Polycom announced a new partnership to deliver its video solutions as part of 8x8’s “Virtual Office Pro” unified communications service. SMBs have often been scared away from video due to high system costs, high-bandwidth requirements, and the need to manage video performance across the network. And SMBs have lacked the ability to easily establish conferences across company boundaries.
With Polycom’s move, along with similar services from start-up Vidtel, as well as Skype, opportunities are growing for SMBs to take advantage of video without the need for large infrastructure investment, management resources, or having to self-provision extranet connectivity.
SMB IT managers should take a fresh look at video by evaluating hosted services as an alternative to on-premise alternatives. While only around 11% of companies are currently adopting hosted video solutions, the market should grow thanks to increasing demand for video and wider availability of low-cost services.