Jon Arnold

Jon Arnold

  • Independent Analyst

Jon Arnold is Principal of J Arnold & Associates, an independent analyst providing thought leadership and go-to-market counsel with a focus on the business-level impact of disruptive communications technologies. Core areas of expertise include unified communications, cloud services, collaboration, Internet of Things, future of work, contact centers, customer experience, video, VoIP, and social media.

He has been consulting in many of these areas since 2001, and his independent practice was founded in 2005. JAA is based in Toronto, Ontario, and serves clients across North America as well as in Europe.

Jon’s thought leadership can be followed on his widely-read Analyst 2.0 Blog, along with daily commentary on Twitter and LinkedIn. His thought leadership is also regularly published across the communications industry, including UCStrategies, Ziff Davis, TechTarget and Internet Telephony Magazine.

Additionally, Jon is a UC Expert with UCStrategies, a long-serving Council Member with the Gerson Lehrman Group, speaks regularly at industry events and accepts public speaking invitations. He is frequently cited in both the trade press and mainstream business press, serves as an Advisor to emerging technology/telecom companies, and is a member of the U.S.-based SCTC as well as Canadian-based CTC.

In January 2016, Jon was cited among the Top Analysts Covering the Contact Center Industry for 2016, and GetVoIP.com named Jon a Top 50 UC Experts to Follow in 2015, as well as a Top 100 Tech Podcaster in 2014. In July 2015, his blog was recognized as a 2015 Top Tech Blog, and has had other similar accolades going back to 2008.

Read some of Jon's latest articles below:

April 01, 2019

Enterprise Connect Analyst Briefing with Genesys – The Road Ahead

By all accounts, contact center was more prominent at Enterprise Connect 2019 than expected, and you couldn’t walk down a hallway without there being at least one session going on this topic. All the big players had a presence, along with many lesser-known competitors, and it’s clear that everyone got the message about this being open season now for cloud-based contact center. Genesys is...
March 25, 2019

Microsoft Teams Update from Enterprise Connect

Microsoft’s much-anticipated update on Teams here at Enterprise Connect was a bit of a firehose, so there’s quite a lot to digest. Presented by Lori Wright, GM Microsoft Teams and Skype Marketing, this was a slick production, dense, and fast-paced. With only a half hour to cover a lot of updates, the format was out of necessity, and you need to step back to parse out the important...
March 22, 2019

Enterprise Connect Fireside Chat – Zoom, RingCentral and Twilio

Several formats were used for the sessions during Enterprise Connect, and one of my favorites is the “fireside chat”. While there’s no roaring fireplace in the background, the connotation is a candid, free-flowing tete a tete, where the conversation is more thoughtful than confrontational. With no competitors nearby to keep you in check, it’s easier to let your guard down and make a more...
March 20, 2019

Team Collaboration Growing Pains – First Takeaways from Enterprise Connect 2019

Being one of the first sessions at Enterprise Connect 2019, this set the tone for what to expect for the week ahead. Moderated by Zeus Kerravala, the panel was a great showcase for the current state of team collaboration, a fast-moving spacing that remains poorly understood. Joining Zeus was Lorrissa Horton, GM Cisco Webex Teams, Scott Van Vliet, Corporate VP, Intelligent Communications,...
November 09, 2018

Opentalk18 Wraps up – Takeaways for Success in Disruptive Times

There’s a lot to like about Talkdesk’s position in the contact center space, which is being re-constructed in front of our very eyes. This was certainly validated at Opentalk18 in San Francisco; their third such event, but the first one open to analysts. There has been a long-standing status quo that an established order of contact center vendors has maintained, but all of that is in play now ...
November 07, 2018

Opentalk18 Kicks Off – Talkdesk Taking Big Steps Forward

Talkdesk is one of several relatively young companies making inroads as the contact center software space goes through a major transformation to the cloud. This space has been ripe for innovation, and Talkdesk is riding some strong momentum right now. Opentalk18 in San Francisco is their first event for analysts, and they’ve been briefing us on several updates that have been publicly announced...
December 12, 2016

Guy Kawasaki’s Advice to ShoreTel – Don’t Let the Bozos Grind you Down!

As locknote speakers go, Guy Kawasaki is always a treat, and he had some great advice to pass on to attendees at ShoreTel’s Global Partner Conference that just wrapped up in Orlando. For channel partners looking to get beyond VoIP with their customers, the conference was the place to be and learn about ShoreTel’s roadmap. It’s actually quite ambitious, but necessary in order for them to...
December 08, 2016

How Partners Can Add Value for Customers with Hosted UC

Being a partner event, a key theme at the ShoreTelOne conference is providing new forms of value for the channel. That’s very much reflected in the ubiquitous messaging here about “One." ShoreTel wants partners to feel like they are working as one together to solve the business problems of their customers. Aside from this singular relationship they’re striving for, there is the more...
December 07, 2016

This is a Good Time to be Working with ShoreTel

That’s the main take-away from the opening keynote at the ShoreTelOne Global Partner Conference, here in Orlando, FL. CEO Don Joos set the tone right away for what partners can expect from ShoreTel heading into 2017, and what I’m seeing is a company with a clear sense of purpose, not just for what end customers need, but also for the kind of company ShoreTel needs to be. This is an...
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