As a follow up to Cisco's Rob Plamondon's first interview on this blog, I asked Rob a few other questions regarding the market adoption of telepresence systems in the US. As one will see in this video interview and the following transcript, telepresence is - surprisingly enough - not restricted to large and multinational organisations and it is now trickling down the market down to small enterprises. And the next stage of that adoption curve is the home market, which is really significant if one wants to develop telework and collaborative office spaces as new means of doing business in the future.
What is the market adoption like in the US? Slow of Fast?
"A bit of both. We are seeing certain enterprises truly adopt telepresence and they are aggressively deploying it within their enterprise and we are seeing other customers take a more conservative approach where you start with 2, 3 maybe 4 rooms just to get a flavor for what the value of telepresence can be and once they understand the value and the benefit they will start to expand more throughout their organization."
Is telepresence only for US Multinationals or is it also for smaller US companies?
"We're really starting to see it trickling down market. Initially it was probably adopted by large and multinational corporations, but now Cisco has systems that are tailored not only to these large organizations but also to the midmarket and even small businesses; so we are starting to see adoption from the lower end of the market. And even now, we are looking at home telepresence systems. So we are going to eventually take telepresence all the way down to the home."
And the desktop too?
"Yes and this is where the acquisition of Tandberg has been important to Cisco strategically because not only does it complement the immersive portfolio it now brings us a comprehensive portfolio from conference room systems to executive desktop systems, right down to the desktop as well as the client-based plug-in that we can put on a laptop!"
Why are you working with Orange Business, why is the relationship with a service provider important?
"Cisco made the telepresence system but we partner with companies like Orange because they bring value to the end client thanks to their global network which is unmatched in the industry; and their logistical capabilities too: Orange can take telepresence to many places that competitors cannot do; their management capabilities, their concierge and professional services capabilities as well as what Orange Business calls telepresnece community which enables telepresence to have meetings between enterprises."
I specialize in information systems, HighTech marketing and Web marketing. I am author and contributor to numerous books and the CEO of Visionary Marketing. As such, I contribute regularly on this blog for Orange Business account on cloud computing and cloud storage topics.