Engineering Smarter Collaboration with Video

The stakes are high in engineering. You are tasked with driving innovation, but designs must also perform flawlessly in the real world. Collaboration is critical to the process. You must communicate design specifications, work across teams to identify and resolve potential failures, and test your design – all before you can begin product development. Further, you must do it all efficiently and cost effectively.

I have been working in the field of communications for a long time and have witnessed many significant changes over the years. Some ideas, like IP telephony, have revolutionized the industry. Others fell flat on their faces. WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communication) is one of those ideas that falls into the revolutionary camp. While still in its infancy, I predict that within a very short period of time, WebRTC applications will become a daily part of how we communicate.

Flexibility has become an integral part of Human Resources, or Human Capital Management (HCM). You must have flexible recruiting and hiring strategies that embrace traditional W2 employees and on-demand workers, while also offering flexible work options to attract and retain top talent. Flexibility also extends to your role, as the changing landscape requires HR or HCM professionals to adapt their methodologies and strategies to the modern workforce. Below are a few ways to improve flexibility through video collaboration.

In recent years, consumers have increased their engagement with video. HubSpot found that the average user watches 1.5 hours of video content a day, with 15% of users watches more than 3 hours of video daily. Even more staggering, Cisco predicts that by 2021, video will account for 82% of total consumer Internet traffic. The bottom line is that your customers, prospects, and employees are spending a great deal of time interacting with video. This presents you with an opportunity to meet them where they’re already at and delight them with a multitude of video experiences.

Video has the potential to become a prominent tool for your business. Below are four ways you can use video to bolster your business – and they may not be what you’d expect.

For years, I have been asked about the death of voicemail. It started at the end of 2014 with Coca-Cola’s announcement that it was disconnecting voicemail, which was followed by similar announcements from companies like JPMorgan Chase. What ended up happening in most cases? The companies didn’t actually completely get rid of voicemail, but they did experiment with eliminating it for certain users or groups of users.

Technology and customer service go hand-in-hand. Without the right technology, you lack the ability to effectively connect with customers and track those interactions. When your employees are spending a significant amount of time on the phone dealing with customer complaints about your phones systems, you have an issue that demands quick resolution.

Last week, I introduced SIP and wrote about the use cases around adjunct connectivity and routing. This week, I'll share use cases around SIP trunks and endpoints. Let's get to it!

I don’t think anyone questions the fact that most of enterprise communications is going SIP. We hear it everywhere. But I still get people asking about why it is such a big deal. Isn’t it just another signaling protocol? Is there really a strategic advantage to go SIP? The answer is an overwhelming YES! SIP’s flexibility and interoperability makes it an obvious choice. But I do think it’s important to dive into the details to know exactly why SIP is such a big deal. I think of SIP having three major strategic use cases. Generally in order of adoption, they are:

As we watched the successful launch of SpaceX Falcon Heavy, it struck us how fast technology was advancing. Think about it: Launching a 230 foot rocket with 27 engines. The boosters separate and nail a side by side landing back at the Cape. The coup d’état was sending Elon Musk’s Tesla on the way to Mars. That was unthinkable just a couple of years ago!

Believe it or not, our collaboration tools are evolving at warp speed too. The traditional PBX has rapidly evolved into an open architecture development platform that has the capability to radically improve the efficiencies of current workflows. Your company’s needs still drive solutions that include multiple vendors, and very likely a mix of cloud, hybrid cloud and on-prem solutions.