Zoom is offering an AI Companion free to anyone who is already paying for a Zoom license. Copilot for Microsoft 365, which adds generative AI features to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, requires a $30/user/month add-on license. Pricing and available capabilities for the Cisco Webex AI Assistant are evolving; for now, it appears free trials are available for enterprises with Webex Suite licenses.
It is complicated but understanding and effectively leveraging the AI options and capabilities for your selected collaboration platform (or platforms) could provide your organization with a sustainable advantage. Ignoring AI completely, could mean your company falls behind existing or new competitors.
For those attending Enterprise Connect, after you have seen what I expect will be “AI-infused” keynotes on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, you should plan to attend the Wednesday afternoon session “Navigating the LLM Landscape: Understanding and Leveraging AI-Powered Features.” This session will be led by myself and Brent Kelly. Brent and I have spent months decoding and distilling detailed information from Cisco, Zoom, Microsoft, and Google so that we can try and summarize what’s most important for you and your organization.
Our session will help address six key questions you should be asking of your AI Companion, AI Assistant, or Copilot.
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Key Question
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Why it is important
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1. Should I even use generative AI?
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Generative AI is all the rage but unless it is delivering measurable positive business outcomes it could be more of a distraction than an advantage. Not every department or role will currently benefit from AI.
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2. Which LLMs are used by my UCaaS solution?
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Large language models (LLMs) have different capabilities and blind spots. Depending on which models are used and how they are invoked may mean your corporate data is being sent to one or more third parties. From a privacy, security, data residency, and compliance perspective you need to understand how your meeting and prompt data is being used, processed and stored.
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3. How can I incorporate using LLMs in my daily work?
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Identifying use cases where AI can improve the speed and/or quality of key workflows is critical to generating a return on any AI investment.
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4. Do any of these UCaaS LLMs provide exceptional features, performance, or value?
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Despite the hype, in 2024 it is unlikely that AI differentiators will provide sufficient incentive for organizations to switch platforms. However, customers should and can exert pressure on their platform provider to match competitive capabilities. Longer-term, unique capabilities may justify the time, effort, and cost associated with a platform migration.
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5. What are the opportunities and challenges of using generative AI in a multi-vendor environment?
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Many large organizations use more than one communication and collaboration tool. In these cases, it is important to understand how (or if) different AI capabilities interact or clash.
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6. What's a "Wow" capability I should be aware of in my UCaaS LLM?
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Users can be overwhelmed by the current pace of feature rollout and change. Creating a “wow” moment may help build AI champions and overcome resistant from those hesitant to modify their way of working.
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Understanding the different approaches that leading communication and collaboration vendors are taking with respect to AI is important. Comparing and rating is less important than learning what works well for each solution. AI is useful only when it drives positive business outcomes. We expect 2024 to be a year of AI experimentation, learning, and planning. Our Enterprise Connect session is designed to help you move forward successfully with AI.
You can find all the session details here.
We hope to see you Wednesday afternoon and encourage questions and comments ahead of time.
Kevin Kieller on LinkedIn
Brent Kelly on LinkedIn
Kevin Kieller will be in the Navigating the LLM Landscape: Understanding and Leveraging AI-Powered Features on Wednesday, March 27, at 2 pm. See you there!
Enterprise Connect 2024 will be held at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, FL, from March 25-28. Preview the conference schedule or register to attend. To keep on top of all Enterprise Connect developments, subscribe to the weekly newsletter.
