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Business Collaboration: Unleash Productivity with Real-Time Communication Solutions [1:01:05]

Are your clients using the best tools for communication and collaboration? Are you? How well your customers communicate and collaborate inside and outside of their businesses is key to their success. In most cases, we're communicating the same ways that we did 5-10 years ago, limiting ourselves to phone calls and e-mails. It's time to unleash productivity with inexpensive, interactive, real-time communication alternatives in order to increase the effectiveness of a business! Join the D&H Solutions Specialist Team for an informative webcast on how you and your customers can employ innovative Logitech UC solutions with collaborative Microsoft software to make employees and businesses more agile, responsive and efficient.

Resources

DandH.com Resources:

External Links:

Logitech Workplace Trends Collaboration Panel Series

Downloadable Resources:

Webcast Q&A

My customers don't use video conferencing, what would make them consider starting?
The two best answers there are relationships and economics. If they are in a people-focused business, especially one where their partners and/or customers are spread wide geographically, video conferencing encourages the formation of closer relationships by making meetings more personal, more collaborative, and easier to set up. It also allows them to cut down on travel in favor of long-distance face-to-face meetings, saving them money in the process.

My customers use AIM/Skype/any other consumer message service and they seem happy with that, why rock the boat or make them pay for something that they're already getting for free?
There are a few services on the market that compete with Skype for Business, but none that offer the same features, and none that offer similar features for the same price. Skype for Business brings business value to the table: screen sharing, application sharing, SOX/HIPPA compliance monitoring. In addition, Skype for Business connects natively with Dynamics CRM and CRM Online, which gives any size business a better handle on their customer communications.

My customers' networks are mostly Cat5, some Cat5e, with older switch gear. Will this affect SfB at all?
Yes, it most certainly will. Bandwidth is key to any sort of IP communication, and video/audio calls take up a good bit of bandwidth. At the least, you'll want to make sure that SfB traffic is prioritized on the network. If you're going to go about this properly, we recommend a business technology assessment with the customer, so that you can recommend network upgrades before implementation, rather than trying to fix performance after the fact (and after the customer is already discouraged and unhappy).
What are some of the uncovering questions we can ask prospective clients if they do not have Office 365™ cloud wise?

How do you sell Skype for Business™ to a business to connect to their customers? You can't assume the customer is also using Skype for Business™.
The selling points for Skype for Business go beyond just the connectivity. Skype for Business users can connect to any other IM service and will interact with most video conferencing services. The difference is that with Skype for Business, they have more control (recording, screen- and application-sharing), they meet compliance standards (HIPAA, SOX), and they get it with their O365 subscription.

Cloud PBX uses E5. Will this be priced so that a small business, 2-10 employees, can afford it?
At this point, we haven't seen final pricing on the E5 SKU. We're hopeful and fairly confident that Microsoft will keep pricing in a similar waterfall to the rest of the line, so that they don't price themselves out of the market.

I notice they have a free Skype™ version, but do they have Skype for Business™ available by itself, or just a package with Office 365™?
You can get Skype for Business as a stand-alone product, but we recommend it as part of an Office365 subscription because of the huge value that Skype for Business features can bring to other O365 services (Exchange, Outlook, CRM Online). With the release of Office 2016 into O365 subscriptions, almost all Microsoft Office apps have Skype connectivity, so you can call/IM/video someone from any app.

Does Logitech have a Windows® Hello capable camera? It would be great to have just one camera to do it all.
At this point, we are unaware of Logitech have a Windows Hello capable camera, but we will pass your recommendation back and heartily back it ourselves.

Can we have a list of hardware items used today and their part numbers?
That list is one of the items listed under "Resources". If you can't find it, please email solutionslab@dandh.com and we can send it to you.

What type of broadband is best to use?
Obviously, the more bandwidth, the better. Other than that broad recommendation, our answer will have to be tailored individually to each implementation. Our response will be dependent on the size of the end-user, how many users they have using Skype for Business, how many users are using other cloud applications at the same time, what other applications are fighting for that bandwidth, etc. We recommend that you bring each opportunity to solutionslab@dandh.com and we'll work with you to find the right recommendation for your circumstance.

Could this meeting have been accomplished solely on Microsoft products?
Technically, we could have accomplished the same thing using only Microsoft products. That being said, the end result would not have been anywhere near as good and the value received for their investment would have been much lower. The better experience comes from using appropriate/purpose-designed hardware, in addition to the professional-level service.

Can I just get (2) Skype for Business™ accounts at $2/user per month and buy (2) Logitech CC3000e's and do all the video conferencing I want?
Absolutely.

I noticed during the presentation of the Hershey room, at times the latency between lips & voice were not in sync. The last view of the room lips & voice were in sync. We have seen this ourselves & it has been blamed on the "Internet". Is there a way to compensate for this latency?
The only way to compensate for this kind of latency is to make sure that you plan ahead for enough bandwidth, then configure your switching to apply QoS priority to Skype for Business network traffic.

Do you provide assistance for configuring a solution?
Absolutely, that is our primary purpose. Please contact us at solutionslab@dandh.com for assistance anytime.

Any update on offering Office 365™ on a monthly subscription basis vs. annual?
None that we can share. As soon as we have an update, we will be trumpeting that one from the rooftops.

Is there a resource for customer administration of Skype for Business?
There are a number of resources on Technet and Microsoft Virtual Academy. If you'd like links to specific articles, let us know and we'll forward the links.

What was the display he was using for digital signage and conference in the demo?
That monitor is a Toshiba 55" commercial display.

Does Logitech offer cameras with FIPS 140 encryption for government/HIPAA-compliant customers?
Not at this time.

How much bandwidth is used per session - Voice vs. Video?
Please see the matrix below.

Call type	Minimum download / upload speed	Recommended download / upload speed
Calling	30kbps / 30kbps	100kbps / 100kbps
Video calling / Screen sharing	128kbps / 128kbps	300kbps / 300kbps
Video calling (high-quality)	400kbps / 400kbps	500kbps / 500kbps
Video calling (HD)	1.2Mbps / 1.2Mbps	1.5Mbps / 1.5Mbps
Group video (3 people)	512kbps / 128kbps	2Mbps / 512kbps
Group video (5 people)	2Mbps / 128kbps	4Mbps / 512kbps
Group video (7+ people)	4Mbps / 128kbps	8Mbps / 512kbps

Do you feel telephones are still a necessity?
In almost all cases, yes. This does not mean that we think that a traditional PBX is a necessity; Skype for Business is currently beta-testing cloud-based PBX technologies, so the traditional telephone network and providers may go by the wayside, but the telephone as a tool is too familiar to too many people to simply abandon.

Does the Logitech ConferenceCam CC3000e kit require a PC/laptop to initiate calls or can the unit do everything itself without the PC/laptop connected?
Yes, all of the Logitech products are PC-centric and require a system to interact with.

Still Have Questions?

Feel free to contact the Solutions Lab team at solutionslab@dandh.com or contact Solutions Lab team members individually at their contact information below: