Stephen Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer, of unified visual communications industry innovation company Avistar Communications Corporation, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about the rapidly growing field of desktop videoconferencing. He describes the reasons for companies using videoconferencing and shared some of the advantages and disadvantages of the system. He also gazed into the crystal ball and shared some of his thoughts on the future of videoconferencing and of communications in general.
Thanks to Stephen Epstein for his informative and comprehensive answers.
Thanks as well to Norman Birnbach of Birbach Communications, Inc. for his assistance in facilitating this interview.
What are the trends you see for videoconferencing in 2010? Are there any surprising trends this year that were unexpected in 2009?
Stephen Epstein: There continues to be a big shift to desktop videoconferencing this year. Businesses that have large room systems are looking to companies such as Avistar to connect their employees when they are on the road. Small businesses are installing desktop videoconferencing to connect more effectively with their partners and vendors. Even consumers are using videoconferencing in a bigger way this year to keep that human connection going over long distances. It is clear that the market recognizes that face-to-face communication has become even more critical, and desktop videoconferencing allows you to connect for both ad hoc and scheduled videoconferencing calls wherever you are.
In what ways will videoconferencing become easier to use? Can you give examples of how it will significantly contribute to business productivity? How does it take down barriers and empower communications without boundaries?
Stephen Epstein: Desktop videoconferencing really has changed the way businesses communicate. Previously, companies that wanted to host a videoconference had to reserve a room and then coordinate schedules of all the executives needed to participate. Executives then had to leave their desks and go into a meeting room for the videoconference. It was a real scheduling and time management issue.
Today with desktop videoconferencing, executives can now do videoconferencing calls from their desk, as part of their daily workflow. They no longer need to disrupt their day to go to a conference room for a video call, so desktop videoconferencing offers a huge time management savings. It also allows them to take a videoconference wherever they may be - in their office, on the road, in a hotel room. It is a classic example of technology adapting to the way people work, not the other way around.
"Green" is still such an important topic. How does videoconferencing help an organization reduce its carbon footprint?
Stephen Epstein: Desktop videoconferencing can have a dramatic environmental impact. Our clients report as much as a 20 percent reduction in travel expense and carbon emissions increases in productivity and immeasurably improved relationship building within their organizations, as well as with suppliers and customers. If 1% of US commuters, that’s 640,000, worked from home one day out of five, we’d put $9,700,000 back into our pockets every week by saving the $15.14 in daily commuting costs. Now that’s being green.
What is the main reason companies buy videoconferencing -- is it an environmentally responsible decision first and foremost, or a business decision? Which carries greater weight?
Stephen Epstein: In this value-centric economy, videoconferencing is a business decision first – a way to reduce costs, save time, improve communication, increase productivity, instill a corporate culture and provide a level of work-life balance. That being said, companies want to be environmentally responsible, and videoconferencing clearly shows a path that can further a company’s commitments in this area.
We've seen consumer applications such as instant messaging and social media make their way into the corporate environment. Is that how videoconferencing is gaining ground or are there other factors driving adoption?
Stephen Epstein: Consumers are definitely more aware of videoconferencing than they were a year ago and see it as a way to stay in touch with grandma, family and friends over long distances. But business-class desktop videoconferencing is being driven to a large degree by the economy and businesses wanting to do things better and less expensively. Consumer videoconferencing applications in a business environment fall short in terms of security, quality and the ability to make multiparty calls easily. Desktop videoconferencing that provides interoperability among diverse systems, security features and applications that businesses want and need are quickly gaining ground.
What are the shortcomings of consumer videoconferencing in a business environment?
Stephen Epstein: Here are a few examples of where consumer videoconferencing can have problems
in a business environment:
Sub-par quality. As it is, the quality of the video and audio on consumer video chats can be problematic. The video often pixelates (digitally blurs) and the audio is often unsynched -- traditionally the main obstacles to adoption of videoconferencing solutions. For business this is unacceptable.
Bandwidth problem. Proprietary systems can push the demands based for video bandwidth onto your computer and network. If several employees participate in a multiparty call from the same network, they could slow the network, cause applications to crash, potentially causing lots of problems if data loss is the result of an application crashing. Other services, such as Avistar's, provide bandwidth management tools to prevent overload that slows networks or crashes apps.
Cost. Sometimes hidden fees for consumer videoconferencing can add up quickly when it branches into multiparty calling and the like. In contrast, Avistar's business-class solutions start at $199 per year for unlimited videoconferencing calls.
Security. Consumer applications create security vulnerabilities, which IT departments don't like. Based on industry standards, not proprietary platforms, business-class desktop videoconferencing delivers the quality of service required by organizational IT departments.
At the same time, we've recently seen Verizon allowing Skype to work on their phones, so videoconferencing on smart phones -- whether for a consumer or a business application -- will soon be a reality. What does one need to watch for?
Stephen Epstein: Some next generation phones will have cameras mounted on the front of the phone, and this is further evidence of where the video market is going in terms of immersive technology. As people become more comfortable with immersive technology, they will use it to capture streaming video and send it to others. But it will be a while before full-blown videoconferencing on smartphones is ready for prime time. People aren’t comfortable with it and the technology is not there yet. For example, businesses expect transmission levels of 20 frames per section – something that is not possible with smartphones on the market today.
Stephen Epstein (photo left)
So with the emergence of videoconferencing "on the go" will those large presence and videoconferencing rooms you hear about and see on TV go the way of the rotary phone? Will phone numbers become a thing of the past? What about business cards?
Stephen Epstein: There has been an investment in large room systems that will continue in the foreseeable future as companies will need efficient means to communicate with large groups of people simultaneously. But what’s important to remember is that with videoconferencing in particular, the market doesn't want desktop videoconferencing as a silo application. People want videoconferencing as a feature or capability -- and that's driving a significant shift in the market.
Videoconferencing is finding a different place – as I mentioned earlier, it is adapting to how people want to use it, not the other way around. You’ll see more and more companies moving in Avistar’s direction of componentizing desktop videoconferencing so that the technology can be embedded into new features and capabilities.
Stephen Epstein: In five years, people will move away from phone numbers. They’ll demand single-click buttons to reach the people they want to communicate with – whether it be from a computer or smartphone, from their places of business, on the road or in their home - and all through audio, video or multimedia. Within five years, business cards will hold a single address for contact voice and video information.
Can you give some examples of where videoconferencing is adding value in unexpected ways?
Stephen Epstein: As a result of travel disruption due to the Icelandic volcano, an untold number of business executives have been unable to fly to or from Europe for business meetings without delays, cancellations, etc. One solution some have found is to cancel their business-class tickets and switch to business-class videoconferencing.
And because they can conduct their face-to-face meetings without having to wait at airline gates, rent cars, check into hotels, etc., executives find they can be much more productive, save money and reduce their carbon footprint. So when Mother Nature comes calling, desktop videoconferencing is often an ideal solution.
I understand you practice what you preach. You are based in New York, but most of the company is based in California. What are some best practices you have learned by using videoconferencing every day? How have you built your videoconferencing "collaboration network" outside of those fellow employees and partners with whom you work every day?
Stephen Epstein: Videoconferencing has become second nature to me. I’m based in NY, and my team is located in California and Europe. Avistar’s partners are located literally around the globe. Rather than be on the phone constantly to talk with them or being a huge frequent flier, I see them via videoconferencing when I need to or when they need me. Avistar’s technology is based on open standards, and interoperability among diverse systems is of paramount importance. Microsoft OCS and Citrix users are just two of the latest groups of people who can now take advantage of Avistar desktop videoconferencing.
We've seen some industry analysts, such as Frost & Sullivan, talk about communications-enabled business processes (CEBP). What really is CEBP and what value can be derived from it, especially when videoconferencing abilities are taken into consideration?
Stephen Epstein: The future will bring more communications-enabled business processes (CEBP) – the integration of unified communications features into the software business processes in use throughout an organization. Companies will see long-term rewards, including decreased cycle times, increased productivity and growth by injecting unified communications into their business processes. By integrating videoconferencing capabilities into existing business applications, decisions get made faster, in a more collaborative environment.
For companies seriously considering videoconferencing, what are the three key things they should look for?
Stephen Epstein: At the end of the day, companies should look at the following:
Commercial-grade or business-class. Companies need to trust that the videoconferencing solution they use is of the same quality as other applications currently in use, in terms of security and depth.
Interoperability. Companies want a solution that can work with whatever hardware/software infrastructure that is in place today.
Ease of use. If the solution is difficult to deploy, use or maintain, it will not be perceived as valuable to the organization. We live in a second-by-second business world, and the users need to see the ROI real-time.
How expensive is it to use videoconferencing?
Stephen Epstein: The unified visual communications industry continues to demand “industrial strength” communications software but at a cost that makes both small and large adoption economical. Avistar's all-software editions are designed to deliver breakthrough price performance, lowering the barrier to entry for the Small to Medium Sized Business (SMB) and enabling wide and scalable adoption for the large enterprise business.
On average, Avistar’s edition software lowers procurement and deployment costs by as much as 200 percent. Avistar is able to deliver superior price/performance because of its all-software architecture while other companies offer a mix of technologies, hardware and software, based on appliances -- which has a more expensive purchase price, higher TCO, less flexibility and a longer ROI.
Who is the ideal customer to use videoconferencing? Is it a C-level executive? Mid-level marketers? R&D teams? Small business owners?
Stephen Epstein: Actually, all of these people are ideal customers. We often find that desktop videoconferencing starts with a small deployment in one area and then grows organically as the full benefits are realized. We have installations ranging from small and medium sized businesses with 12 – 50 licenses all the way up to large international financial services organizations with 30,000 seats.
What is next for Avistar in 2010?
Stephen Epstein: Avistar's vision has always been from a software perspective, even when we used hardware components. The underlying components have changed but our focus on what's important to our customers -- usability, reliability, etc. has remained. We feel we were ahead of the industry because we took this software approach. What's changed is that now others have caught up, are buying in on the software infrastructure approach, and that validates our vision.
We're focusing on video and voice. Other features, like annotation and sharing, can be picked up by other companies. We offer a menu of components to make it easy for customers to select what they want and need.
The benefit of taking a software approach to videoconferencing is that we can easily adapt how we deliver our solutions. We can and do recognize that videoconferencing is just an application, an important one that can enhance other platforms.
In terms of innovation, you can't always anticipate how an industry will evolve. There's no secret, but you do have to do lots of talking and networking, and then take a high-level overview of the trends, to be able to help drive change. One thing that has helped Avistar is working with industry standards. A number of companies, including the consumer chat offerings, use proprietary formats that don't interoperate. That's a significant obstacle for adoption by businesses that want to extend current platforms and software by dropping in videoconferencing. Sticking with industry standards has enabled us to solve problems and remain creative.
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Stephen Epstein, Chief Marketing Officer
Stephen Epstein joined Avistar in January 2008 and is responsible for the company’s marketing, product and account management functions. Prior to Avistar he was Vice President, Head of Product Management at Mantas, Inc., where he was responsible for global product strategy, managing product requirements, defining go to market plans and marketing strategy, while continually evaluating the financial services market in order to provide a clear and decisive direction for Mantas’ business. Previously to joining Mantas, Epstein was Head of Product & Business Development at Bang Networks where he spearheaded product and business development efforts, focusing on delivering real-time information distribution products. Prior to that he held senior-level management and product development positions including Head of Global Foreign Exchange Sales Technology and Group CTO at Deutsche Bank.
About Avistar Communications Corporation
Avistar (AVSR.PK) is an innovation leader in the unified visual communications industry, with more than 15 years of experience providing proven business-class desktop videoconferencing technology. Avistar’s solutions are used across a broad spectrum of industries with deployments ranging in size from 30-30,000 users. Avistar’s technology also helps to power solutions from IBM, LifeSize, Logitech and many other leading unified communications vendors. Avistar works with leading channel partners and resellers including AVI-SPL, Fontel, Jenne, Media Plus, SCH/SCC and Sotel in more than 40 countries. For more information, please visit Avistar.
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