As we prepare for Enterprise Connect 2021 in Orlando Sept. 27-29, one of the core issues we’re planning to address is: What (if anything) is the next communications/collaboration platform? And what are the critical elements of that next-generation platform?
At a high level, the answer seems obvious: Platforms like Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex — the first-generation team collaboration platforms — have the inside track both from a market and technology position. At the same time, companies that started out as pure-play UCaaS providers — RingCentral, 8×8, and Vonage among them — have expanded their offerings to include video, persistent chat, and other hallmarks of the original team collaboration space.
