The Three Pillars of Successful Visual Communications

Don’t be duped by disruptive marketing messages

“In the rapidly changing arena of corporate Visual Communications, it’s time to focus on what’s functional, rather than what’s ‘cool’.” So says Ian Heard, Group General Manager for MSVC at Dimension Data. Heard points out that many large organizations today get distracted by marketing messages that hype up specific functionalities as ‘cutting-edge’, but which don’t always align with what the organization needs to make visual communications enterprise-grade. “More often than not, this skewed focus only detracts from more fundamental considerations: what we like to call the three pillars of successful visual communications.”

These basic principles can help organizations maintain focus in a dynamic market in which visual communications deployments aren’t what they used to be. “In the past, these roll-outs were relatively simple. Solutions were either deployed on ISDN, ran via the organization’s internal network or, in some cases, via the Internet. They were mostly confined to meeting rooms, with only a few desktop end points reserved for senior executives, and they usually connected colleagues either to one another at the office or, occasionally, to home users. That’s all changing.”

Today, there’s a rapid shift towards pervasive video, explains Heard. Networks are expanding to include 3G and 4G connections, and employees are starting to use wireless options. The meeting environments themselves are also transitioning by moving away from a rigid set-up in meeting rooms, to video available on laptops, tablets, smartphones and even smart glasses such as Google ‘Glass’, and Samsung ‘Gear’ ‘Blink’,  and via a proliferation of possible software clients. “In addition, the people we connect with are no longer only colleagues. We’re also seeing an increase in video connections to clients’ point-of-sale; business-to-business video calls connecting to peers, clients or partners in the supply chain; as well as connections to home workers and mobile workers in the field. The whole landscape is therefore different from what it was.”

Pillar one: scalability

This ‘explosion’ in video demand and usage is forcing many organizations to think more carefully about implementing controls to improve the user experience, which will drive wider adoption of visual communications solutions and, in turn, ensure better return on investment. “But,” warns Heard, “the answer isn’t simply to ‘wrap’ a managed service around the visual communications estate. These services are no silver bullet that can ‘fix’ a weak infrastructure.” A better strategy is to consider the three pillars of successful visual communications and move forward from there. “Combined, these factors provide an end-to-end view of your visual communications approach, a perspective often lacking in the haphazard approach seen in the market.”

The first pillar is scalability. The key here is to recognize and accept that the number of video end-points will increase rapidly over the next few years, as more smart devices become video-enabled, and end users demand to use them for work purposes. “Eventually, you may have as many as three or four devices per person, plus your usual meeting room infrastructure, all demanding access to video facilities,” says Heard. Scalability is therefore all about whether your visual communications technology infrastructure can grow as fast as the increasing demand. Will you continue to provide a good user experience regardless of how rapidly the solution scales? Connected to this is the management of the solution. How scalable is your management and support infrastructure in line with the growing demand? Is it flexible enough to expand or contract as your business needs change – but without generating excessive business risk? Then there’s also a financial aspect: do you really have the budget to sustain the required scaling?

“One of our larger clients already had multiple desktop video units throughout the organization,” says Heard. “But the estate was increasing by about 2% a month. The result was that the organization soon ran out of ports and gate-keeper licensing, and its management system infrastructure couldn’t cope with the growth. On top of that, its support engineers were constantly working double time and were rapidly running out of steam. Scalability poses a real challenge, and organizations are beginning to realize this.”

​One solution to management scalability is as-a-service options, which can turn your management platform into a managed service, delivered remotely.

As management demand goes up, the service scales accordingly, and does so faster and more smoothly than organizations can do internally. Another possible component of this is outsourcing the infrastructure itself. Says Heard: “We’re seeing great interest in infrastructure hosted off-site, either in a public cloud or, more pressing for enterprise clients, in a private cloud. In the latter instance, Dimension Data hosts the client’s infrastructure in our data centers, with a smart as-a-service model wrapped around this offering to provide a price per month, per end point. Then, if the organization needs to dramatically increase the number of end points over a short period, the supporting infrastructure can grow accordingly with no additional capital expenditure (capex), no need to wait for change controls, and no arduous procurement processes.

