Author Archives: Adam Kaiser

Skype To Start Advertising

June 18th, 2012 | Posted by Adam Kaiser in Industry News | Video Conferencing - (0 Comments)

Would You Like Fries with Your Video Call?

Sample advertising in a Skype call

Late last week Skype announced Conversation Ads within their calling window. The ads will start appearing only in 1:1 audio calls but Skype has already mentioned additional “commercial experiences” in the future. So advertising during Skype video calls is certainly a possibility. Although, for paid customers, it appears the ads will not be present.

Skype is a fantastic application, great for linking family and friends, as well as easily pulling in remote employees into video meetings. But, do you want to build your organization’s entire strategy behind it? Improved bandwidth and cameras have helped blur the lines between Skype calls and business video calls; and at times, they can be indistinguishable.

But when Skype decides to make a big change, like building advertising into calls, it can cause all sorts of issues. Do you want the CEO of your company taking a video call with an advertisement for maple syrup?  I don’t think so!

The key to Skype, is using it to compliment your business video environment. If you have implemented Polycom, Cisco, Lifesize, Radvision, or some other technology, a cloud service can provide the link between those higher-end business calls and Skype. It is important to maintain those solutions and use them for business critical meetings. Skype should be used sparingly!

In situations where remote participants are looking to connect from a mobile device (iPad, Smartphone) or from a remote location, Skype makes perfect sense. The best way to think about these meetings is to focus on the fact that the reach of the meeting is more important than achieving the highest audio and video quality. We’ve seen clients running a fully managed meeting in their boardroom and a remote participant connecting via Skype from the Middle East. It was important for this person to be seen and heard in the call; the fact that he/she was able to connect at all was enough.

The consumerization of IT is apparent from the largest to smallest companies. As these companies embrace it and encourage employees to BYOD (bring your own device), Skype is going to continue to be more and more prevalent. Embracing it as a complimentary technology will not only make managing Skype easier, but will provide users with additional avenues to collaborate with their co-workers.

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The Power of Collaboration – For Dads

June 15th, 2012 | Posted by Adam Kaiser in Use Cases | Video Conferencing - (0 Comments)

Here we are on the Friday before Father’s Day. In this case, it’s my first Father’s Day as a dad. My son was born just a few months ago and I have to say, it’s pretty amazing being a dad. I have learned so many things since the little guy was born!

  1. Changing a little boy’s diaper requires you to be far more agile than I ever realized.
  2. Diapers are not as foolproof as once thought.
  3. Eight hours of continuous sleep is about as likely to happen as winning the lottery.

Despite these lessons, it has been an absolutely amazing time. What I really didn’t expect though, was how video collaboration would work its way into these early days of parenting. Recently a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, was home watching his recently born child. Said friend was not as “active” of a participant in child care as one would hope and on this particular day his wife was out with friends.

At around 2pm my phone beeps with a text. “Are you around? Help!” I quickly pick up the phone and call him. Apparently, my friend is unable to figure out the finer points of a diaper change. Really? Apparently his wife always handles it and he didn’t think to ask when she went out. So I say, let me show you.  I fire up my iPad and connect to him via video. He’s on his smartphone and I quickly show him (with my son as a model) how to appropriately change a diaper. Crisis averted. Or so I thought.

About an hour later, he calls me back on video. “What about bottles?” Again, I’m dumbfounded.  And because I’m somewhat of a mean guy, I decide I need to share his incompetence with another friend.  So I quickly set-up a cloud meet-me room so the three of us can all meet over video and my other friend can see just how desperate this guy is.  Ha. I’m terrible, I know.  We successfully help him through the bottle and the crisis ends, again.

In all seriousness, it was amazing how video permeated through a casual Saturday at home. It made me realize just how ubiquitous this technology is becoming. I believe the key lesson learned here, for me anyway, is that video gives you the power to stay connected with business colleagues, family, and friends while providing the means of making fun of those you love most!

Happy Father’s Day!

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iPad Meets Audio Visual Integrated Room

June 13th, 2012 | Posted by Adam Kaiser in Audio Visual Integration - (2 Comments)

iPads are everywhere! Enterprise. Education. Not-for-profit. The place I get burritos…

Due to the iPad explosion, more and more organizations are looking to create iPad  applications that can help run their business. IVCi’s team of AV gurus has taken it one step further, creating an iPad application that can actually run your conference room or boardroom. Through some clever programing and a deep understanding of AV technologies, it is now possible to control every aspect of an AV integrated room from the touch screen of the iPad. Need to adjust the lighting or shades? No problem!

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The Promise of Unified Communications and the Cloud

June 7th, 2012 | Posted by Adam Kaiser in Industry News | Unified Communications - (0 Comments)

It seems like every day there are new headlines in the telecommunications industry about unified communications, the latest acquisition, release or new cloud service. The term “unified communications” has been around for a long time; but it means different things to different people – just take a look at some major software companies or hardware manufacturers.

