Our Guide to Video Conferencing From the business case to ROI and room planning all the help you need during the initial planning stages of your Video Conferencing project by Kevin Wilson & Ian Hancey
After 15 years in the industry and hundreds of successful Video Conferencing installs there s not much we haven t seen, and we ve learnt a lot about the important things to consider in the initial planning stages of Video Conferencing projects. We d like to share with you some of the basics we ve learnt over the years: from presenting the business case and ROI through to planning the room and equipment. It s not an exhaustive list, but we hope it helps! 2
Page The Business Case 4 Discover the benefits of Video Conferencing Return on Investment 5 Calculate your potential savings The Equipment 6 One size doesn t fit all! The Room 7/8 A room that works well for ordinary meetings works just as well for Video Conferences Connectivity 9 To IP or not to IP? Firewalls 9 Setting yourself up Important questions 10 Ask yourself this 3
The Business Case Discover the benefits of Video Conferencing Cost savings While meeting on Video you are not spending so much money on travel, accommodation and entertainment costs. Improved productivity Your employees have more productive time, so can do more business. Key people and key information become more accessible, enabling best use of resources. Better collaboration Your people can meet more often and share knowledge easily, improving internal communications and facilitating collaborative working environments. Increased competitive advantage No matter what business you are in the success of your business is driven largely by the quality and speed of your decision-making. Video Conferencing enables faster decision-making, greater consensus and quicker action. New products can be brought to market quicker. Crisis management becomes faster and more effective. Meeting the needs of the emerging workforce The next generation of workers are technically savvy, they expect the best communication technology as a matter of course. Improved relationships We know there is nothing like meeting face to face on those really important occasions. Video is a good alternative inbetween, much better than building relationships over the phone or on email. It is as close to face to face as you can get without all of the costs of actually being there. Reduced carbon footprint Looking at travel reduction is a vital part of an organisation s environmentally responsiblity. Video Conferencing reduces the need for travel, therefore reducing your C02 emissions whilst also improving profitability. Improved work-life balance With Video Conferencing your people will be less stressed, spend more time contributing to the success of the business and less time twiddling their thumbs in airports, train stations and traffic jams. From their perspective the work/life balance is more in equilibrium. 4
Return on Investment Calculate your potential savings With Video Conferencing you really can prove the cost justification, you can calculate the time and resources you currently spend on the activities you would like to replace with video. A 20k system could save you 50k on travel costs within 6 months to a year. Feedback from customers we have worked with over the years proves that adopting video conferencing is worthwhile, with many of them achieving ROI within the first year. Teleplan recovered their initial investment costs within 8 months RAL calculated that with every new Video Conferencing facility they save 400k a year in travel costs PepsiCo UK recoup initial investment costs within the first six months of use Safestyle UK say the travel savings alone make the investment worthwhile Riverside were doing around 1.9 million business miles a year - with the use of video conferencing they have been able to significantly reduce this. RIBA Enterprises use their Video Conferencing systems 6 hours a day, every day These online calculators will help you to calculate your potential savings: http://www.polycom.com/products/resources/roi/en_roi_green.html # http://www.businessadvantagecalculator.com/default.aspx?id=679 5
The Equipment One size doesn t fit all! Depending on your requirements and budget, there are numerous options to choose from. There s a system available for every type of workspace - from Boardroom to desktop. And on top of this you have the added choice of owning your own equipment, leasing or choosing a cloud based managed service. Desktop Suitable for 1 person. License based software to use on your pc with a webcam and speaker/microphone. Executive Desktop - Suitable for 1-2 people. Stand alone flat panel LCD with integrated Video Conferencing. Small Room System - Suitable for groups of 3-10 people. Video Conferencing system (screen, camera, Video Conference codec, speakers and microphone) that can be wall mounted or placed on a cart that rolls from room to room. Large Room System Suitable for groups of 10+ people. Video Conferencing system integrated into your room with added extras, such as lighting, projectors, projector screens, DVD players, document cameras, control systems, etc. Fully Integrated System - Suitable for large meeting rooms and boardrooms. Video Conferencing solution that is fully integrated into your room, combining technology with room design to create the perfect environment. Telepresence Fully integrated, all-inclusive, freestanding, modular environments available in different configurations to accommodate your specific needs. 6
