What does Quality mean in Enterprise Video Conferencing?

Telepresence, HD, 4K and managed video networks - where's the customer in all this?

We're now into 2014. I am sure that this is going to be the year of video.

When I joined RADVISION some 15 years ago, it was the year of video.

The next year? That was the year of video.

It continues until today with no real uptake of video conferencing in the enterprise.

By now I think it is safe to say that video conferencing in the enterprise will never really be here. There is no year for that in our calendar.

At the same time, video in the consumer market (or in enterprise, but the type that isn't counted in a UC bucket) is thriving.

We, as an industry, have tried everything: High definition video. Then HD voice. We're now going into the 4K craze (as the TV industry is). We've gone for managed networks and tried to bring everything under control – even the percentage of possible packet loss. Nothing really worked to get the damn customers buy more of our products.

And I don't think the next set of suggested roadmap items will make a difference.

I'd like to give an explanation for that; one taken from the Seth Godin book. Or, more accurately, his blog. A specific post from August of last year that discusses the issue of quality:

Kodak, of course, ruled their world. […]

Along the way, though, the company made the mistake of misdefining quality. They thought that what would ensure their future was better fidelity film. And without a doubt, they delivered on the promise of ever better film stock, with all the things a professional photographer could hope for.[…]

It turns out that what people actually wanted was the ability to take and share billions of photos at vanishingly small cost. The 'quality' that most of the customer base wanted was cheap and easy, not museum quality.

Skype. FaceTime. Hangouts. They are all redefining 'quality' – or more accurately aligning it with what people actually want. They are all not "museum quality". They cannot compete with that 100K USD telepresence system you have lying in your enterprise in some forgotten room that nobody really uses besides the CEO. But guess what – they get used a lot more.

Is it time for enterprise video conferencing vendors to think hard at what 'quality' really means and align accordingly?

Is it time for UC vendors to see if federation really is key to what is necessary? (hint: Whatsapp, LINE, Facebook, WeChat are not federated and each has well over 200 million active users).

Should we rethink UC?

3 Responses to "What does Quality mean in Enterprise Video Conferencing?" - Add Yours

Thor Hammer 1/31/2014 12:25:04 AM

Agree on federation, it is a blind alley. Agree that video must be affordable to be ubiquitous. Don't agree on quality. I have daily customer meetings on Vidyo. Would I do that on Skype? No, quality is not good enough. Hangout? No, my customers do not use Google accounts for business. Lync? No, I need to include legacy room systems, I want to see everyone (not squint at a small frame) at the same time, and I need to share content between all.

There is a flow of new products out there that does these things, in a more or less good way. I think we will see a stronger uptake, but perhaps not the ketchup effect we would want.

Fabrizio Capone 1/31/2014 12:56:57 AM

Great comment Tsahi! About the real UCC adoption in the enterprises I find very "funny" the huge efforts made by the vendors to push the usage of their solutions disguised in some sad bandle with the core features... The result? As end user I find myself more comfortable with my "consumer user experience" and simply I don't use the enterprise UCC stuff!
Maybe, one path for the vendor could be some effective solution good at trusting the usage of my "personal user experience" in the enterprise enviroment... We'll see.

Rick Spivey 1/31/2014 6:58:28 AM

Yes sir, you nailed it! Cisco had me scratching my head with the big telepresence surge a few years back. I attended Picturetel training in the late eighties, hooked one up with BRI's LOL. As you imply board room video has been the burning of some serious dollar amounts.
Finally companies like Vidyo and Bluejeans are driving video to the end user and making things easier with quality. That I believe will expand video in the enterprise in the coming years, BYOD should also drive it like Mr Capone mentions. People are still more comfortable in a live meeting, until the older workforce moves on it will always be wait until next year.