Lifesize INTERVIEW
“I think the biggest change is that video used to, primarily, be an internal
communications tool within organisations”
Lifesize COO Michael Helmbrecht
once a subscription is made,
further purchases are set to come.
“When a customer gets
started, they might start with
a couple or cameras in some
meeting rooms but typically
they will add two or three
cameras each year, so if they
have two in year one they might
have 10 by year four.
Not only does that give
partners a recurring revenue
model but it also gives growth.
One of our partners has said
that they like working with
us for that reason. At the start
of their nancial year, they
know what is coming and
we eectively pay his bills so
whatever he gets on top of that
is incremental.”
Helmbrecht described the
oering of easy opportunities
for growth as one of the USPs
of Lifesize. e appetite for
video solutions is still growing,
with more and more businesses
interested in the solutions.
According to research that
Lifesize published earlier this
month, over 50 per cent of
businesses believe that video
conferencing solutions will be
equally or more important than
Articial Intelligence, 55 per
cent said the same when it comes
to Robotics and automation,
and 69 per cent believing video
conferencing will be more
important than voice assistants
in the work place.
e research also
highlighted the way in which
these solutions are being used.
Over half of respondents had
taken a call whilst at home
(51%), 24 per cent said that
they had used video solutions
in coee shops or restaurants
with 11 per cent admitting to
taking calls whilst driving.
Helmbrecht said that the
market now needs a consistent
solution that works on multiple
devices in multiple locations.
“It’s the consistency of
using an application or service
that I can use wherever I am.
Whether that is dialling in
on my phone or tablet, on
my laptop or in a meeting
room, that continuity is really
important.
“What has changed is
there is an expectation of
ubiquity, using video as my
primary communications
method and that is certainly
changing and accelerating.
ere is a generational aspect
to it but I think it’s more
an organisational shift just
because you have more people
tele-working and more people
trying to use better ways
to engage with their own
customers externally.
I think the biggest change
is that video used to, primarily,
be an internal communications
tool within organisations. Part
of that is because it was so
dicult to use and dicult to
scale that you couldn’t reliably
use it with customers, it was
just too complicated.
at’s the biggest change.
Now it is not only possible but
it is quite easy to do it and once
you do that and you start using
it the question becomes, ‘how
do I start using it so I have
access to use it in whatever
situation I am in?’ whether at a
desk or with lots of people.
It needs to be consistent
because otherwise the planning
of how someone works
becomes complicated, using
dierent solutions depending
on whether you’re at your desk
or in a meeting room becomes
very dicult to manage. We
try to solve that problem so
you can take a call wherever
you are, whatever you’re doing
with whoever it is, and the
experience is consistent.”
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