Blair Pleasant is currently
the President and Principal Analyst of COMMfusion LLC, a technology research, analysis and consulting
firm focusing on voice and data convergence. Prior to founding COMMfusion, Blair was Director of Communications Analysis for
The PELORUS Group, a market research and consulting firm, and President of
Lower Falls Consulting.
With over 18 years experience, her primary
areas of focus are convergence applications, including contact center, Unified Communications,
Unified Messaging, computer telephony integration (CTI), and voice processing.
Blair has authored many highly acclaimed market
studies, and provides market research analysis and consulting services to both
end user and vendor clients. Multi-client research
studies include:
á
Voice/Data Recording:
Markets, Products and Suppliers, May 2004, published in conjunction with Tern
Systems.
á
Unified Messaging
Usurps Traditional Voice Messaging Market, August 2004, published by
In-Stat/MDR.
á
Convergence Technology
Resellers Expectations and Vendor Relationships, October 2000, prepared and
published by The IN-Fusion Group, a consortium of independent analysts.
Multi-client industry market studies
researched and written by Blair and published by The PELORUS Group include:
Blair
has also authored several white papers for a variety of companies in the
contact center, unified messaging, and VoIP markets, which include descriptions
of market trends, technology insights, and specific product descriptions.
Custom
research reports for a variety of clients include:
á Analyzing contact center best practices for a large, multi-site national insurance company, and assessing the companyÕs distributed contact centers to help the company better retain current customers and increase new customers
á Multi-media contact center technology tutorial for sales teams
á Competitive Analysis of Specific Vendors in the Outbound/Call Blending, and Intelligent Call Routing Markets
á Consulting next-gen switch vendor on the features and capabilities needed for contact center applications
á CTI vendor competitive analysis
á Unified messaging end-user research
á Evaluating and selecting a contact center platform and knowledge base vendor for a large university
á On-going consulting with leading unified messaging vendor regarding partnerships and product direction.
á Providing consulting services and market positioning to a collaboration start up vendor
á Contact center pricing analysis
á The Market For Network-Based Intelligent Routing System
á Speech Recognition Technology Assessment
á On-going/ad-hoc consulting with leading contact center vendor
á On-going Competitive Analysis of Call Center/CTI Market, responding to various inquiries on a monthly basis
á Preparation of marketing plan for CTI start-up company
Ms.
Pleasant has authored several articles for various trade magazines, and is a
frequent speaker and moderator at conferences. She has also organized and
managed several conferences, including developing the content, agenda,
selecting and working with the speakers, in addition to serving as moderator
for the 2-day events.
Ms.
Pleasant received a BA degree in Communications from Albany State University,
plus an MBA in marketing and MS in Broadcast Administration from Boston
University.