Unified Communications: Top 100 Influencers and Brands

Unified communications refers to the integration of communication tools that help people exchange ideas and do their jobs more effectively. It involves the integration of real-time, enterprise, communication services such as instant messaging (chat), voice (including IP telephony), audio, web & video conferencing, desktop sharing, data sharing, call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as integrated voicemail, e-mail and SMS.

Unified communications allows an individual to send a message on one medium, and receive the same communication on another medium. For example, you could receive a voicemail and choose to access it via e-mail.

The global unified communications market size is expected to reach $143.49 billion by 2024, according to a report by Grand View Research, mainly due to the increasing need for real-time and efficient communication systems that enhance the inter-organisational exchange of information.

WHAT ARE THE EXPERTS SAYING?

We reached out to some of the top influencers on our list to ask them for their views on unified communications. We spoke to Perry Nalevka (#3), Samuel Pavin (#4) and Jaymie A. Cutai a (#6). Be sure to follow them to stay up to date on the best content and resources on unified communications.

Perry Nalevka – CEO at Penguin Strategies

“I’ve been involved in communications for 10 years and I’ve seen a lot of changes. When the mobile revolution started, unified communications was a fancy way of saying call forwarding but as technology has progressed and smart phones have became common place, there are now a lot of other ways to communicate. As we are now communicating on so many different channels the problem we are facing is seeing all the communications in one place. On one hand we have the service providers providing the connectivity and over the top services, and on the other we have innovative start-ups such as Slack offering communication solutions. Moving forward the biggest challenge is unifying the communications and getting your internal team to communicate on the same channel, and the second biggest challenge is adapting to how your customers are communicating.”

Samuel Pavin – Advisor and Strategist at Samuel Pavin Group
“As an individual, I like to have everything in one place. As such, apps like WeChat, offering so many features in one tool, are my go-to. Unified communications brings it to the business world. Integrating all channels in one place helps, not only, with structuring the communication but also productivity – and ultimately a better experience. Be it for external or even internal customers. I think the rise of messaging apps (WhatsApp and all) has helped people grasp the concept of unified communication where written and spoken messages mix together. With the likes of Slack and livechats entering companies and seeing massive adoption by startups, the idea of unified communication has been able to grow and be more easily and widely understood. As for the next steps, we are currently seeing a phase of buyouts and consolidation which is going in that direction. With all the channels available nowadays, it is crucial to build a hub in order to capture all interactions, be able to structure all data and, ultimately serve all stakeholders more efficiently.”

Jaymie A. Cutaia – Founder & CEO Jaymie Scotto and Associates

“Unified Communications is not just about integrating enterprise communications services like chat, voice, mobile, web and video, but about enhancing the way team members, students and customers are able to leverage today’s technology advancements to provide better, streamlined collaboration and productivity. It’s about advancing the way we learn, build and grow together.”

TOPIC ANALYSIS

We were interested in seeing which topics were spoken of the most in the context of unified communications, so we analysed the top 100 influencers’ tweets and blogs from 1st August – 13th September 2016 and counted the number of times various topics were mentioned and then created a share of voice pie chart.

At #1 is the topic Cloud with 32% share of voice illustrating the importance of having your information, such as contacts, stored remotely with easy access from anywhere. The 2nd most popular topic among the unified communications influencers was Data with a 20% share of voice. Quickly following by the related topic of Security at #3 with a 15% share of voice. Collaboration was at #4 with 8% followed by Platform #5 with 8%. Voice was at #6 with a 4% share of voice, 5G received a 4% share of voice, followed by VoIP, Broadband and Mobility all with a 3% share of voice each.

MAPPING THE COMMUNITY

We were very interested in seeing which brand and individuals were leading the discussion around unified communications, so we analysed over 18K tweets from 8th July – 29th August 2016 mentioning the key words: “unified comms” OR unifiedcomms OR “unified communication” OR “unified communications” OR unifiedcommunications OR unifiedcommunication. We then identified the top 100 most influential brands and individuals leading the discussion on Twitter. What we discovered was a very engaged community, with much discussion between individuals and brands. Below you can see a network map of the online conversation with the the #1 influencer Evan Kirstel at the centre. This map was created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM). Be sure to click on the map to enjoy the full size network diagram in greater detail.

