Businesses today have to have a strong focus on collaboration services. In an effort to both streamline and optimize communications, many companies are beginning to diversify and move away from telepresence. As telepresence is not always the cheapest option, this means companies putting more emphasis on cloud-based software applications are also taking a more economical approach.
In general, telepresence works better for big enterprises, but may not be ideal for most other organizations. Nor is videoconferencing hardware well-suited for the smaller organization.
As cloud-based software is increasingly offered for web conferencing, telepresence becomes less popular. Cisco (News - Alert), for instance, saw a 6 percent decline in annual sales of collaboration products when comparing 2012 and 2013, The Motley Fool reported.
There are other trajectories Cisco is following in the sector. “Overall, Cisco is taking action to expand its reach in the collaboration tech service market, simplifying its systems and favoring interoperability as part of its Internet of Things plan,” explained The Motley Fool.
In addition, Cisco now offers WebEx for web conferencing and Jabber, which provides instant messaging, IP-based voice and video, and desktop sharing. It is noteworthy that Cisco’s collaboration sales dropped 12 percent year-vs.-year in the recent quarter, but its WebEx revenue jumped 7 percent.
And into the picture comes Assemblage, a startup acquired by Cisco. Assemblage provides collaboration apps for shared whiteboarding, presentation broadcasting and screensharing. In addition, Assemblage tech can be used with third-party cloud services. They include Google (News - Alert) and Box. It also supports 40 types of files.
Recently, two new video conferencing options were offered by Cisco: the DX80 and DX70. They can be used by smaller to medium-sized organizations, as well as larger businesses, and the Android (News - Alert)-based DX70 and DX80 provide access to tools and applications needed for collaboration.
Commenting on these new offerings, Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager of the Collaboration Technology Group at Cisco, said in a statement, "The DX70 and DX80 were designed from the ground up to provide the best collaboration experience for every desk in an enterprise. They are truly mind-blowing devices. Combined with the Collaboration Meeting Room service [in the cloud], users can have their own always-on private meeting room to collaborate with anyone on any device at any time."
In contrast, Polycom (News - Alert) still is focusing a lot on meeting the needs of large enterprises, especially with its RealPresence service, a rival to Cisco's TelePresence.
“As several cloud-based software conferencing companies emerge, Polycom's high-end services undergo risk,” The Motley Fool reported. “So far, Cisco shows more signs that it is adapting to this market, as the organization launches new initiatives and constantly improves its software collaboration unit.”
Edited by Alisen Downey