Mark Ricca is Partner and Senior Analyst for IntelliCom Analytics. Ricca will address the audience at the upcoming Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO, which takes place January 23–25 in Miami Beach, FL. He is moderating two panels addressing unified communications collaboration and security. I took the opportunity to ask Ricca to share his thoughts on a variety of issues and trends currently facing our industry.

 

 

MR: We see four major trends:

 

MR: Yes. There were no surprises.

 

MR: The economy will be a more influential factor than in 2007. But we expect the year to be the same as 2007 in terms of global end user and provider spending.

 

MR: The Internet, IP Telephony and the range of mobility offers.

 

MR: Skype has an interesting business model, but not a profitable one to date. It certainly has not met the expectations of E-Bay.

 

MR: Each of these companies has an insatiable appetite for growth through innovation in their traditional and new adjacent markets. In general, their respective and collective involvement in traditional and new markets is an absolute “plus” for users. Apple (News - Alert), Google and Microsoft have delivered products and services that truly improve workplace productivity.

 

MR: Yes, there will be overpayment for spectrum.

 

MR: Anticipating the rapid changes taking place in the end user, provider, competitor and technology environments. It may sound corny, but we enjoy dealing with “human-side” of our client engagements and delivering measurable value.

 

MR: Three potentially: 1) Not listening and responding to the needs of our clients. 2) Failing to innovate. 3) Failing to reinvent ourselves every couple of years.

 

MR: I am moderating two panels that will address two very timely and important subjects: UC Collaboration and Security. These are two critical areas in virtually all businesses. There are excellent subject-matter-experts on both panels that will provide timely, practical information and insights.

 

MR: Anyone involved in the areas of UC Collaboration and/or Security.

 

MR: Practical information and insights, based upon in-depth research and hands-on experience.

 

MR: Recognition by users in virtually every business segment that Technology and Applications properly designed, applied and managed are transitioning from being just a business enabler to a business driver.

 

MR: Video Conferencing and Telepresence (News - Alert) technology and applications will (finally) come of age. For many years Video Conferencing has been a solution looking for the problem. In addition, the technology was “good” at best. The new generation of Video Conferencing and Telepresence offers are very impressive and are gaining respect and market share.