Vawn Himmelsbach

Editor /

Vawn Himmelsbach is the editor of expertIP. She has reported on technology, business and travel for two decades, for media outlets such as the Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail, National Post, CBC.ca, Metro News, ITBusiness, PCworld Canada and Computerworld Canada. She also spent three years covering tech as an Asian correspondent.

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Recent Posts

News / Customer Service /

Taking CX to the next level in your contact centre

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / August 29, 2019

Tags: AI, contact centre, CX, UC

Gen Z isn’t going to sit on hold for an agent. But emerging technologies and increasing channel diversity are changing the face of traditional contact centres — which has the potential to dramatically improve the customer experience.

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Fun / IT Management /

Where to book your next ‘geeky’ vacation

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / August 15, 2019

While there’s still time to plan a last-minute summer getaway, it’s also a good time to start preparing for your next vacation — after all, winter is coming. Here are five travel destinations to stimulate your brain or get your geek on.

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News / IT Management /

How to get your boss on board with 5G

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / July 18, 2019

Tags: 5G

Like the temperatures outside, 5G is heating up — but higher-ups aren’t necessarily sold on the disruptive potential of this next-gen cellular network technology. Here’s a primer to help you state your case for 5G (when everyone is back from vacation, of course).

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News / IT Management /

Don’t let economic uncertainty slow DX efforts

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / June 13, 2019

Tags: AI, DX, Gartner

We talk to Gartner analyst John-David Lovelock about the latest IT spending forecast, and why the discussion is changing from one about number-crunching to one about digital disruption.

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News / IT Management /

The top 5 benefits of SD-WAN technology

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / May 16, 2019

Tags: SD-WAN

It’s taken some time to catch on, but an increasing number of organizations are getting onboard with software-defined WANs. This is the year SD-WAN is expected to take off — and be a major driver for network modernization and multi-cloud deployments.

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News / IT Management /

Connectivity remains a key challenge for IoT projects

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 18, 2019

Tags: AI, IIoT, IoT

The Internet of Things is moving out of the sandbox and starting to drive real outcomes, according to a new survey of IoT developers. But security, connectivity and interoperability are still major hurdles — though not insurmountable.

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News / Unified Communications /

UCaaS ramps up in contact centres

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 4, 2019

Tags: AI, contact centre, DX

Channels that will transform the contact centre — and the customer experience — include virtual assistants, proactive automation, web chat, instant messaging and mobile applications. Here’s a preview of what’s to come in the next five years.

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News / IT Management /

Network complexity holds back digital transformation

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / March 21, 2019

Tags: digital transformation, DX, SD-WAN

Network professionals are spending too much time troubleshooting today’s multi-vendor, multi-cloud network environments, says a new report. Here’s how next-gen IT networks like SD-WAN could help pave the way for DX.

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News / IT Management /

Why edge computing should be on your radar in 2019

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / February 21, 2019

Tags: AI, edge computing, IoT

Artificial intelligence is moving to the edge of the network alongside the Internet of Things. If you don’t already have an edge computing strategy, this is the year to get on board.

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News / IT Management /

How SD-WANs are transforming branch connectivity

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / January 17, 2019

Tags: DX, SD-WAN

While the Internet isn’t replacing MPLS, software-defined WANs are proving to be a complementary approach for network connectivity and control, particularly in distributed organizations with remote sites and branch offices.

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News / IT Management /

Blockchain: the reality behind the hype

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / December 6, 2018

Are we moving past the hype into practical applications, or are the benefits of blockchain still largely theoretical? We take a look at what’s ahead for this technology in 2019 and beyond.

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News / IT Management /

Do we need a reality check on virtual reality?

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / November 8, 2018

Tags: AR, immersive technologies, VR

AR/VR hasn’t yet lived up to the hype surrounding it, but immersive technologies haven’t faded away or disappeared. Instead, they’re finding use cases in business and industrial applications that are quietly proving their ROI.

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News / IT Management /

MEC and 5G: A marriage of connectivity and speed

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 25, 2018

Tags: 5G, MEC, network slicing

Together, mobile edge computing and the fifth generation of mobile networks will make a powerful duo, providing real-time connectivity for emerging applications. But do you need to wait for 5G to get on board with MEC?

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News / IT Management /

How to drive business value from IoT projects

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / October 11, 2018

Tags: Gartner, Internet of things, IoT

The impacts of IoT on your business can range from incremental to transformative. But setting goals, quantifying benefits and predicting ROI — as well as preparing for disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence — are essential for success.

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News / IT Management /

What you need to know about the 5G standard

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / September 27, 2018

Tags: 5G

While a standard has been officially released, it’s still not entirely complete. So, what does this mean for 5G devices and networks, and how soon should you jump on the bandwagon?

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concept of digital technology

News / Managed Services /

SD-WAN adoption to transform enterprise networks

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / September 13, 2018

Tags: SD-WAN

Newly released reports from IDC and Dell’Oro Group show significant growth in the software-defined WAN market, reflecting demand for scalability, performance and control to power digital transformation and cloud-enabled applications.

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News / IT Management /

‘Things’ are coming together for smart cities

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / August 16, 2018

Tags: smart city

The Internet of Things and artificial intelligence are key technologies for building smart cities, but so too are emerging business models that can handle – and make sense of – the massive amounts of data being produced by municipal applications.

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News / SIP Trunking /

How DX, elastic services will evolve SIP trunking

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / July 19, 2018

Tags: SIP Trunking

While cost savings, reliability and redundancy are driving the move to Session Initiation Protocol, emerging services such as elastic SIP trunking and extensible applications could help deliver new features and functionality as part of DX projects.

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News / IT Management /

Artificial intelligence and the future of work

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / May 31, 2018

Tags: AI

One of the biggest concerns around automation and AI is that our jobs will disappear. But one Gartner analyst believes work will continue to revolve around human beings in the years to come, including the idea of a ‘centaur,’ combining human skills with technology.

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News / Managed Services /

DX, network complexity drive momentum for SD-WAN

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / May 17, 2018

Tags: SD-WAN

Network architecture is complex, and is becoming even more so with the explosive growth of IoT and exponential demand for bandwidth. IT pros need greater control over the WAN — and the costs associated with it — driving the market for software-defined WANs.

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News / Security /

Key takeaways from Atlanta’s ransomware attack

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 26, 2018

IT pros can expect to deal with an increasing number of cyber extortion and IoT attacks over the next three years, according to Ponemon’s latest research. Here’s why cybersecurity must move beyond prevention and embrace a broader approach.

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News / IT Management /

Three tips for project management success

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / April 12, 2018

Tags: PMI, project management

In the era of digital transformation, it’s likely you have at least a few projects on the horizon or already underway. We examine the top reasons for project failure, and how to increase the chances your next project will be a success.

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News / IT Management /

Building a business case for blockchain

By Vawn Himmelsbach / Editor / March 29, 2018

There’s a lot of hype around blockchain technology, which has been touted as a panacea for trusted transactions. But is it the right fit for your organization, or are you better off — at least in the short term — with a traditional database?

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