Gartner Expert

Daniel O'Connell

VP Analyst

Daniel O'Connell is a Research Vice President in Gartner's Communications Industries group. His research focusses on the communications platform as a service (CPaaS), contact center as a service (CCaaS), and unified communications as a service (UCaaS) markets. Mr. O'Connell works across vendors, end-users, and investors. His end-user support includes vendor selection, contract reviews, and technology trends.

Mr. O'Connell's emerging CPaaS research examines how API-enabled building blocks for SMS, social media messaging, mobile connectivity, and security can digitally enable Fortune 2000 digital adopters. His contact center research explores cloud adoption, which drives digital services like omnichannel communications, AI, bots, and natural language processing.

As a Communications Industry analyst, Mr. O'Connell's helps Product Managers and Tech CEOs across the spectrum of CPaaS, CCaaS, and UCaaS services. This includes go to market strategies, partnership opportunities, competitive analysis, market forecasts, pricing, and product planning.

Investor clients also work with Mr. O'Connell to understand such market dynamics as the shift to the cloud, API-enabled communications, bots, natural language processing, channel partner roles, pricing trends, and the emergence of new technologies.

Mr. O'Connell works closely with established and emerging vendors, service providers, and systems integrators participating in the UC, CPaaS, and CCaaS markets. Notable vendors Mr. O'Connell works with include Twilio, Infobip, Sinch, Route Mobile, Bandwidth, Cisco (BroadSoft), RingCentral, Microsoft (Teams), 8x8, Genesys, and Talkdesk.

Previous experience

Previously, Mr. O'Connell worked with federal-sector clients in the area of emergency communications. These clients sought technical solutions for improving the resiliency and robustness of public wireline, wireless and IP networks. Mr. O'Connell mapped out the expected LEC and IXC TDM to NGN IP transformation and projected the impact on emergency communications programs. In addition, he served as the lead author of numerous winning proposal efforts.

Professional background

Booz Allen Hamilton

Associate

Gartner/Rendall & Associates

Director

Alcatel

Product Manager

Areas of coverage

Product/Service Discovery and Validation

Demand Generation

Industry Product Planning (retired)

Education

M.B.A., Finance and Strategy, University of North Carolina, Beta Gamma Sigma Honors

M.S.E.E., Telecommunications and Computers, George Washington University

B.S., Electrical Engineering, Villanova University

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Top Issues That I Help Clients Address

1Define market trends and pricing for cloud VoIP, UC and contact centers

2Assist vendors in defining business opportunities in the cloud VoIP, UC, contact center, and cPaaS markets

3Help clients identify market sizing for cloud UC, cloud VoIP, cloud contact center and cPaaS

4Identify investment opportunities in the CPaaS and CCaaS markets

5Help contact center vendors exploit the agent work at home model driven by COVID-19