Below you can see another network map created with our Influencer Relationship Management software (IRM) showing the number 1 brand Avaya at the centre and all the conversations to and from the influencers in their field. If you are interested in learning more about identifying, managing and engaging with influencers click here to get in touch!

TOP 100 INDIVIDUALS

We looked at all the individuals engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top influencers in unified communications. Below is the top 50, if you want to see who ranks from 50-100 be sure to download the full report by clicking the download button below.

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Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Company	Influencer Score
1	@evankirstel	Evan Kirstel	UCStrategies	100
2	@MarkRobertsCMO	Mark Roberts	ShoreTel	89.08
3	@perrynalevka	Perry Nalevka	Penguin Strategies	77.94
4	@SamPavin	Samuel Pavin	Samuel Pavin Group	73.04
5	@FreedomFireCom	Michael E Lemm	FreedomFire Communications	49.11
6	@jscotto	Jaymie Scotto Cutaia	Jaymie Scotto & Associates	44.33
7	@adi_Marketer	Aditya Gupta	Panamax	41.52
8	@a1purva	Apurva Chamaria	HCL Technologies	37.53
9	@RafaelCisneros	Rafael Cisneros	Telefónica	37.04
10	@nzaharony	Nili M Zaharony	Penguin Strategies	35.25
11	@martin_steinman	Martin Steinman	SteamFab Ventures	32.98
12	@ralphopinions	Ralph A. Rodriguez	Blue Hill Research	30.86
13	@gerardblokdijk	Gerard Blokdijk	The Art of Service	28.32
14	@IditLowe	Idit Lowenstein	Penguin Strategies	26.48
15	@sonalbisht	Sonal Bisht	Polycom	26.26
16	@gabiyanover	Gabi Yanover	Penguin Strategies	25.72
17	@davidfcarr	David F. Carr	Carr Communications	25.49
18	@ilissanyc	Ilissa Miller	iMiller Public Relations	25.13
19	@Andrew_Campling	Andrew Campling	BT	24.76
20	@jforst26	Jennifer Hartley	BPM	23.99
21	@voice_compass	Detlev Artelt	aixvox	23.06
22	@lauravolpi_it	Laura Volpi	Cisco	22.87
23	@RonaldSchlager	Ronald Schlager	Schlager Communications Services	19.9
24	@ZacharyOstrow	Zachary N. Ostrow	Publicis Groupe	19.73
25	@MattPreschern	Matt Preschern	HCL Technologies	18.92
26	@Msteltzer	Matt Steltzer	NORSTAR Networks	18.58
27	@pauleriksen	Paul Eriksen	AT&T	18.27
28	@mharanas1987	Mark Haranas	CRN	18.25
29	@manlyclub	Steve Miller	Manly Club	18.1
30	@OpeningzByAbi	Abi Brown ☕️️	Openingz	17.97
31	@NikolaMcCloskey	Nikola McCloskey	Heket Productions	17.12
32	@bashirm99031799	bashir mohamed	Dimension Data	16.94
33	@WitoldKepinski	Witold Kepinski	Dutch IT Channel	16.7
34	@MitchellBarker	Mitchell Barker	Which VoIP	16.63
35	@Lauren1Dukes	Lauren Dukes	Crowdtap	16.57
36	@bonirulzz	Boni satani	Panamax	15.79
37	@GutoSmatos	Gustavo Matos	AT&T	15.71
38	@JulieParker144	Julie Parker	Broadcast2world	15.4
39	@BitaMilanian	Bita Milanian	GENBAND	15.04
40	@nbrien8856	Norm Brien	Concentric Business Solutions	14.77
41	@my6cess	Dan Frost	Symplicity Corporation	14.64
42	@pbxman	Jeff Hiebert	ROI Networks	14.16
43	@Neetesh_hajela	Neetesh Hajela	HCL Technologies	13.95
44	@marciasavage	Marcia Savage	Network Computing	13.89
45	@AFairch	Alea Fairchild	Constantia Institute	13.39
46	@JaclynALevy	Jackie Riback Levy	Jaymie Scotto & Associates	13.39
47	@aemmons1016	Ashley Emmons	Jaymie Scotto & Associates	13.3
48	@Telexplainer	John Shepler	Telexplainer	13.27
49	@theitsmguru	Victoria Weaver	Federal Agency	13.02
50	@giovanniserlijn	Giovanni Serlijn	KPN	12.19

TOP 100 BRANDS

We also looked at all the brands engaging on Twitter to bring you a list of the top brands talking about unified communications. Below is the top 50, if you want to see who ranks from 50-100 be sure to download the report to get the full top 100 list, and see who are most the influential brands in unified communications.

