Palms Hotel in Orlando, FL. Use code TELRESEL to save an additional $200 off early rates. n
HOLTZCLAW
continued from page 9
as Salesforce and Microsoft, call centers, payroll, accounting, and market research firms to name a few. All of these functions within any company are considered departments that store or analyze data in some way. If a EU citizen is affected, they are protected under the GDPR and the company must comply with the legalities surrounding that individual.
So, many companies that do not believe GDPR impacts them, do in fact process data of EU data subjects. What’s more, GDPR
has created a ground swell of countries
and states that have decided to update or create new regulations that mirror GDPR. So, it is more important than ever for privacy to be a top priority. We recommend establishing a proactive practice of collecting country of residence of the prospects and customers with whom you conduct business. Then, as appropriate, collect consent and communication preferences for each data subject.
Today, “unsolicited email” in the EU
is an easy target for class action lawsuits, especially as it seems consumer opinion on data protection has become increasingly negative. Organizations today must reconsider whether or not they are governed under the laws of GDPR, as it is likely that they are. The best defense is a good offense, considering ways to collect, store and easily change consent and privacy information should be a top concern for all companies. n
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