Video as a theme has been growing at each VoiceCon over the past few years and this year was no different. Polycom had their immersive room and video phones, AT&T showcased multiclient Telepresence (how about multiclient - multioperator?!), Cisco announced some Telepresence extensions and there were many other video related announcements. The one that I found the most interesting though was the Telepresence recording studio that Cisco had set up on the show floor.I see so many demos and get so many product briefings that there aren't many products that really impress me. The Telepresence recording studio did though. I first got a glimpse of recording studio at C-Scape, Cisco's December industry analyst conference and thought it was really cool then but I didn't really get much of a chance to play with it. This time I did and the experience was great.
The booth itself was small enough that any company could turn a small office or conference room into their own recording studio. The interface was simple to use as well. There was a Cisco IP phone with a touch screen with a big button on the screen that said "record." Once you hit the record button it takes a couple of seconds to start recording but that was really all there was to it. While I was in there I created three videos, one for Cisco's Erica Schroeder to use internally at Cisco, one to my girlfriend and her kids that I emailed to her (so she can get some idea what I do at these conferences other than collect schwag) and one to my kids that I'll show them when I get home. I then went back there the next day and recorded this one to share my thoughts on it with the intent of having it accompany this blog (it's also embedded below).
I immediately thought of several uses cases for this for just myself.
Nick Lippis and I do a monthly (or we try and do monthly) podcast where we discuss industry trends that I think would be significantly enhanced with the use of video. It would allow us to show facial expressions, maybe include some white boarding or show a device if that's what we're discussing.
I could also use it to create research content that could augment the written work I do. As an analyst, my primary output for research is written reports. Obviously they take a while to write and it's tough to do more than one or two pieces per month. This would allow me to showcase research and then discuss the implications of it. If you watch the video, I stated it in that I would like it if you could append a PowerPoint to the session somehow, which I guess you can do. So, I stand corrected on that. But this type of self recording capability would allow me to create several deliverables a week. This would be very useful for industry announcements where an analyst would like to share thoughts on mergers, product releases, comments on keynotes, etc. I also thought of the case where I could record several videos tailored to certain companies if I wanted to personalize the content some. An example of this would have been what the Cisco UCS announcement meant to HP, IBM, Juniper, etc.
As one of the more senior analysts at Yankee Group, I'm asked to do a lot of public speaking. If I actually rehearsed speeches, it would be interesting to record myself doing the talk and then play it back to hear how some of the points came across, how it flowed etc.
Companies could use this as a way of creating quick training videos and corporate executive announcements. Yes, it's simple enough for corporate executives to use! Anyone that wants to get a video out to a large number of users quickly would find this ideal.
There are some things that could be enhanced though. First, I think the camera needs to be embedded in the screen itself. Maybe if I did enough of these I might get used to it but to me, the experience was a little like looking in a mirror meaning I was looking at the screen and not the camera. I forced myself to look at the camera but I found myself compelled to look at the screen. I know I've seen other systems where the camera is "hidden" behind the screen and I think that would help this system a lot.
A lower resolution option would be useful as well. The video that I linked to was under three minutes long and was just under 20 MB in file size. The system is designed to allow for someone to email right off of the phone but that would choke most mail servers. If I had an option to record at something less than 1080p it would allow someone to send files to people in the field, customers, etc. Of course this is great news for storage vendors as well as network equipment vendors. Sending these large files across the network creates demands on the network that many current networks can't handle, creating an upgrade opportunity (and isn't that the real reason Cisco makes anything??).
Lastly, I would like to see the recording capabilities extended to a three screen, interactive Telepresence session. I know companies often record conference calls and web conferencing sessions. Adding the capabilities to record an interactive Telepresence session would allow organizations to play them back later and understand who is currently talking, what the body language is like, whether sarcasm is being used (like I do way too often) and understand the context that someone is speaking with better.
Overall though, I thought this tool was a great leap forward in recording capabilities. I know many large organizations have recording studios. This will allow that capability to be brought down market and allow those larger organizations to redeploy some of those people elsewhere.
