Given opportunity for design errors when implementing SIP, extensive design planning and communication are critical to ensuring success.

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is inherently simple. It is readable, meaning that with a probe you can follow the session initiation by simply reading the messages as they travel between two devices. The protocol does not establish the route the content will traverse, nor its quality. After the session is established, SIP, as a protocol, is only responsible for ending the session.

Successful SIP trunking implementations start with organizational planning and effective communication.

The promise of SIP trunking has been touted for years: You'll save money! It's easy to manage! It's flexible! It offers better business continuity! While this all may be true in theory, the reality is that an integrated approach and careful planning are required to achieve these results. It's not as simple as order it and call it a day.

Organizations need to get out in front of new data protection legislation like GDPR, giving special consideration to communications technology.

2018 will usher in a new era of data protection as the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect on May 25. How does this impact a business based in North America?

From desk phones to softphones, mobile UC clients, and headsets, endpoint options abound.

It has been five years since our first "no desk phone" deployment with a 750-user client installing Microsoft Lync 2013. The enterprise was forward-thinking and the CIO was adamant that this deployment would be heavy on "collaboration tools" and light on desk phones. Obviously, five years ago this was a bold move, but its dictum from the top meant that employees would 'play along.' The word was out -- employees would receive headsets only and desk phones were "gone." The result? Only two out of the 750 employees retained desk phones; 748 Bluetooth headsets were deployed and the cultural shift to UC was underway.

A key benefit of smart campus investment is that it helps to position the property for the future -- communications included.

You have a smart phone and possibly a smart watch. You understand smart buildings. But are you aware of smart campuses?

The sales pitch makes a cloud migration seem easy, but the devil's in the details.

If a move to the cloud is in your future, hopefully you've been able to do some advance preparation, as I've previously recommended. In addition, you'll need to keep in mind a variety of technical considerations.

Turn your smartphone into a node in a peer-to-peer communications network, and keep the conversation flowing.

The recent tragic events of the North Bay fires in California and Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico highlight issues that arise when cell towers go down. In the aftermath of these disasters, we heard many stories about the difficulties of finding people in the affected areas.

Organizations that use cross-disciplinary teams, lead with customer-focused design, and share knowledge effectively will rise quickly to the top of their sector.

In the current technology ecosystem, many organizations have assumed that agility and innovation can only be achieved at the expense of design, security, and reliable operations. Many startups take this path. But as the startup begins to scale, there are often bumps in the road. Perhaps a company grew its solution organically with limited big-picture design or documentation; or maybe the customer experience begins to falter when customers demand reliability but the solution cannot deliver as changes get implemented too quickly.

What does the future hold for telecommunications and what does each segment of the industry need to do to survive?

What's happening in the telecommunications industry today is explosive -- three-dimensional growth on all fronts, making it challenging for enterprises to determine the best strategic course forward.

Situational awareness, collaborative response capabilities, and proactive incident management are the keys to providing a secure environment and minimizing costly downtime.

Today, more than ever, airports need comprehensive situational awareness. Next-generation operation centers combining security, operations management, and collaboration can provide the insights and incident preparedness needed to both streamline everyday operations and manage emergencies.

Organizations need to realign processes and workflows to match the capabilities of new tools.

Disruption by its very nature isn't something you can avoid. It isn't something your business can opt out of if you don't want to go through the pain of reorienting. Or if you do opt out, there are eventually serious consequences.

The communications market is ripe for disruption, leaving the traditional players longing for the good old days.

I borrowed the title of this post from a Louis C.K. stand-up routine a few years ago. In that routine, Louis talked about growing up having to dial a rotary phone -- and what a pain it was if the person you were calling had lots of zeros and nines in their phone numbers (for younger readers, ask your parents to explain). He also talked about the amazing things we take for granted in today's everyday life such as human flight -- sitting in a chair hurtling through the sky.

From smart homes and offices, to AI and robotics, the future will likely look very different.

Last week I picked up the grandkids after school, and to my surprise, I saw 35 fourth graders all walk out to the car line with each one carrying their very own HP Chromebook. When we got home, our fourth grader couldn't unpack it quickly enough!