conferencing
I was talking to a vendor the other day. These guys specialize in technologies designed for the small-to-medium business (SMB) market, and they asked how long it took for a given technology to “trickle down” from big enterprises to SMBs.
The question took me aback—because I realized that many of us unconsciously internalize the notion that large, sophisticated organizations must necessarily adopt technologies faster than smaller companies. After all (the thinking goes), large companies have the resources and scale to deploy cutting-edge technologies, while smaller firms are more likely to be cash-strapped and unable to devote tech resources to the challenge.
The idea makes perfect sense—except that, when it comes to unified communications technologies, it’s also almost perfectly wrong.
What we’ve found in our research is that SMBs rely heavily on collaboration tools and services such as email, mobile phones, IM and shared workspaces. In fact, in many cases SMBs are ahead of their larger counterparts. Smaller and more agile, they’re able to adopt technologies faster than their giant counterparts—which means that the bigger companies may well be able to learn from the smaller ones (rather than the other way around).
So what else are SMBs up to? They’re increasingly turning to real-time collaboration applications: audio, video, and Web conferencing, either via stand-alone products or services, or increasingly via conferencing applications integrated with VOIP platforms.
Audioconferencing is evolving from hosted, dial-in services accessed via free conference-call services (or those that charge per-user plus usage) to an IP-based service either hosted, or on-premise (often as part of a VOIP platform). Benefits include cost reduction, when compared with hosted services, more reliable service compared with free services, and integration into phones, or desktop buddy lists via integration with IP-based phone systems.
And Web conferencing, along with instant messaging, represents the most widely deployed of all UC applications. Eighty-three percent of SMB IT executives say their organizations are using, planning to deploy, or evaluating Web conferencing, compared to 71% of all size companies. Many firms rely on hosted services, since they offer lower up-front costs, easier support for external meeting participants and faster start-up.
The one area where larger companies maintain the lead is videoconferencing. About 25% of SMBs are using desktop and/or room-based video conferencing, compared with more than half of all companies. This discrepancy highlights the challenges some SMBs have in justifying video deployments. Many smaller firms are centrally located in a single office, with distributed workers often working out of “microbranches”—very small branch or home offices. Delivering reliable video over residential Internet services presents a challenge in guaranteeing acceptable performance. And when it comes to rolling out video to teleworkers… Let’s face it, there may be resistance to a tool that those accustomed to working in their pajamas may consider intrusive.
Unsurprisingly, given the price tag, telepresence adoption is even lower, with just 17% of SMBs investing in telepresence versus 38% of enterprises as a whole.
The bottom line: “Small” doesn’t mean “backwards”. Just because you’re a small company, don’t assume that conferencing is something you can’t afford—consider all the options.