The Room A room that works well for ordinary meetings works just as well for Video Conferences In an ideal world the perfect environment for a Video Conference call is a dedicated room that has been built for the purpose; a virtual presence or Telepresence room, which has no windows and all the necessary equipment in the right place to optimise sound, image and lighting. We know that in most cases this is not realistic. Room size Biggest is not always best When people in your business travel, do they go in large groups or small ones? Your answer to this question suggests what size of meeting room you should be looking to install the Video Conference equipment in. Not every business is the same, so there are no hard and fast rules. Room environment 2 things; sound & light In most rooms, the existing acoustics and lighting are fine for Video Conferencing. Avoid wooden floors & glass panelling, as most hard smooth solid surfaces are not good for conferencing. If you have 1 microphone then make sure you put it in the centre of the table. Don t have your camera facing the window, as people will be silhouetted. Try to paint the wall behind people a contrasting colour, such as blue or green, this will help the camera focus on people and will result in a crisper image. Anything but white! 7
Screen size Do the maths Again biggest is not always best. For presentations or videoconferencing we use this calculation as a rule of thumb. There are exceptions to the rule though, for example you may need to display detailed work such as spreadsheets or CAD drawings in a large room, therefore you do need a big screen. Furniture Not round tables! We know that most of the time you have to make do with the existing table in the room, and this is fine but if you are lucky enough to have the choice select a table that can show all of your meeting participants facing the camera. Round tables are perhaps the worst choice, as once the meeting is full half the people in the room will have their back to the screen and camera. 8
Connectivity To IP or not to IP? IP is now the medium of choice. When compared to ISDN it is cheaper and faster, you don t have expensive line installation, rental, call charges by the minute and limited bandwidth, not to mention expensive international call charges. Firewalls Setting yourself up Firewalls block anything they don t recognise from entering your network and potentially causing harm, this can often include Video Conferencing traffic. If you try to make a Video Conference call out to someone over the Internet without making any configuration changes to your firewall, it will almost certainly fail. A video firewall traversal system is the best option to overcome this. These are video aware firewalls that sit parallel with your normal firewall and enable your Video Conferencing systems to bypass your firewall whilst still allowing internal calls and remaining secure. Remember, just because you ve put in the appropriate means to get past your firewall doesn t mean the person you are calling has. 9
Important Questions Ask yourself this 1) What is driving us to look at Video Conferencing? 2) What type of meetings could be replaced with Video Conferencing? 3) Who will we need to call? 4) How many people/sites will participate in our meeting(s)? 5) Will we need to share information (presentations, documents, multimedia)? 6) How do we plan to connect our Video Conference call (IP, ISDN, our network)? 7) Will our present infrastructure meet our Video Conferencing needs? 8) Is High Definition important to our organisation? 9) Are we talking functional or state of the art wow factor? 10) Is there existing kit on site, which we would like to re-use? 11) Realistically when do we want this to happen? 12) Can we afford not to put aside budget, and how much? 13) Or would we prefer to rent / pay over time? 14) What do we need in order to progress? 10
About the authors With over 15 years worth of knowledge gained from working in the industry, Kevin has a great insight into why companies adopt Visual Communications solutions, the benefits they gain from doing so and also on the flip side, the barriers they encounter. Kevin Wilson, Managing Director of AuDeo Systems Ltd With over 12 years experience of using and implementing video based solutions, it is Ian s task to bring together seemingly complex technical solutions to tackle the very human problem of corporate communications. Ian Hancey, Technical Director, AuDeo Systems Ltd 11
AuDeo Systems Ltd 4 Lindenwood, Crockford Lane, Chineham Park, Basingstoke, Hants, RG24 8QY 01256 891700 sales@audeo.co.uk 12