INTERVIEW Rich Middleton - Lifesize
“We are definitely seeing the consumer world really set the expectations in terms of what they
want to achieve and what they want to be able to do whilst using a more professional video
conferencing or collaboration service” Rich Middleton, Director of Major Accounts, Lifesize
More than just a pretty face
Video conferencing is much more than seeing and hearing the person on the other side of the screen these
days, but what are consumer’s expectations and what are the questions resellers can expect?
Elliot Mulley-Goodbarne spoke to Lifesize director of major accounts Rich Middleton
Now that IMAX cinemas
and 8K televisions have
almost reached normality
in the consumer world,
the expectations on AV vendors
are just as high.
Add into the equation a
video conferencing solution that
relies on good connectivity and
multiple components working
together and it may be fair to
suggest that those vendors are
up against it.
“e buying criteria of this
sort of technology has denitely
changed and the quality that
people expect has denitely
increased and ease of use has
denitely increased” said
Middleton.
One of the drivers for that
is that, without paying for
or subscribing to any service
at home, you can open your
laptop and, as long as you have
a camera, microphone and are
connected to the internet in
some shape or form, there are
10, 15, 20 dierent services out
there that you can download for
free and be on a video call.
A lot of those services are
delivering very good quality
and we are denitely seeing
the consumer world really
set the expectations in terms
of what they want to achieve
and what they want to be
able to do whilst using a more
professional video conferencing
or collaboration service in their
business.”
So with those expectations
set, what should the strategy be
to tackle churn rates?
As Middleton points out,
expectations have been set
by video calling apps already
available to consumers such as
FaceTime, Facebook Messenger
and Whatsapp. However,
he also points out that the
enterprise is after a bit more
than just a clear picture.
“Quality is one of the
big things, it has to be good
quality, but that is open to
interpretation. Is quality the
picture on the screen? Is it the
experience? Is it how easy it is
to get into a video conferencing
session?
You need a user interface that
is intuitive and easy to use. You
can have the greatest technology
in the world but if you need to
read a big manual before using
the system you’ll lose your
audience. Consumers are used to
a world now with iPhones, where
the user interface is so simple
that you pick it up and you can
go.
e last piece is the security
around it. When working with
dierent organisations there’s
a range of dierent people that
you have to please but at the
end is the head of security who
wants to make sure there is no
chance of any sort of breeches
of security. at is always a
balancing act, we’ve always tried
to keep a balance and make
sure we don’t push forward with
features for features sake but
when we roll out new features,
it does not compromise the
integrity of the solution. For us
it always has to be safe secure
and reliable as well as being
user friendly, cost eective
and meeting those customer
requirements.”
Middleton added that the
invention of huddle rooms using
dierent solutions from dierent
vendors has opened up an
opportunity for Lifesize and its
solution that xes the problems
that this approach has brought.
“e problem with a set
up where you have things like
screens, microphones and
underlying software behind
these solutions from dierent
vendors is that if something goes
wrong, you have dierent people
to potentially call to resolve the
issue. We launched Lifesize Icon
300 Huddle Room System
earlier this year and customers
who have gone down the
route of building their own
rooms, managing large estates
with various components are
very interested in that type of
product.
Nearly every IT manager that
I speak to that went down that
route two or three years ago are
not happy with the solution, it’s
ended up costing them more
than they originally thought and
we have been talking to a lot of
those companies who are now
interested in Lifesize products.”
50 | Comms Business Magazine | September 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
/www.commsbusiness.co.uk