Cisco Live 2016 kicks off next week in Las Vegas, and Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Alan Lepofsky will be in attendance. Lepofsky heads up Constellations' research into the Future of Work, focusing on collaboration software and emerging technologies that are changing the way people do their jobs.
I spoke with him in advance of Cisco Live for a preview of what he's expecting at the conference, as well as an overview of current and future trends in the collaboration space. What follows is an edited transcript of that conversation.
CRInsights: What are your thoughts on Cisco's current big bet in collaboration software, Spark?
Lepofsky: Clearly, Spark is Cisco's main foray into the collaboration market. It has not gone well previously. They tried with Quad, they tried with Webex Social [the renamed version of Quad], they tried partnering with Jive, and none of those things worked. They went back to the drawing board two years ago with Spark.
Spark is more a Slack-like attempt at collaboration. It's not a Facebook-like attempt. It's a messaging app. They leverage their strength in unified communications. You can do things with it that you can't do in Slack, except through partners.
They recently announced a $150 million developer fund for Spark. Slack has an $80 million fund. At the show, I'm going to ask them point blank: How much has been given out so far? What's been built because of it? Who is it helping and how many apps have been created for Spark?
CRInsights: What challenges does Cisco face in trying to crack the code and make a significant splash in collaboration?
Lepofsky: You've still got the traditional 'big three'—IBM, MIcrosoft and Google, each of them have email bases which they then try to upsell into collaboration. The question is where do Cisco and Unify and other unified communications companies that are trying to get back into the game through collaboration software fit?
Cisco has traditionally been very hardware-centric with things like videoconferencing, but is that world going away? Why would I have one of those systems today if I have a Macbook with a camera or a phone with a camera? I'm going to challenge them on that, as to where's that market going.
CRInsights: What words come to mind when you contemplate the overall state of the collaboration market?
Lepofsky: 'Simple.' Slack is a simple approach to collaboration. The point is that this is a messaging-based world, whether it's WeChat in Asia or Facebook Messenger here, there's no question collaboration is switching to this conversational model. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has described Microsoft's strategy for collaboration as 'conversation as a platform.'
Slack is less about, 'let me go create a blog post or edit a wiki page.' It's 'let's jump into a room and join a conversation, type some stuff and move on.' Look at Yahoo. It used to have a really advanced homepage, then Google came along and had a single box where you typed in what you wanted to find. Simple is kind of the word that comes to mind when you ask what I feel is changing in the space.
CRInsights: Let's discuss the emerging role of AI (artificial intelligence) in collaboration software.
Lepofsky: AI is the most important shift going on in the collaboration market right now. How can AI filter the information I see and automate the manual tasks I have today, such as scheduling meetings or sharing files?
For developers, it's definitely a new step. They have to learn to use the APIs from whatever AI technology they choose. With AI in the mix, if I'm a developer, I don't just program a file upload control that lets you add a picture. Now it's, 'do I also run it through an AI image recognition program and tag it for you?'
CRInsights: The buzzword Enterprise 2.0 has been out of vogue for a few years now. One could argue the vision it painted, of expansive enterprise social networks filled with highly engaged users, really never came to pass. What are the lessons from this that collaboration vendors and customers should keep in mind moving forward?
Lepofsky: It's all about purposeful collaboration. I constantly argue with people who say it's tools versus culture. It's not. It's purpose. Unless there's a reason for you to use a collaboration tool, such as by selling a product or launching a marketing campaign, people do not participate. No one goes to work with the mindset of 'what can I do to make my company and co-workers smarter today?' They go to get their jobs done and go home.
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