Polycom introduces new adoption services aimed at making video collaboration Ubiquitous in corporate work environments

Polycom, Inc. the global leader in open standards-based unified communications, today unveiled Polycom Adoption Services, four newservices designed to help enterprises rapidly accelerate user adoption and the returns on their investments of Polycom RealPresence video solutions, whether on the go or in a home office, work office, conference room, or immersive telepresence theatre.

Polycom Adoption Services are builtaroundan innovative adoption methodology developed by Polycom. The services incorporate best practices that have been proven to broaden adoption of Polycom RealPresence video collaboration solutions among customers, partners and employees.

For organisations looking to accelerate their rate of return from any enterprise deployment, including video collaboration solutions, widespread user adoption is essential. Surveys havefound that user adoption isfar and awaythe most important factor for realising value from an investment in any enterprise solution.¹

Once video collaboration becomes part of a company’s daily workflow, bottom-line benefits, such as increased productivity and reduced travel and op-ex, add up quickly.In fact, customers report that Polycom video collaboration saves them an average of 24 percentin sales-related costs and 30 percent in travel costs,while accelerating time-to-market an average of 24 percent.²These and other benefits typically pay for a Polycom solution within a year or less. At the same time, users themselves quickly discoverthat embracing video collaboration saves them time, reduces their business travel, enables them to communicate more effectively and make more informed decisions, and allows them to achieve better work-life balance by reducing time spent away from home.

Enabling a Cultural Shift by Focusing on the User Experience:

Polycom Adoption Services address essential aspects of adoption todeliver an optimaluser experience from the first moments of planning through implementation and widespread use. The new adoption services are:

Adoption Consulting: To establish a framework for adoption, Polycom consultantsconduct surveys and interviews to assess business needs, objectives, and the technology environment, as well as individual user needs to help create the solution design that enables a simple and reliable user experience that is essential for successful adoption. They also work with customers to produce an action plan and to identify a tool for measuring adoption over time. 

Adoption Portal: This serviceoffers a scalable, cost-effective, and user-friendlyalternative to expensive and unwieldy on-site training. Adoption Portal is a turnkey package for creating a customised online user resource that features an array of video tutorials, how-tos, FAQs, and other contentillustrating how users canmake video collaboration part of their everyday workflow.

Adoption Campaign: Enterprises can accelerate adoption by engaging users with a promotional campaign that reinforces the value and advantages of video collaboration. Polycom provides customisable banners, posters, videos and email communications – all echoing a “Go Video” theme while directing users to the company’s video portal.

RealPresence Analytics: This cloud-based service is built around an easy-to-use reporting solution thathelps accurately gauge adoption through in-depth measurement and analysis. Easily customised reports track adoption across several metrics, and advanced analytics helpinform on-going planning and resource allocation plans by enabling customers to identify usage patterns, service quality and cost trends.

AHolistic Approach to Adoption Across the Enterprise:

The four new services augment Polycom’s existing technology optimisation services, which help customers ensure that their network, infrastructure and video environments are capable of meeting the needs of users.By engaging expert support from Polycom or one of its partners, customers can achieve a 360-degree approach to adoption across the enterprise. Polycom’s Global Services organisation also offers a full range of services to maximise customers’ ROI throughout the product lifecycle, from design and deployment to maintenance, management (including managing integration with Microsoft Lync, IBM Sametime and other UC platforms), and optimisation of existing solutions.

“Today, Polycom sets a new standard by introducing new services specifically devoted to helping customers create a culture of collaboration across their enterprise and, in doing so, accelerate user adoption and their ROI from Polycom RealPresence solutions,” said Sudhakar Ramakrishna, Polycom’s president of products and services. “Polycom Adoption Services, and the methodology on which they are based, focus on the user experience from the earliest planning phase through implementation and beyond.”

Polycom RealPresence video solutions which range from mobile apps and desktop software to group video systems and immersive theatres are powered by the Polycom RealPresence Platform. The RealPresence Platform the most comprehensive and interoperable UC infrastructure for universal video collaboration provides robust provisioning, management, scalability, reliability, flexibility, and security. Because of Polycom's focus on interoperability, the RealPresence Platform transforms islands of fragmented communications systems into a seamless culture of collaboration, with enterprise-grade video easily and securely accessible to all authorised personnel whether they’re mobile, remote, or on-site.