Leapfrog CX Strategies

Dave and Evan chat with Eric Yuan the founder and CEO of Zoom . In this conversation we learn that Eric credits something different than his product to Zoom's success and why it's so sweet that Walmart is a customer.  Other topics include Eric's views on social media, freemium software, business travel, and contact centers.  Eric is a Chinese Internet Entrepreneur and was a founding...

Dave and Evan chat with Amy Barzdukas about her fascinating year of launches as the CMO of Poly. We learn that friends don't let friends conference with earbuds, her Spartan approach to glamping, and the world needed the Poly Studio.  Amy Barzdukas is an EVP and CMO at Poly. She is responsible for Poly’s global marketing strategy and execution. Barzdukas has more than 20 years of experience i...

Dave and Evan meet with Rowan Trollope , the CEO of cloud contact center provider Five9 .  Rowan has a billion things on his mind, yet found time to share some of the recent organizational changes at Five9, what comes next for the contact center after the cloud, how is background helps him at Five9, and he also confirmed he doesn't ski with OJ Simpson.  Rowan Mehail Trollope was named the CEO...

Dave and Evan meet with Vasili Triant to better understand how and why contact center has become such a priority at Cisco. Vasili brings a tremendous amount of sector experience to Cisco. He shares what's changing in the industry, how collaborative Cisco is in terms of its R&D, and why all the execs left ShoreTel.  Vasili Triant serves as Vice President and General Manager of the Cisco Co...

Dave and Evan meet with Praful Shah , the Chief Strategy Officer at RingCentral. We discuss recent acquisitions, life as a pediatrician, and stadium names. Praful is responsible for defining RingCentral’s business, product, and marketing strategy. He brings more than 20 years of experience with major technology companies in the software and cloud industries. Before joining RingCentral, he worked a...

Dave and Evan meet with Ilya Bukshteyn , the Partner Director over Teams Devices at Microsoft. We discuss how Microsoft is changing, new types of devices, and of course Tesla cars.  Ilya was there when real-time communications started at Microsoft. Actually, he was there when most things started at Microsoft as he's been there for about 25 years. He made the transition from SfB to Teams and w...

Dave and Evan meet with Bryan Martin to discuss the history of VoIP, UCaaS, video,  the cloud, and 8x8 . Bryan Martin is 8x8’s technological visionary, leading the company’s drive to patent a range of disruptive and innovative technologies. With an excellent sense of how cloud communications transform enterprise communications and customer service, Bryan led 8x8 as CEO from its early days as a VoI...

Dave and Evan meet with Tsahi Levent-levi to discuss WebRTC, video, and IP-based communications.  Tsahi has over 15 years of experience in telecommunications, VoIP video, and networking technologies. He has collected numerous titles in his career including CTO, Entrepreneur, Analyst, Engineer, developer, and more. Titles aside, his main role is to align a communications strategy with business obje...

Dave and Evan meet with Alan Lepofsky of Salesforce to discuss the object of his evangelism, Quip. With almost two decades of experience in the software industry, Alan helps companies understand how to develop and/or implement collaboration solutions that help employees get work done. He prefers to focus on how organizations can improve their existing business processes by providing access to the...

Dave and Evan meet with Michael Quinn of Q Advisors about mergers and acquisitions in enterprise communications. Michael Quinn is a founding partner of Q Advisors, and shares his insider views on industry M&A activities. With more than 25 years of international operations and investment banking experience in the telecommunications industry, Michael has originated, structured, and executed more...

Dave and Evan meet with Zoom CIO Harry Moseley . Harry joined Zoom just about a year ago to be its CIO. Formerly the CIO of KPMG, Blackstone, Credit Suisse, and UBS, Harry brings considerable expertise in solutions development, infrastructure, security, strategic planning, and building technology teams to Zoom. Harry is responsible for creating business value at Zoom through technology innovation,...

In this TalkingHeadz, Dave and Evan hangout with Scott Johnston , Director of Product Management at Google. Among Scott's responsibilities are the communications and collaboration applications within G Suite which includes Hangouts Meet, Hangouts Chat, and Google Voice.  We discuss all of those as well as other things G including new leadership, Chromebooks and the Jamboard.  2019 is expected...

In this podcast, Dave Michels and Evan Kirstel chat with Colin Berkshire , a regular yet mysterious contributor to TalkingPoitnz. Colin has an opinion on a lot of things - possibly everything, but especially Apple, Asia, 4G/5G, and Bell Labs. He's been a regular contributor for several years now, yet no one has met him. He guards his privacy and "Colin Berkshire" is a pen name. He d...

In this podcast, Dave Michels and Evan Kirstel chat with Mathilde Collin , CEO and co-founder of Front .  While there's a general consensus that we have evolved past email, there's little agreement what to do about it. Many vendors are looking to replace email with workstream collaboration apps. Mathilde and Front are taking a different approach, and are reimagining email to better accom...

In this TalkingHeadz, Evan and Dave learn that Joe Manuele moved into video because he likes watching.  We also learned discussed contact centers, and Teslas. Joe was recently named as the first non-founder CEO of video conferencing provider Highfive. About Joe Manuele  Prior to joining Highfive, Joe Manuele ran the global Collaboration and Customer Experience practice at Dimension Data. An Enterp...

In this TalkingHeadz, Evan and Dave ask the legendary Jonathan Rosenberg if SIP was a mistake. We also manage to discuss WebRTC, robocalls, Facebook, and fine dining. JR was joined Cisco in 2013 where he a chief architect of what Webex Teams. About Jonathan Rosenberg Jonathan Rosenberg is the outgoing VP, CTO, and very fine Fellow of Cisco Collaboration. Having worked in IP communication and colla...

In this TalkingHeadz, Evan and Dave discuss the UC channel with SVP Todd Abbott at Mitel. Todd joined Mitel in April of 2017, and before that he worked everywhere else. He is in the complex role of encouraging UC channel partners to both sell and evolve as industry evolves toward cloud-delivered services. Todd takes us on a channel evolution safari. About Todd A seasoned executive with more than 3...

Dave and Evan ask Jason What's Next? Jason is a very technical, UC/VoIP/CPaaS industry pioneer, and he's currently in a free agent mode, We took the opportunity to ask him what's on his mind - and the answers range from cameras to Twitter. 

Ooma is suddenly on the enterprise UCaaS stage. Like Vonage before it, Ooma has broken free of its consumer VoIP roots and expanded into enterprise UCaaS. Perhaps suddenly is the wrong word, it had Ooma Office, but last March expanded its footprint with the acquisition of Voxter: SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ooma, Inc . (NYSE:OOMA), a smart communications platform for busi...