Enterprise Connect 2024: AI Has Reached The “Toddler” Phase

Apr 2

Our VP of Engineering, Jeff Senger, recently went to Enterprise Connect. Here are his takeaways:

At Enterprise Connect 2023, AI was beginning to become the primary industry focus. AI was in its “infancy” but showed a lot of promise. A year later, AI tools are starting to show more real-world applications and value. All collaboration vendors are rapidly pushing into the field of AI in some manner, so it is a challenge to objectively compare the offerings as they are in various stages of growth. We have entered the “toddler” phase of AI tools in enterprise business.

Understanding Generative AI

Before we discuss some of the great technology coming out of Enterprise Connect, it is important to understand how generative AI works. Large language models work on understanding patterns and assigning probabilities. The more accurate data you feed a model, the better the outcomes are in expecting predictable responses. Speech and language are great uses of these tools, as there are predictable patterns in language formation.

The challenge becomes how to apply these generative AI tools to lots of different kinds of data, especially if that data all lives in different silos. Even if you can feed lots of data to a model, what are the security implications? Can you get the data out if you need to? Where does it live?

Industry Applications for Generative AI

After seeing the vendors showcase the latest and greatest in their respective platforms, it is clear that the industry is making significant progress in applying generative AI. They are all doing similar things, such as using AI to create meeting and call summaries or assisting agents in the contact center.

Ring Central

For example, RingCentral™ with RingSense™ will provide not only meeting and call summaries but even take notes during a live call. Because of its excellent end-user experience, RingCentral™ won the “Best in Show” award at Enterprise Connect 2024.

Microsoft

Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Copilot™ continue to be enhanced to provide Teams meeting and call summaries and to automate repetitive tasks. Microsoft Copilot™ appears to be the most flexible offering, especially because it can gain contextual data from your M365 tenant. Still, the $30 uplift licensing charge brings in the ROI discussion and how to precisely measure the productivity enhancements to justify the increased cost.

Zoom

The all-new Zoom Workspace™ with the Zoom AI Companion™ is a full suite of business applications focused on providing better collaboration. Zoom™ is using AI not only to provide meeting and call summaries but also to provide context to incoming calls. Zoom™ made sure to highlight that the Zoom AI Companion is included at no extra cost. Zoom™ has consistently demonstrated that it is committed to the rapid development of its platform, so there will be more to come as time passes.

Webex

Cisco Webex AI Assistant™ is being applied across the Webex™ platform at no extra cost and is becoming available in many Cisco products. The Cisco Webex AI Assistant™ is used to help provide meeting summaries, “catch me up” to get ready for upcoming meetings, or modify responses in the Cisco Webex™ application. It also powers the “self-learning” Cisco Webex Contact Center™ with agent assist, customer journey data, and topic analysis. The Cisco Webex Contact Center™ is working to detect stressed-out agents and give them a break when needed.

Conclusion

Listening to various sessions at Enterprise Connect, it appears that the industry vendors are moving faster than most real-world enterprises. Enterprises must be concerned about compliance, governance, security, and legal protections. For example, consumers will assume a conversational AI chatbot officially represents a business, so how does an organization make sure that AI chatbots stay within their appropriate boundaries? How does an organization ensure that meeting summaries with protected information are not leaked to those not privileged to the information? Can an organization take its data with it if they change to a different platform? As the collaboration tools mature, these issues will be resolved. Since we are still early in the development process, not all questions have been answered yet.

There will be growing pains as we see the continued application of generative AI in collaboration products, but the future promise is excellent. If you do not yet plan to evaluate the use of generative AI in your enterprise, now is the time to start the discussion.

This post was contributed by Jeff Senger, our VP of Engineering. Jeff has worked in the technology industry for over 25 years. He has multiple Cisco certifications, including CCNP Security, CCNP Collaboration, and WebEx Contact Center Expert.