For most enterprise leaders – CEOs, CIOs CXOs – the fact that technology can transform business workflows or improve their organisation’s competitiveness is not really news. They’ve all seen what technology can change in the last two decades (almost everything).
Therefore, what they really spend time mulling over is which technology to bet on, at which point on the technologies evolution curve to get on board, and how to measure the effectiveness of the technology and the improvements it brings.
Video conferencing is one example of a technology that has evolved from a board member’s only luxury to something that many organisations are making available to most members of their team. That point, at which the technology delivered acceptable quality (perhaps FullHD quality), equipment prices had trimmed to become “affordable” and when the supporting services infrastructure became reliable enough and affordable enough is what everyone waits for.
Another meeting technology which one can plot this evolution for is the multimedia projector – about 20 years ago even big organisations had just one, it used halogen lamps which popped every 100 hours, was about 200 lumens bright and cost about Rs 5 lakhs. Just look at where we are now
But self-evident history lessons aside, it’s clear that enterprise Networked AV is now beginning the approach to that sweet spot when technology is getting simpler and more reliable (see HDBaseT), applications are getting more and more popular and powerful – VoIP, UC, Video and audio collaboration and conferencing and real-time data sharing and video streaming. Costs of many critical bits of hardware have also dropped considerably (see VC endpoints, touch panel costs and more) and the infrastructure to support it is also coming together (Cloud VC, remote management tools, wider VPNs).
Its looks like the time is just right for Networked AV, and organisations who are able to take a longer business view are already making the jump.
But the major driver behind this jump, or reason that they are doing this, is because of the rate at which their markets are evolving and at which business decisions need to be made. Organisations simply have to shorten their workflows for business critical tasks and the applications that can help them do this, require Networked AV to work seamlessly and to be managed effectively.
For some businesses that operate in a competitive environment when their teams are spread globally, need to work at close to real-time, and are often on the move – the need to switch on the AV network is now.
The question is, does your business fit this mold (yet)?
To know more about how to set up a Networked AV solution for your business, contact Actis at 022-30808080 or write to contact@actis.co.in
(Image courtesy : www.extron.com)