2016 European Video Conferencing Customer Value Leadership Award

Transcription

1 2016 European Video Conferencing Customer Value Leadership Award 2016

2 Contents Background and Company Performance... 3 Industry Challenges... 3 Customer Impact and Business Impact of StarLeaf... 3 Conclusion... 7 Significance of Customer Value Leadership... 8 Understanding Customer Value Leadership... 8 Key Benchmarking Criteria... 9 Best Practice Award Analysis for StarLeaf... 9 Decision Support Scorecard... 9 Customer Impact Business Impact Decision Support Matrix The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards Research Methodology About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

3 Background and Company Performance Industry Challenges Recent Frost & Sullivan research on the global video conferencing market indicates revenue growth of 6.1 percent in the endpoint segment and a 13.5 percent decline in the infrastructure segment in Frost & Sullivan analysis confirms that the high-end video endpoint segment has reached a stage of saturation that limits room for further growth. On the other hand, there is an abundant availability of unequipped small meeting spaces and huddle rooms that stand to benefit from next-generation, low-cost video conferencing endpoints. This has led to the growth of more cost-effective and innovative video conferencing endpoints. At the same time, end user organizations are seeking to simplify their collaboration experiences. Accordingly, the video conferencing infrastructure segment is undergoing a demand shift to hosted/cloud-based video conferencing services - which Frost & Sullivan expects to grow at a CAGR of 22.2 percent between 2014 and The lack of a single unified interface across existing legacy room systems, huddle room systems, contemporary collaboration systems, and desktop and mobile applications creates separate islands of collaboration in an enterprise. Furthermore, endpoints and video cloud services offered by an increasing set of players in the ecosystem is adding to the IT departments burden of pairing, monitoring, and management processes - rather than supporting more strategic initiatives. Frost & Sullivan points out that a high degree of innovation is essential to ensure interoperability between multiple modes of connectivity. The customer value leader successfully addresses these industry challenges and offers an efficient, user, and adminfriendly, yet robust video conferencing solution at an affordable price. Customer Impact and Business Impact of StarLeaf Customer Purchase Experience StarLeaf was founded in 2008 by the well-respected founders of Codian, with the vision of extending the architectural simplicity of telephony to video. In 2011, StarLeaf launched an on-premises video PBX and a range of endpoints to register with this on-premises PBX. Recognizing the video paradigm shift to cloud, StarLeaf acknowledged the trend early on by re-engineering its video PBX into a complete cloud service in September In addition, the company launched a series of hardware video endpoints that are quite affordable and tightly integrated with the StarLeaf Cloud. Subsequently, StarLeaf has leveraged its experience to develop products and services to provide optimal flexibility to users in scheduling and joining video meetings. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

4 StarLeaf facilitates the following use cases: 1. Purpose-built hardware endpoints designed for large meeting rooms (Group Telepresence 3351), small meeting/huddle rooms (GT Mini 3330 Range), and desktops (PT Mini 3020). 2. Purpose-built hardware endpoints for Skype for Business (S4B) - (GTm 5250, GTm 5140 Huddle) for large, huddle and small meeting rooms. 3. Software endpoints as applications available for PCs, tablets and smartphones (StarLeaf Breeze) to enhance mobility and enable pervasive video conferencing access. 4. StarLeaf Cloud, delivering video conferencing services (such as QuickMeet) that allows ad-hoc conferencing with up to 5 users and via scheduled and meet-me conferences for far larger numbers of participants. These are hosted from StarLeaf points-of-presence (PoP) across the globe. 5. Cloud endpoint subscription services to safeguard customer investments in legacy third-party video clients (including Cisco, Polycom, Lifesize, and Avaya) and to enable the transition to cloud without rip and replacement. 6. Third-party investment protection by integrating standards-based third-party MCU and other components that customers already have in place. 7. Desktop video conferencing - all users within the enterprise receive access to the StarLeaf Breeze video software client. 8. Integration of room systems with S4B. As enterprises have a higher penetration rate of S4B on the desktop, there is a growing need to connect S4B with roombased systems. StarLeaf offers 2 options for this scenario, including: Register existing endpoints to the StarLeaf Cloud to provide interoperability with S4B users and deliver a native S4B experience in a meeting room setting, including comprehensive collaboration functionality - such as bidirectional content sharing. Or deploy StarLeaf GTm native S4B endpoints that register directly to an enterprise s S4B deployment. By offering a plethora of options to connect to a meeting, Frost & Sullivan applauds how StarLeaf demonstrates its clear understanding of client requirements and the company s ability to deliver solutions that do not ask customers to compromise. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

