DELL CHROMEBOX FOR MEETINGS A COST EFFECTIVE SMB VIDEO COLLABORATION SOLUTION. SMB Perspectives A TECHAISLE WHITE PAPER

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1 A TECHAISLE WHITE PAPER SMB Perspectives DELL CHROMEBOX FOR MEETINGS A COST EFFECTIVE SMB VIDEO COLLABORATION SOLUTION This white paper is a property of Techaisle LLC and is provided for information purposes only and unauthorized duplication or distribution is strictly prohibited. Techaisle does not make, and expressly disclaims to the fullest extent under applicable laws, warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including, without limitation, implied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to this white paper and the accuracy or completeness of its content. Techaisle LLC shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, or consequential damages arising out of the use of or inability to use this white paper or any information herein, even if advised of the possibility of such damages. WHITE PAPER 1

2 Contents Collaboration and the mobile SMB 3 Collaboration in the context of SMB Priorities 4 Chromebox SMB Video Collaboration alternative 6 Chromebox - reports from Early Adopters 7 Key reasons for using Chromebox for Meetings 7 Key business benefits 7 Dell s Chromebox for Meetings Empowers SMBs 8 Main benefits of Dell Chromebox for Meetings 10 Summary 10 About Techaisle 11 Figures Figure 1: Collaboration at the core of SMB IT 4 Figure 2: Business Drivers of Collaboration 5 Figure 3: SMB Video Collaboration Usage 5 Figure 4: SMB Video Collaboration Solution Options 6 Figure 5: SMB Collaboration Deployment Scope 9 Executive Summary SMBs have more workplace options than ever before. The workforce is no longer tied to a single location; with mobile technology, they can work from wherever their assignments and clients take them. They have access to ever-more-powerful technology solutions, enabling them to dream of competing on a level playing field with larger competitors. SMBs still, however, face some traditional constraints: budgets are tight, complexity can overwhelm the benefits of needed technologies, and ease-of-use is essential in a low/no IT support environment. In this context, Chromebox for Meetings offers an intriguing alternative to overengineered enterprise collaboration systems and under-powered consumer technologies: a costeffective collaboration solution that is easy to deploy, simple to operate and well-aligned with SMB business objectives. WHITE PAPER 2

3 Collaboration and the mobile SMB Collaboration is, and is increasingly, a central component to virtually all business activities. As the lines of demarcation between tasks have been eroded by the increased pace and changing nature of business activities, one has moved past the time when one linked discrete actions through linear, sequential processes. In today s business environment, employees interact at all points in the business cycle: in cross-functional planning and management, within a single co-created document or spreadsheet, in the stages and connection points defined by business processes, in planning sessions that extend beyond the organization to include customers, prospects and suppliers. This broad trend towards having collaboration embedded within the fabric of business activity, rather than positioned as a set of technologies that enable connections between discrete tasks, has had conflicting impacts on how small and medium businesses (SMBs) firms with fewer than 1000 employees evaluate collaboration options. On the one hand, traditional collaborative technologies such as video rooms based on high-end hardware and collaboration systems embedded in enterpriselevel software tend to be too expensive and complex for the SMBs to deploy, and have not attained substantial presence in the SMB market. At the same time, though, the capacity to collaborate has become much more important to SMBs. In the past, demand for collaboration solutions within SMBs was low, since smaller firms had relatively few employees, and staff was generally based in a single location or a handful of branches. Today, though, mobility has changed the ways that SMBs work creating a need for collaborative technologies. Consider this view of mobility within the US SMB community: Techaisle research shows that there are currently 42 million mobile SMB workers (52 percent of full-time workforce) in North America. There are 29 million SMB workers who telecommute at least occasionally, and 17 million who telecommute regularly. Twenty-five million SMB workers are using cloud-based systems. More than 20 million SMB workers travel on a regular basis, and when they are travelling, 97 percent of these workers use smartphones as a collaboration tool, and 94 percent are working with notebooks. These statistics paint an intriguing picture. Tens of millions of SMB employees on the road are using smartphones and notebooks to connect to cloud-based systems and to customers, prospects, suppliers and colleagues. At the same time, these same SMB staff members have come to view collaboration as a core component of their business activities: they use social media to build personal and professional connections, they use , IM, file-sharing solutions and other technologies to exchange messages and files; they use CRM and BI systems to build corporate memory of relationships and activities. Today s SMBs need collaboration solutions but their needs are different from those that traditional enterprise collaboration systems were designed to address. WHITE PAPER 3

