Pexip is one of the world’s most popular cross-platform solutions for business collaboration and communication. With this simple and effective system, customers can combine their video conferencing needs with everything from mobile devices, to Skype for Business.
We spoke to Jordan Owens, the Pexip VP for the Americas market, about how he feels that the industry is changing now that we’re officially moving into 2018. Jordan has been working with Pexip for over five years now, helping to deliver a software-based video and audio in web collaboration service to customers around the world.
What are Your Predictions Going into 2018?
Pexip believe that their customers are struggling to truly take advantage of the potential that collaboration and communication tools have to offer in this marketplace. The reason for this is that solutions have simply been too complex and expensive in the past. Now, the company hopes that they can solve those issues, and give their customers the freedom to join the collaboration revolution in a way that suits them.
“When it comes down to 2018, we believe that the year ahead is going to be when collaboration really accelerates and starts to take off.”
“Arguably, we’ve been saying that for several years now. However, up until this point, we’ve been missing a vital factor that’s necessary to give collaboration software the opportunity it needs to thrive – and that’s been the presence of a genuine unified communication strategy.”
“Now, we’re starting to be able to leverage the right technology, at the right time, with the ability to move between different scenarios seamlessly.”
For Pexip the rise of a real, unified solution is key to success in 2018. As barriers in the collaboration world start to be broken down by new technology, Pexip can begin to give customers the simplified and immersive collaboration strategy they’ve been searching for.
How are the Barriers to Collaboration Coming Down?
Jordan told me that for Pexip, the current environment for UC is very exciting right now because the brand is starting to see a genuine passion and interest from the user base which didn’t exist before. New verticals are getting involved with the possibilities of collaboration and communication, and tapping into a more freedom-first solution for customer connections.
“We’re talking to banks that are rolling out mortgage consultation systems based on Pexip, so people can talk about purchasing their new home with the help of an assistant over an internet connection.”
“Healthcare is also one of the industries that have really started to take off thanks to video collaboration. The Veterans Association are currently using us for their home health care initiative so that veterans can speak to their doctors from the comfort of their own home.”
If you combine new opportunities in the marketplace with the fact that collaboration allows for better efficiency and cost-savings in the workplace, it’s easy to see how the barriers to adoption might start to fall in 2018.
How Will Voice Recognition Contribute to the Rise of Collaboration?
There’s been a lot of development within the collaboration market over the last year, with innovations appearing in everything from language recognition to AI. Jordan told me that he believes that video technology is becoming more elegant in the marketplace.
“The technology for people to simply walk into a room and start a conference with nothing but a voice command is already there. The issue is making sure that there’s a seamless solution available for end users to take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.”
In the past, the “join experience” in video calls has been somewhat challenging for many companies, but Pexip believes that new innovations will help to change the landscape in the future. Automated assistants and voice recognition could create more prevalent features for video conferencing thanks to voice-activated meetings, and voice commands for presentations and screen sharing.
“It’s about taking advantage of the technology we have, and bringing everything together to make everything as seamless and simple as possible for the end user.”
What Are Your Thoughts on the Importance of UX?
2018 is arguably the year when user experience will become more important than ever for differentiating one business from another. In the collaboration world, video conferencing will continue to be one of the easiest ways to simplify communication and retain the “human” element. However, the growth of new entrants into the marketplace could lead to issues with “app overwhelm” for some end-users.
I asked Jordan how he thinks businesses should be developing to ensure better user experience (UX) in 2018. He told me:
“It’s all about finding ways to make sure that the user doesn’t have to worry about what’s going on behind the scenes. We’re starting to absorb the complexity of these advanced tech systems for the end user, so they can focus on enjoying the experience of the overall connection.”
In this hyper-connected market, it’s important to keep things as streamlined and simple as possible if you want to capture the attention of your company. Jordan noted that things are getting more complicated in the video and collaboration space, but companies like Pexip exist to provide an end-to-end over-arching solution, cutting out the problem of overwhelm.
What are Your Top Tips for a CIO?
I was interested to hear Jordan’s thoughts on how CIOs should be preparing for the year ahead. Pexip believes that 2018 will continue to present issues in the world of security and privacy and that organisations will need to manage the balance between guest access in meetings, and ensuring that security remains uncompromised. Of course, it’s not just security that needs to be considered when it comes to paving the way for future success.
“Ultimately, I talk to CIOs every day, and I think that they need to start thinking about what their ideal solution is for collaboration is in the next two or three years. Once you have that idea in mind, you can step back and ask yourself what you need to accomplish to reach your end goals. The best option, in my opinion, is to forget about technology and look at it from a user perspective – what do you want your customers to be able to do, and what are the essential features they need?”
According to Jordan, too many people start their plan putting technology first when they should be thinking about what they need to accomplish for their customer.
“My advice is: understand your vision, understand what your user needs, then add the technology over time to keep things as simple and streamlined as possible.”