5 Growth Potential Frost & Sullivan recognizes how StarLeaf is clearly committed to changing the video conferencing landscape. In many ways, the company is ahead of the rest of the competition due to its early recognition of the growing potential cloud video services to solve customer problems. In 2012, StarLeaf focused its efforts on enhancing the features and functionalities of its cloud-only platform - while traditional vendors were banking significantly on expensive, complex, and rigid on-premises infrastructure. Subsequently, StarLeaf has developed a holistic video portfolio comprising endpoints, cloud optimization and management features, and more. The company continues to evolve, augment, and enhance its portfolio. As a result, StarLeaf is experiencing stable growth. In order to accelerate growth and diversify its revenue streams, StarLeaf is leveraging its expertise to expand into adjacent areas. In June 2016, StarLeaf announced UC OpenCloud, which leverages StarLeaf Cloud as a services platform for cloud-based unified communications services. The UCaaS offering is available to third-party solution providers and endpoint manufacturers under the UC OpenCloud brand as well as white-label under the partner s brand. As part of this launch, StarLeaf has engaged with partners - such as Tata Communications, Yealink, Tely, and Grandstream - to enhance the reach of its portfolio. Also in June 2016, StarLeaf launched StarLeaf GTm 5140 Huddle, a purpose-built system for S4B environments. Keeping in tune with the trend of higher preference for S4B at desktops, StarLeaf launched GTm 5140 to deliver a single unified Skype for Business user experience to small meeting spaces. By staying on top of technology trends and honing its internal resources, StarLeaf has clearly strengthened its position in the broader UCC market to the benefit of customers. Brand Equity As an emerging player and disruptive game-changer in the video conference space, StarLeaf s video conferencing endpoints and cloud services are employed in various types of organization spanning verticals including education, distribution, financial services, apparel, IT, and telecom, and other high tech segments. StarLeaf clients include Dr. Martens, Permira Advisors LLC, Bridgestone Group, Alert Logic, SSI Schaefer, Northumbrian Water, Van De Wiele and Travelex. Backed by its success in Europe, StarLeaf is expanding aggressively in Australasia, and Central and Latin America. The company has been recruiting highly experienced industry executives to establish its presence in these regions and target untapped enterprises that are seeking affordable video conferencing solutions. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

6 Frost & Sullivan firmly believes that StarLeaf s high brand equity in Europe and its global cloud platform will serve as strong foundations to help the company attain considerable recognition across the globe. Customer Acquisition StarLeaf adopts an indirect sales model in all of its markets, including Europe. Some of its most notable partnerships in Europe include Electrosonic, BIS, AVCenter, Dekom and Cancom. These known and respected companies provide not only extended reach for StarLeaf, but also validate the competitiveness of StarLeaf s solutions. In addition, StarLeaf utilizes an aggressive trade-in program to win customers away from its competitors. The company offers to replace any legacy video conferencing endpoints from Cisco, Polycom, Avaya, Tandberg, Radvision, Lifesize and any other H.323 systems with a GT Mini product, along with StarLeaf Touch 2035 controller. As such, the hardware is available for free, and the customer needs to pay only for the endpoint cloud subscription and warranty on the GT Mini system. By leveraging reseller partnerships and helping customers realize maximum value from their deployment, StarLeaf has successfully expanded its customer base across Europe with limited churn. Customer Ownership Experience StarLeaf positions security, as well as ease of deployment, ease of use, and interoperability as core business strategies in video deployment. As an illustration, the company deployed video conferencing endpoints and offered cloud services to Groupe Cahors, a leading logistics firm in Europe. Groupe Cahor s requirements included a highly secure solution built on native cloud architecture, unlimited scalability, and interoperability spanning all modes of collaboration (room, desktop, and mobile endpoints). StarLeaf s video conferencing endpoints coupled with cloud-delivered applications was found to be the best fit for Groupe Cahors expectations. The company s impressive ability to provide security on par with on-premises infrastructure infused immense buy-in and confidence into Groupe Cahors management. StarLeaf s cloud platform proved to be highly scalable, addressing Groupe Cahors user base spread across the globe. In addition, StarLeaf s superior management capabilities helped the customer experience a single unified interface across systems and enriched their product ownership experience. Customer Service Experience Sound reliability and infrastructure backup, highly scalable solutions, and a robust management platform are essential when building customer trust and serve as key criteria for customers when choosing a service provider. StarLeaf Cloud is hosted in 10 datacenters across the world that include two in the US (California and New Jersey), three Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

