This week, I came across something at Spring vCon 2026 that completely changed how I think about conversations in the digital world. It didn’t just stay theoretical for me: I actually experienced a version of this shift myself.
Recently, I went through two AI-driven interview sessions:
A 25-minute video interview
A 15-minute voice interview
At first, it felt unusual to speak to an AI in such a structured, recorded way. But over time, it started to feel normal, almost like a regular part of the hiring process. It even became fun when the AI asked for clarifications and follow-up questions.
Later, when I shared this experience in a tech Discord server, the conversation immediately shifted to a critical concern: 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚.
"I’m not sure what their terms and conditions are. There is no disclaimer whatsoever, and I’m not sure if they are regulated or not."
That discussion made everything click. Because I had just lived through exactly what vCon is trying to solve.
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚
I’ve always thought of conversations as temporary, like calls, meetings, or chats that happen and then get stored somewhere as recordings or transcripts.
But between AI interviews and this discussion, I started seeing something different:
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬.
And we are generating more of them than we can properly organize or reuse.
𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐂𝐨𝐧?
𝐯𝐂𝐨𝐧 (𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐭) is an emerging open standard designed to represent conversations in a structured, machine-readable format.
At its core, vCon defines a way to package everything that makes up a conversation into one portable container. Think of it as a standardized 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, similar to how PDF standardized documents or how MP4 standardized video.
Instead of scattered pieces, vCon brings it all together:
𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚: Audio and video recordings
𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬: Full transcripts and AI-generated summaries
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭: Participants, identities, and timestamps
𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚: Action items, tags, and behavioral signals
𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐂𝐨𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦
Image taken from Jill Blankenship
To really understand how this works, it’s helpful to look at the flow of data. The "Trusted Source" model illustrates how these interactions move through a secure pipeline:
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 (𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬): On the left, we see the input phase where Voice Calls, Chat, Email, Messaging, and Video are captured.
𝐯𝐂𝐨𝐧: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 (𝐂𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤): This purple box in the middle is the vCon Container. It acts as the "Single source of truth" by ensuring every conversation is Complete & Accurate, recorded in a Standardized Format, and kept Secure & Governed.
- 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬 (𝐔𝐬𝐞𝐝 & 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐲): On the right, the green arrows show how this trusted data flows into AI & Analytics, Automation, Quality & Compliance, Business Intelligence, and Customer Experience tools.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞
At Spring vCon 2026, one theme kept coming up repeatedly:
𝐖𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭.
According to industry research from 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫, over 80% 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝, and conversations are the 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 of this information. Yet most of this data is:
- Hard to search
- Hard to reuse
- Locked inside 𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬
- Difficult to analyze consistently at scale
𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲 𝐛𝐲 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧: 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧
When the discussion on Discord turned to privacy, it highlighted a major gap. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡. By standardizing the format, we can also standardize the 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞.
This means that privacy controls and data retention policies are baked into the file itself. Crucially, a vCon container is designed to be 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞'𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐜𝐲. It allows systems to analyze the context of a conversation for business intelligence while keeping the identity of the person secure.
This architecture ensures that permissions travel with the data, rather than being 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬
Right now, conversations are trapped. A sales call lives in a CRM, a support call lives in a contact center tool, and a meeting lives in a video platform. They don’t connect.
vCon introduces a shared language for all of this. It turns conversations into something you can:
Store consistently
Search intelligently
Analyze at scale
Move across platforms
We are moving from "𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬" to "𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐳𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝." That shift is powerful because once conversations become structured data, they stop being temporary: they become infrastructure.
𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 & 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐬
𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚: https://www.forcepoint.com/blog/insights/gartner-2024-world-class-security-unstructured-data-report
𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐅 𝐯𝐂𝐨𝐧 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-ietf-vcon-overview-01
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