4 Collaboration in the context of SMB IT and Business Priorities In a Techaisle survey of 820 US-based SMBs, Techaisle identified the key IT business solutions that are in use or planned for near-term implementation. The survey looked at collaboration as a discrete category a technology framework able to connect users to each other, and increasingly, to customers and suppliers and found that it is within top five priority areas, with 58 percent of respondents reporting that they are either using or planning to use collaboration systems. Figure 1 In fact collaboration is at the core of most SMB IT activities: each of the four top-rated IT solutions has collaboration as a key objective. When SMBs were asked to identify the solutions that they are using or planning to deploy, the most common answer was social media, which enables rapid, one-click collaboration across communities. The next most common answer was mobility, which allows for collaboration across locations, with employees able to connect with colleagues or clients while in (or between) remote meetings, hotel rooms, or home. The third most common response was business intelligence and analytics and the most common use of BI systems today is to consolidate input from multiple sources into a single version of the truth, enabling collaboration across departments and data sources, and establishing a corporate repository of business-critical information. Cloud, the fourth-most frequently cited solution area, can support each of these objectives, acting as a means of connecting access points, as a repository for corporate information, and/or as a platform for software-only collaboration systems. If all of these top-ranked solutions are focused on collaboration why more than half of SMBs still have a need for a discrete collaboration strategy? Techaisle believes that there are current functionality gaps in social media, mobility, BI and cloud that SMBs are looking to address with collaboration systems. 1. It is easy to initiate connections in social media, but the connections themselves lack the intimacy of face-to-face meetings. WHITE PAPER 4

5 2. Mobility can provide interactive sessions, and can even be enriched with video, but mobile solutions tend to be limited to point-to-point communications, and are not well-suited to group encounters. 3. BI and analytics create a repository of information a key collaboration objective for SMBs but do not facilitate real-time interaction. 4. And cloud is capable of supporting all of these objectives, but cloud-based systems are often difficult to use and expensive. When SMBs think about what they want from a collaboration system, they are looking for the best of all worlds a system that provides the intimacy of face-to-face communications, that accommodates groups rather than individuals, that is low cost, and that is easy to deploy and operate. Figure 2 Figure 3 The study conducted shows that SMBs today clearly believe that decision making is too slow, that they suffer from a lack of teamwork, and that they need a collaboration system that will help enhance the quality of customer relationships. SMBs are trying to consolidate distributed information created by a mobile workforce, to coordinate their dispersed staff and stakeholders, and to increase the pace of decision-making within their businesses. To that extent, data indicates that video collaboration is poised for huge growth, with 42 percent of SMBs stating that they plan to deploy mobile video collaboration capabilities, and 37 percent reporting that they plan to enable desktop video collaboration. WHITE PAPER 5

6 Chromebox SMB Video collaboration alternative SMBs expect multiple solutions to deliver collaboration benefits, but are still looking for an overall collaboration solution that is easy to use, that will accommodate groups rather than individuals, that is low cost and easy to deploy and operate, and that provides the intimacy of face-to-face communications. New systems need to respond to the needs of both executives and line workers, and need to be able to neatly accept customers as peer participants in the system. And finally, support for the legions of mobile SMB workers is an essential solution requirement. Collaboration solution options have tended to be poorly aligned with SMB needs. Video rooms equipped with high-end proprietary hardware are far too expensive for most SMBs and are complex to set up and operate. Consumer solutions are convenient, very low cost and able to accept connections from any end point device, but are very limited in their capabilities, often lacking the quality needed for a business interaction and the ability to neatly handle multi-participant meetings. Web-based corporate solutions are less costly than dedicated video rooms but many SMBs still find them expensive and difficult to deploy and manage, especially if the solution needs to extend to all staff members and to customers. Figure 4 A recently-introduced solution type in this market, Chromebox for Meetings, offers low cost, easy to set up and operate, and the ability to connect up to 15 users (and supporting presentation materials) in a video conference. Techaisle research has found that SMBs have had positive experiences with Chromebox for Meetings as a collaboration platform. WHITE PAPER 6

7 Chromebox: reports from Early Adopters As part of ongoing research into SMB technology trends and preferences, Techaisle recently completed several in-depth interviews with Chromebox for Meetings SMB users, including: The VP of a 170-person advertising company with locations in Austin and San Francisco The IT manager for a 40-person real estate management firm based in Las Vegas The CEO of a start-up IT services firm with 27 employees, based in New York City The CEO for the New York-based IT services firm said, we were looking for an easy to manage, plugand-play device to help us conduct video conferences and face-to-face meetings internally and externally. The real estate management firm came to Chromebox for Meetings from a different direction: it first adopted Google Apps for Business, and then deployed Chromebox for Meetings to help us in servicing our customers and sales prospects in a more effective way. Key reasons for using Chromebox for Meetings All organizations spoke at length about the business rationales for using Chromebox for Meetings solution. The advertising agency said our creative team had the biggest need for [virtual] meetings. For them, it is essential to have the highest level of collaboration while they work in our business, [collaboration] is required for us to take faster decisions. This VP added, I have attended meetings Chromebox for Meetings is a great step in coming closer to business users with the cost of ownership and the features, Chromebox for Meetings has high suitability for businesses like us - CEO, IT services firm, New York from home using my smartphone and it has always been a great experience. I understand that this functionality is offered by other players as well, but the costs are prohibitive if compared with Chromebox. The real estate firm offered a list of reasons why they found Chromebox for Meetings to be fit for its needs. The firm values the ability of employees and external parties to join meetings from any endpoint device platform, to integrate with Google Apps (scheduling via Google Calendar, use of Google Docs during presentations) and to record and store meetings so that they can be referenced in the future. The IT services firm also mentioned multiple reasons for going with Chromebox for Meetings, it said, contains everything [needed] to start you with video conferencing sessions, instantly, adding it is plug and play unlike others [solutions] which need professional help or are pretty complex in their set-up. