Enterprises are expanding video conferencing beyond the boardroom. Rapid proliferation of smartphones and tablets is fueling the fire for this trendy technology
Video aids faster decision making and efficiency
between teams. For evidence, look no further than the
$1 billion Bajaj Group. The business conglomerate is using video solutions to streamline its operations, reduce opex costs and
enhance collaboration between the company?s corporate headquarters in Mumbai and Noida, its group companies and six power plants, operated by the energy division, in remote locations across India. This has helped the company to significantly
improve delivery times on projects and reduce its travel and downtime manifold, going up to 70% in the space of 12 months, while also enhancing the productivity of its workers and cutting down on carbon emissions.
Prior to the implementation of videoconferencing from Silicon Valley firm Polycom, Bajaj staff and key senior officials were
required to travel great distances for in-person meetings, which proved time consuming and costly. During the construction, operation and maintenance phase in the power business, quick decisions were required to ensure speedy project delivery times and enable high productivity levels. With Polycom solutions, Bajaj Group has increased efficiencies across its business units, namely for the energy sector and enhanced collaboration across employee communications, business-critical processes and executive board meetings. Video collaboration has become the norm for employees of Bajaj Group who have readily adopted the solutions for its ease and convenience by conducting internal meetings, project
reviews, human resource interviews, and training across distances, in real-time.
Among others, Essar Group has deployed Polycom solutions connecting seven offices globally, including those in India. Videoconferencing is expected to help Essar enhance collaboration and speed decision making for 75,000 employees across their global
offices, from Mumbai to New York to London.
Truth be told, videoconferencing is on the brink of widespread adoption as technology moves from expensive and complex boardroom products to technology that allows video communication on desktops, smartphones and tablets. It is also becoming more and more mission-critical. From medical specialists who now can consult with more patients in more locations, to teachers and scientists who are teaching students in multiple countries simultaneously, to judges and courts who are accelerating court cases while reducing court costs, video solutions are inspiring and enabling new business models, new services, new collaborative relationships, and significant competitive advantages, while creating a video culture where collaborating face-to-face with anyone is the preferred mode.
Neeraj Gill, managing director, India & Saarc, Polycom, says ?Video collaboration solutions are fast gaining traction in India as well as globally. Enterprises are realising the importance of using life-like collaboration tools to create interactive and communicative environments, utilising their time more efficiently as well as saving travel costs.? According to the latest research by Frost & Sullivan, the Asia Pacific video conferencing market registered a record growth of 33.3% in 2011, leading to a total market value of $780.1 million at the manufacture level. ?The adoption has accelerated in growth economies like China and India as well as in mature countries like Australia, Singapore and South Korea,? he adds. In India, Frost & Sullivan highlights an overall growth of 38.9% in CY?11 as compared to CY?10.
Predictably, vendors are scrambling for their piece of the pie. Polycom, which makes the teleconferencing systems you would have likely used during
office conference calls, is trying to make it more attractive by launching advanced solutions that lets any business or consumer use videoconferencing on a diverse device range. Such solutions are designed to accelerate mass adoption of video collaboration and fuel new growth opportunities in market which is expected to grow to nearly $12 billion in 2015 at 16% CAGR, it feels.
In fact, as more and more organisations implement video collaboration for real time communication, technology companies such as Polycom are working towards enhancing the employee?s experience from these solutions. For example, Polycom has partnered with IBM to develop enterprise-grade video collaboration solutions integrated with social business apps. These are aimed at helping users make video calls from within IBM Lotus SameTime or Lotus Connections?whether at the office, at home or on the road. ?Polycom solutions are helping transform how people collaborate in healthcare, education, manufacturing, government and other industries,? the Polycom India head adds.
At a basic level, video collaboration forms part of a complete unified communication solution that seeks to integrate different aspects of communication into a single solution. It provides
organisations, whether small, medium or large with the tools to interact, consult, decide, plan,
instruct, agree, sell, create?collaborate?more effectively face-to-face from around the corner to around the world.
?We believe our key achievements in India have been to grow the video-collaboration market, by creating competitive solutions that continue to cater to the emerging trends in the market,? says Neeraj. ?We are not only propagating an open and interoperable platform that allows all vendors to work together for the benefit of
enterprises, but also lowering the total cost of ownership for them by using up to 50% less bandwidth. This has helped us emerge as a preferred partner across sectors
including government (for projects in the space of tele-justice), manufacturing, education (collaboration with international universities), medical (enabling tele- medicine solutions).?
Today, video is at a major
inflection point?expanding from its traditional enterprise role as an on-premises system to more people, more places, more devices, and more use cases. Take for example, mobility solutions that are making video available to a wider audience. As per Gartner, by 2016, 900 million media tablets will be purchased?one for every eight people and by 2014, the
installed base of devices based on lightweight mobile operating systems, such as Apple?s iOS, Google?s Android, and
Microsoft?s Windows 8 will
exceed the total installed base of all PC-based systems. This opens up a whole new opportunity for videoconferencing vendors.
It would not be an overstatement to say that videoconferencing is at the cusp of its evolution.