7 in Europe (Frankfurt, Paris and London) and five in Asia (Beijing, Tokyo, Mumbai, Auckland, and Sydney). These highly scalable PoPs provide unparalleled connectivity irrespective of networks by employing techniques such as forward error correction for packet loss errors, dynamic bitrate control, and scalable video coding. In addition, the platform is designed with a significant level of redundancy to route calls efficiently in the case of failed instances. In addition, the multiple PoPs afford compliance in countries and regions where governance requires certain data remains in-country or in-region. In terms of security, StarLeaf ensures that it abides by industry standard protocols while integrating third-party endpoints with StarLeaf Cloud. The company uses techniques such as AES, H.235 and TLS for encryption, and H.460 and ICE methods for firewall traversal. StarLeaf s proprietary endpoints and servers are built with signed certificates that ensure mutual authentication at the time of connectivity. StarLeaf Cloud administrators receive access to a management portal to self-provision, manage, and monitor endpoints. This facility provides organizations with complete control over their endpoints and cloud usage, thus preventing costs related to dedicated onpremises management infrastructure or video network operation center (VNOC) services. Conclusion Today s enterprises require cloud video conferencing service offerings that truly provide flexibility. With its versatile video portfolio, StarLeaf offers integration across its own and third-party endpoints and infrastructure with a high level of interoperability, reliability, security, and ease of use. With its strong overall performance, StarLeaf has earned the 2016 Frost & Sullivan Customer Value Leadership Award. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

8 Significance of Customer Value Leadership Ultimately, growth in any organization depends upon customers purchasing from a company, and then making the decision to return time and again. Delighting customers is therefore the cornerstone of any successful growth strategy. To achieve these dual goals (growth and customer delight), an organization must be best-in-class in three key areas: understanding demand, nurturing the brand, differentiating from the competition. Understanding Customer Value Leadership Customer Value Leadership is defined and measured by two macro-level categories: customer impact and business impact. These two sides work together to make customers feel both valued and confident in their products quality and long shelf life. This dual satisfaction translates into repeat purchases and a high lifetime customer value. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

9 Key Benchmarking Criteria For the Customer Value Leadership Award, Frost & Sullivan analysts independently evaluated two key factors Customer Impact and Business Impact according to the criteria identified below. Customer Impact Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience Criterion 5: Brand Equity Business Impact Criterion 1: Financial Performance Criterion 2: Customer Acquisition Criterion 3: Operational Efficiency Criterion 4: Growth Potential Criterion 5: Human Capital Best Practice Award Analysis for StarLeaf Decision Support Scorecard To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation; ratings guidelines are illustrated below. RATINGS GUIDELINES The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Customer Impact and Business Impact (i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the definitions for each criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team confirms the veracity of this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which confirms that small changes to the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the overall relative rankings of the companies. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

10 The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players in as Company 2 and Company 3. Measurement of 1 10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent) Customer Value Leadership Customer Impact Business Impact Average Rating StarLeaf Competitor Competitor Customer Impact Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar offerings in the market Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company s product or service, and have a positive experience throughout the life of the product or service Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality Criterion 5: Brand Equity Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty Business Impact Criterion 1: Financial Performance Requirement: Strong overall financial performance in terms of revenues, revenue growth, operating margin and other key financial metrics Criterion 2: Customer Acquisition Requirement: Customer facing processes support the efficient and consistent acquisition of new customers, even as it enhances retention of current customers Criterion 3: Operational Efficiency Requirement: Staff is able to perform assigned tasks productively, quickly, and to a high quality standard Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

11 Business Impact BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH Criterion 4: Growth Potential Requirements: Customer focus strengthens brand, reinforces customer loyalty and enhances growth potential Criterion 5: Human Capital Requirement: Company culture is characterized by a strong commitment to quality and customers, which in turn enhances employee morale and retention Decision Support Matrix Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard, analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at best-in-class levels. High StarLeaf Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Low Low Customer Impact High Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

12 The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards Research Methodology Frost & Sullivan s 360-degree research methodology represents the analytical rigor of our research process. It offers a 360-degree-view of industry challenges, trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies. Too often, companies make important growth decisions based on a narrow understanding of their environment, leading to errors of both omission and commission. Successful growth strategies are founded on a thorough understanding of market, technical, economic, financial, customer, best practices, and demographic analyses. The integration of these research 360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN THE CHAOS disciplines into the 360-degree research methodology provides an evaluation platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-in-class levels. Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth

13 About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages almost 50 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit Frost & Sullivan We Accelerate Growth