Microsoft has taken its Office Communications Server, transformed it into Lync, and gained significant mind and market share with the product. In addition, they have worked closely with Polycom to integrate video conferencing into the Lync ecosystem. Cisco, on the other hand, has significantly invested in Jabber which has expanded the definition of UC, as well as, telepresence.

Unfortunately, there have been some roadblocks that prevent true ubiquity of UC solutions throughout enterprise organizations.

A recent study from CompTia (an IT industry association) took a look at many of these topics. From an adoption perspective, respondents to the survey reported:

  • - Challenges in integrating UC tools with existing technology
    - Lack of ability to incorporate mobility, social networking, collaboration and video conferencing
    - Difficulty calculating a return on investment

The interesting thing about all of these challenges is that they can be easily solved through integrated cloud services. How so? Let’s take a look at each one individually.

Challenges in integrating UC tools with existing technology:
When organizations look to implement a UC solution; integrating the server architecture, managing operating systems, and maintaining new equipment can be extremely challenging. These problems; however, can be virtually eliminated by hosting a UC solution in the cloud.  With the cloud, comes an experienced team of professionals who manage the technology; alleviating many of the technical pressures. Organizations can then focus on integrating the technology into their existing environment; whether it is defining set processes to use the tools or driving a cultural change within the company to encourage adoption. The cloud also allows companies achieve the benefits of UC almost immediately with practically none of the frustration.

Lack of ability to incorporate mobility, social networking, collaboration and video conferencing:
Incorporating these technologies comes down to one thing – interoperability. Microsoft and Polycom have addressed this by linking their technologies to allow UC clients to participate in video conferences with enterprise systems; and Cisco has integrated video into Jabber to communicate to the rest of its portfolio. Connecting to consumer solutions (Skype, Google Talk); however, require cloud services which create “meet me” conference rooms in the cloud and can connect any video platform, application or appliance effortlessly.

Difficult calculating a return on investment:
As with any collaboration tool out there, it can be difficult to truly understand the cost savings/ROI/etc. In order to do so, organizations must assess the specific goals of a UC deployment. For example, is it about travel cost reduction or improved productivity? Many these benefits are hard savings that can be easily tracked and reported with a cloud service. By connecting travel to a video management system, organizations can easily see the trips that were replaced by video which translates into cost savings and increased productivity.

The bottom line is that cloud service providers can help an organization review their UC needs and challenges then deploy scalable services to make adoption seamless and ROI attainment clear.

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Telemedicine Reimbursement – The Time is Now!

June 4th, 2012 | Posted by Adam Kaiser in Healthcare | Use Cases | Video Conferencing - (0 Comments)

Health care organizations throughout the world continue to implement telemedicine solutions at a growing rate to help extend the reach of health care. The benefits are enormous, for both the patient and the health care provider:

  1. No matter where a patient is located, they can gain access to the specialists they need to diagnose and treat their ailments.
  2. A health care provider can check in with patients remotely, helping to reduce costly re-admissions.
  3. In an emergency setting, a patient’s specialized needs can be responded to in a quicker, more efficient manner.

While the list of benefits is extensive; a major challenge of telemedicine is the economics behind it. Health care organizations have been able to offer telemedicine-based consults to patients for some time; however, the business of health care has not kept up.

Insurance organizations (including Medicare and Medicaid) did not offer parity for these visits versus a real-life encounter. Providers would find themselves being denied reimbursement for the telemedicine services that they had provided.

But as with many other technologies, the bureaucracy is catching up. Over the last several years there has been a shift throughout the US and “reimbursement equity” is now being offered for telemedicine consultations. Most recently, Maryland and Pennsylvania have joined the list of states signing such legislation into law. Maryland’s law is simple: Insurance companies must pay the same fee for telemedicine services that would otherwise be covered with an in-person visit.

State laws regarding telemedicine reimbursement differ. Currently, there are fourteen states with some form of reimbursement equity: California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.

Medicare has its own policy as well. Generally, the reimbursement is on par with the same service when it is provided face-to-face. There are some limitations that include the location of the facility, eligible medical services, and the eligibility of providers and facilities.  To read specific rules relating to Medicare, click here.

Telemedicine reimbursement is a complex issue, but one clear trend is emerging: it is moving into the mainstream. With so many states already moving towards parity, it is only a matter of time before more follow. The result of this will be continued growth of telemedicine practices and patients gaining more access to the affordable, specialized healthcare they need.

Additional Resources:
Telemedicine Solutions Overview
Extend the Reach of Healthcare with Telehealth

Related Articles:
Sound Masking Your Way to Medicare Reimbursement
Baltimore Business Journal – Maryland law may spur video Dr. ‘visits’
Pennsylvania Governor Corbett Improves Access to Quality Health Care through Telemedicine Initiative

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