The arrival of video conferencing solutions in the home office
With the lockdown and home office, the demand for video conferencing solutions has skyrocketed. Meetings with employees or even with external parties may no longer take place "on site", but only in the context of remote meetings. Over a longer period of time, such internal and external coordination can only be achieved with video conferences. They strengthen the feeling of togetherness, provide a more personal atmosphere and also allow non-verbal signals to be recognised.
Some companies have been able to provide home workers with their familiar work environment relatively easily thanks to scalable platforms such as VMWare Horizon or Citrix Desktop Virtualization, but when it comes to video conferencing, there has often been a need for fresh thinking.
Right from the start of the first lockdown, many IT decision-makers knew that only solutions that could be provided from the cloud would be considered due to the required deployment time and scalability. Consideration of scaling up the very limited and time-consuming on-prem installations was generally not given, or hardly given at all.
In addition to audio and video participation, all video conferencing solutions now offer standard features such as a telephone dial-in, waiting room function and moderator roles, as well as the recording of meetings. Functions for better collaboration, the so-called collaboration tools, such as chats (private and in the group), whiteboard or note functions, sharing for applications and screen, as well as the provision of breakout rooms for working in small groups, are also included.
The most popular video conferencing solutions in comparison
There are three main manufacturers found in enterprises: Microsoft, Cisco, Zoom Video Communications.
Which video conferencing platform is best for my business?
In the case of the authorities, BBB, the BigBlueButton Inc. is an "independent not-for-profit company" common for open source projects. An interesting alternative, as data protectionists recommend this product when hosted in Germany, but at the same time advise caution with the American manufacturers mentioned above. First and foremost, BigBlueButton (BBB) has been developed as a web conferencing platform for students and pupils, as shown by the interfaces to online learning management systems and multi-user whiteboard functions. Many providers can quickly provide the infrastructure for the open source software and offer the platform with different price plans. In addition to the standard functions mentioned above, the moderator can upload documents (.pdf, .docx, .pptx) and make them available for the conference. Unlike the other manufacturers, BBB has no client software or mobile app. Here, all functions are provided only via a browser. For managing the meetings (setting up, recording, starting) there is the "Greenlight" application. There is no evaluation or storage of data.
When it comes to meeting solutions, Zoom is now at the top of Gartner's September 2020 Magic Quadrant. Zoom is best known for its reliability and ease of use, and was one of the #StayAtHome winners in 2020. The gallery view to show up to 49 participants, sharing the screens of multiple participants at the same time and also keeping multiple participants in the spotlight are notable features of Zoom. Zoom also offers solutions for video conferencing room systems with Zoom Rooms and a cloud phone system with Zoom Phone. With Zoom Meeting Connectors, even hybrid architecture can be built and the voice, video, chat traffic can be held in the company's private cloud.
However, Zoom and BBB only offer one or more virtual rooms for the duration of the meeting, where participants can communicate more easily using collaboration tools in addition to audio and video.
Microsoft and Cisco go one step further with their eponymous "Teams" products. With Microsoft Teams and Cisco Webex Teams, since the beginning of December 2020 only Cisco Webex, the video conferencing solution is only, albeit important, part of a comprehensive collaboration solution. What is essential here is that the user is provided with permanent access to the collaboration platform, which, in addition to the option of video and audio conferencing, also provides the chat function and file management, file storage, for teams even outside of meetings. This defines a logical area for the participant, which allows him to store all relevant files and to continue working with his team at any time.
How does Cisco Webex Teams differ from Microsoft Teams?
Cisco has its strengths in real-time communication and has long been present in the area of unified communication, TC and video conferencing at many companies and authorities. Webex Teams is deployed in European data centers in the Netherlands and England. Cisco offers a wide solution space in the area of hardware and with Webex Calling a cloud phone system, all seamlessly integratable with Webex Teams.
Microsoft's strengths and market presence in the productive Office applications is further expanded by MS Teams. Here, it is even possible to work together on files in and outside of conferences. Since SharePoint takes care of file storage in the background, old versions can be reverted to if necessary. The entire cloud infrastructure of Microsoft is used to further improve collaboration, e.g. through AI-supported applications, but also reports.
The similarity of the Cisco Webex and the Microsoft Teams Client is astonishing. The arrangement of the icons is almost identical. The connectivity between MS Teams and Webex is also being worked on together. For example, Cisco Webex Room and Cisco Video Devices can participate in MS Teams meetings. A "direct guest join" for registered video room systems for Microsoft Teams and vice versa is also to be enabled. Integration is a success factor. In addition to the mandatory requirement for security, issues of administration and integration into existing infrastructures are of great importance for IT operations. With the technical interfaces to new applications, complexity and support effort increase.
All conference solutions offer the possibility of a connection to other applications via a constantly increasing number of connectors. From Outlook integration for the convenient sending of conference invitations to Dropbox connection and CRM integration, systems are connected. Microsoft has been ahead of the game by consistently developing the MS Teams platform as part of the 365 Cloud. The provision of MS Teams as part of other cloud licenses alone shows that Microsoft sees its Teams application as a central work environment into which more and more functions are being integrated.
Videoconferencing and data protection - privacy is a top priority
The topic of DSGVO remains with us, of course. The market for hosted solutions based in Germany, and open source to boot, can be seen this year, especially among public clients. Recommendations from data protection commissioners in the country are heading in this direction. But also the insertion of one's own or a company's own background image as a protection of privacy is part of this topic. Microsoft recognised the special importance of data protection in Germany years ago. Three years ago, Microsoft used the Telekom Cloud to warm up. Since last year, Microsoft data centres in Berlin and Frankfurt have been in operation in Germany and the 365 Cloud solutions are gradually being provided there as well. Unfortunately, Microsoft has not yet made an official statement on whether the algorithms of the AI functions, which are being integrated into more and more applications, are only executed in Germany or Europe, but not in the USA.
Cloud First! Nothing new, but now also arrived where there was previously a strong restraint. The advantages of scalability, flexibility and security are obvious. Many companies, but also public authorities, will have to rethink their sourcing strategy. Attractive licensing models offer considerable potential for the cloud.
See Microsoft. In addition to the collaboration solution Teams, cloud services for Exchange, SharePoint and OneDrive with considerable storage space are also provided in the 365 Enterprise environment. And if you already have to calculate the profitability, then the consideration of replacing the in-house PBX / VoIP system with Microsoft Teams telephony is not far away. Even if the circumstances in 2020 often hardly allowed a cautious introduction of new conference and collaboration solutions, after almost a year it can be noted how important it is to base these changes on a resilient, technical concept and to accompany the users during the change.
Effective collaboration only occurs when people, processes and technology are integrated equally into the change process.
That's our approach and it's actually always been that way.
