The Cloudy Cloud Intro Part 1: Video Conferencing Boarders on Annoying

It has taken me two years to admit this: there is too much happening in the world of Video Conferencing. Options are creating chaos. And I am a co-founder of a company that does Video Conferencing. Perfect, right?

Our customers and prospects are showing signs of choice fatigue. They want an experience that is integrated, seamless, cost-effective. Most can identify a key outcome for a video conferencing deployment but many are stuck looking at choices with only one outcome. Some have made a decision that they might as well do video conferencing (everyone else is doing it, right?). Few find one clear pain-point that justifies costs and even fewer have time to weed through the confusion.

Traditional problems are easy to identify and solve. Perhaps it is travel expense reduction or better meetings. More often today we are seeing video conferencing being used for one-on-one support, training or development. We hold, however, that a well throughout video conferencing solution would take ALL these items into consideration as possible benefits, externalities or enhancements to a video platform deployment.

My point here? We pride ourselves in knowing how to listen to your needs, plan the right deployment and make that rollout PERFECT. Yeah, it’s in our name and we mean it. I think the UC and Video Conferencing industry has to do some serious soul searching in 2018 so that our customers have a clearer set of choices and less confusion.

Interested in more? This “Cloudy -Cloud” blog series will explore many of the factors that go into choosing an HD Video Conferencing solution that is integrated, not only with the technology being chosen but with the experience you desire. We have seen a dramatic rise in features across the solutions we sell and fierce competition in the bridge services offered in the market. We will post all of our partners and highlight why each is a great solution. The outcome? We want you to tune in here and through this series (or through meetings with us), get what you need to make an informed business decision about unified video communications services.

Therein lies the problem. There are MANY great solutions. We have had to pivot our business because of this. We started with ShoreTel and Lifesize- two amazing and disruptive technology innovators that helped their respective industries. Today, however, the disruptors are being disrupted. VoIP and Video need not be separate solutions and increasingly having them separate creates poor adoption levels within our customer’s user base. This is essential the Lync, now Microsoft’s Skype for Business story. Free becomes enterprise ready – but you have to get it right. We can help.

In this series, we’ll cover a quick refresher on building the right video conferencing environment first. We’ll then pivot to the considerations of cloud bridge purchases. Other articles in this series:

• Audio and Camera Choices Matter
• Setup and Management – KISS
• Don’t ignore your end users
• Don’t ignore the plumbing, poop stinks (you need a good network)
• The Millennial Impact on Video Conferencing
• BYOC- Myth, Reality and the challenges of BYOD. Whew, BOYB!
• Get on with the meeting, get the tech out of the way
• Which Vendors Wins – where and why
• Vendor Highlights - Lifesize, Zoom, Vidyo, Starleaf, Bluejeans, Shoretel

Tune in, or give us a call. Cheers! Randy N. Marcotte, MPA