A couple of weeks ago, I shared the new approach we’re taking to the Conference session tracks for Enterprise Connect 2026. I noted that we’re hoping to align our content with the strategic issues and challenges our enterprise audience faces, as well as to better highlight the exciting new approaches we’re taking. Over the next few weeks in this newsletter, I want to go through each of the tracks to give you a more specific idea of just what we’re hoping to achieve with each one, and how this relates to Enterprise Connect’s ongoing mission.
I’ll start where each of our enterprise attendees has to start: With the legacy technology. Our track, Legacy Unleashed: Optimizing Your Communications Backbone, aims to make ample space and time for the issues you face in maintaining current services, keeping them on a migration roadmap that optimizes cost and functionality, and keeps it all running to the five-nines (or better) standard that enterprises require for mission-critical communications and collaboration, both internally and with your customers.
Take voice networks, for example. At first glance, not much in technology is less glitzy than deploying, architecting, and maintaining voice networks. Yet arguably, voice is as important as ever – in spite of all the omnichannel hype, it remains the critical medium by which your customers reach out to you for service.
But decision-making around voice, especially for the contact center, is not a static discipline. In keeping with the broader trend of cloud repatriation, some enterprises are re-examining their strategies around what gets moved to the cloud, and how this strategy meshes with the need to take advantage of AI functions that largely live in the cloud.
We’re also seeing continued focus on resiliency, an issue that’s never gone away and never really can. But how you ensure resiliency in the context of cloud-based services and new integrations with business applications is a problem that requires new approaches and the need to educate business leaders on enterprise standards of performance.
Hanging over the issues of your legacy base is the need to continually find more cost-effective ways of achieving these results. Let’s face it: Big new investments in your installed base are probably going to be a tough sell to your leadership. Consider this 1Q25 data from Boston Consulting Group: There’s a 48-percentage point gap between the number of enterprises that plan to increase spending on AI compared with those that plan to decrease AI spend. In contrast, 13% more enterprises plan to decrease spending on communications, collaboration, and content management software, vs. those planning to increase spend in this area.
It's the same old, unwelcome story: Do more with less.
Our EC26 track on optimizing legacy infrastructure will lean heavily on both sides of this equation: Yes, you need to control budget in this area (likely so it can be spent on other areas like AI), but you’ve still got to come out of the process with better results: More efficient infrastructure, better performance , and a deployment that supports customer and employee satisfaction with the communications tools and channels you provide.
Our goal is to help you, as the track title says, “unleash” your legacy infrastructure, making sure it empowers your users to accomplish the goals they’ve always relied on it for, and to take it to the next level.
Reimagine Collaboration and Communications with Enterprise Connect
All In on What’s Next
For over 35 years, Enterprise Connect has been the premier event where IT leaders, solution providers, and industry analysts come together to define the future of enterprise communications. As the most trusted conference in the industry, we deliver cutting-edge insights, world-class networking opportunities, and hands-on solutions that drive real business success.
Enterprise Connect is more than an event—it’s an experience that empowers enterprise communications leaders to reimagine the future of work. With elevated content, curated networking, and an engaging atmosphere, it remains the must-attend conference for professionals shaping the industry’s evolution.
Our mission is to equip you with the tools, strategies, and actionable insights needed to address your organization’s unique challenges. With industry transformation in mind, this year’s program introduces fresh new conference tracks, including:
- Legacy Unleashed: Optimizing Your Communications Backbone
- Workplace Reimagined: Engineering Tomorrow's Collaboration
- Tech Disruption Zone: Implementing Without Imploding
- Achieving Transformation: Architecting Your 3-5 Year Roadmap
- Future Shock: Communications Tech Beyond the Horizon
Featuring the most comprehensive program of objective content and an expansive vendor-neutral expo hall, Enterprise Connect is your ultimate resource for advancing collaboration, CX, and AV strategies. Join us to stay ahead, connect with industry trailblazers, and lead the transformation of enterprise communications.