“Business buyers are beginning to see that visual communications services involve more than purchasing a software license,” says Heard, “but it’s also not as simple as purchasing a new system for your room-based solutions anymore. It’s about bundling the end point, the infrastructure, the management, the installation and the support of the solution into a single cost, which can then be charged back to the business on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. This makes visual communications cost-neutral for the IT department.”

Pillar two: consistency

In terms of consistency, a key challenge for global organizations today is achieving the same standard and quality of visual communications across all of their offices around the world. Often, the video experience is fair at its headquarters or major regional offices, which usually offer high-touch support and have video experts on hand. But it’s not always the case with remote sites or home offices. “As a result,” says Heard, “the utilization of visual communications infrastructure at organizational headquarters is often two to three times higher than at remote offices, and the user experience is equally better. Consistency requires the fundamentals to be in place, such as having a uniform directory, making sure the correct architectural controls are implemented, and then delivering the service consistently wherever the user’s geographical location may be. “However, this is easier said than done for an organization whose key focus is not communications technology. A visual communications service provider that’s able to deliver such services globally could do so at a fraction of the cost that the organization would have to incur – even as much as 40% less, and without the risk of employing, training and retaining personnel to do so.”

Pillar three: adoption

Much has been said about the importance of user adoption in the success of visual communications. Again, the consistency of the user experience across geographical locations contributes to both ease-of-use and increased usage. Says Heard: “It’s important to keep your most ‘technology-shy’ users in mind − those who show an inherent reticence for using unfamiliar technology. A visual communications concierge service may be ideally suited to help these users, enabling them to enter a meeting room and simply meet. The concierge also meets and greets the participants to ensure that the call is set up to their specific requirements (by, for example, adjusting the screen layout, adding presentations, etc.). The concierge then leaves the meeting, but keeps monitoring the call, and can re-join, should the user requests it, or if a site has dropped due to technical difficulties that may include an interrupted Internet connection.

It’s also worth considering a formalized usage and adoption program, so that your visual communications strategy is devised by user requirements, not technical performance. This will also help sustain users’ awareness of the benefits of visual communications, as well as to assist the organization in understanding what their users want and need from these solutions.

 

Video End-Points will increase rapidly over the next few years, as more smart devices become Video-Enabled, and end users demand to use them for work purposes.

Says Heard: “Remember that what users want from their video calls today may be very different from what they expect further down the line when they’re using video more regularly. Users need change and it’s important to maintain the management and improvement of the visual communications strategy on an ongoing basis.” Distractions and disruptive messages in the market can deter organizations from considering these three pillars of successful visual communications. “The tension here is always between what’s considered ‘cool’ new functionality, and what’s practical and useful for the organization. Is it really necessary or useful for the business, for example, to be able to connect to socially driven infrastructures and networks such as Google or Skype when they struggle to provide a scalable, consistent and adopted service in their own enterprise? Is the functionality in line with user requirements, and is it easy to use? And if something goes wrong with the solution, no matter where in the world the user might be, can it be fixed in a consistent and reliable manner?

“Lastly, the Visual Communications strategy you develop should integrate into your broader Unified Communications strategy. Look out for managed service providers today who provide a ‘walled garden’ solution, in which you’re only able to call within their infrastructure. If and when your call exits those borders, you may have no choice but to use the service provider’s bridging services, which are often expensive, or the provider may quite simply not support that call. Sometimes, you’re also compelled to use the service provider’s proprietary management systems, which don’t integrate with your broader unified communications strategy. The net result is that visual communications remains a poorly adopted technology tower. Consider partnering with a managed service for visual communications provider that can provide advanced managed services, but utilizes open-standard architecture which it can integrate seamlessly and successfully into your overall unified communications

Source(s): dimensiondata.com, Samsung, Google, Skype,

Infographic(s): dimensiondata.com

Publisher(s): Eli Ganon