Anticipating #EC25
The count-down to the annual conference is now in hours
We are excited about the upcoming Enterprise Connect conference in Orlando. Since we usually don’t leave the Gaylord during the conference, we consider it thoughtful that they created the illusion of being outside, inside.
We anticipate two strong recurring themes at EC25: AI and Agents.
AI, particularly, agentic AI, will be everywhere. Don’t confuse that with CCaaS or CX, but that will be everywhere too. EC24 was the first EC that had CCaaS in every major keynote - which will be true this year too - even though EC is not a CC conference (or is it?).
Regardless, expect AI to be everywhere, at the forefront of nearly every announcement. Most of it will be science fiction depictions of what AI may someday become. Without argument, AI is changing the way we work, but efficiencies are harder to claim. Expect many promises around automation, improved/intelligent workflows, and proactive actions. Don’t expect much on how AI is improving the customer experience. The benefits still focus on allowing X (you, colleagues, IT, managers, agents, supervisors) to focus on more important things (code for layoffs).
We don’t expect very many significant announcements at EC25. That’s also because of AI. Innovation is moving too quickly for vendors to release updates in batch-mode. The industry is in a drip mode instead. The announcements will mostly be the GA of stuff that was announced, or announcements of stuff that is not GA.
Another factor is that all vendor keynotes are from vendors with competing (big) events. Most of the AI announcements will be vendor-specific implementations. AI technologies are horizontal, so there’s less innovation and more imitation. There will be lots of news about known features on new platforms. The real differentiators will be how companies frame their AI as intuitive, context-aware, and enterprise-ready.
Not all the news from the event will be about AI or new features. There will surely be a lot of talk about Mitel’s announced restructuring (generally perceived as a good) and about Amazon pulling the plug on Chime. We are awarding bonus points for anything announced that is not AI-related. That said, we are excited about EC25. It’s a wonderful event, and we value it in part because it’s the only event where the industry comes together.
TalkingPointz always publishes a reflective Deep Dive on EC, which provides annual snapshots of the industry's state, what’s important, and where it thinks it is going. We also identify what was important beyond the hype. That should publish in April.
Recommended sessions:
Innovation Showcase. NoJitter Post, EC25 Details