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Rank	Twitter Handle	Name	Influencer Score
1	@Avaya	Avaya	100
2	@CounterPath	CounterPath	42.77
3	@GENBAND	GENBAND	35.68
4	@panamax_inc	Panamax Inc	29.66
5	@InformationWeek	InformationWeek	27.49
6	@hcltech	HCL Technologies	24.05
7	@AvotusCorp	Avotus Corporation	18.47
8	@Swyx_Channel_EN	Swyx Solutions	17.97
9	@Channel_Online	Channel Partners	16.57
10	@CommsBusiness	Comms Business	14.5
11	@nojitter	nojitter	12.4
12	@insightssuccess	Insights Success	11.91
13	@Aricent	Aricent	11.88
14	@8×8	8×8	11.26
15	@shoretel	ShoreTel	11.21
16	@CiscoItalia	Cisco Italia	10.97
17	@EWN_INC	Edgewater Networks	10.83
18	@CRN	CRN	10.66
19	@Level3	Level 3	9.66
20	@Bankai_Group	Bankai Group	8.59
21	@WhichVoIPSA	WhichVoIP.co.za	8.57
22	@digium	Digium	8.42
23	@WINMAG_Pro	WINMAG Pro	8.28
24	@EBC_Group	EBC Group	7.97
25	@CenturyLinkEnt	CenturyLink Business	7.92
26	@Swyx_EN	Swyx Solutions AG	7.57
27	@TelecomExchange	Telecom Exchange	7.51
28	@snom	Snom VoIP phones	7.44
29	@teledynamics	TDNYC	7.3
30	@cioreview	CIOReview	7.25
31	@SearchUC	SearchUC	6.61
32	@ilanamit	ilanamit	6.08
33	@voipinnovations	VoIP Innovations	6.02
34	@UCStrategies	UCStrategies	5.98
35	@TheVoipReport	The VoIP Report	5.98
36	@iMillerPR	iMiller PR	5.65
37	@innovaphone	innovaphone AG	5.62
38	@TelecomNewsroom	TelecomNewsroom	5.53
39	@DCLSearch	DCL Search & Select	5.53
40	@cisco_in	Cisco Systems India	5.47
41	@sharplinkco	SharpLink	5.31
42	@TNNTelecomNews	TNN Telecom News	5.28
43	@TelePacific	TelePacific	5.27
44	@vyopta	Vyopta	5.24
45	@IntelisysCorp	Intelisys	5.21
46	@ALLIEDTELECOM	Allied Telecom	5.08
47	@beroNet	beroNet GmbH	4.89
48	@VodafoneVGE	Vodafone VGE	4.88
49	@fringAlliance	fring Alliance	4.85
50	@CiscoGeekfest	Cisco Geekfest	4.75

At Onalytica we love building these lists and want to give back to our loyal readers as much as we can. If you’re interested in other topics (such as Virtual Reality, Digital Health, Digital Marketing) be sure to have a gander on our blog or why not propose some topics to us on twitter? We also build some very cool software to manage all of these influencers. Get a free demo today by clicking the button below!

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Disclaimer: As ever with these lists, it must be stressed that the ranking is by no means a definitive measurement of influence, as there is no such thing. The brands and individuals listed are undoubtedly influential when it comes to driving discussion around unified communications.

The PageRank based methodology we use to extract influencers on a particular topic takes into account the number and quality of contextual references that a user receives. These calculations also take into account a user’s relevance (number of tweets on topic) and reach (number of followers). If you want to learn more, please read our article that outlines influencer identification.

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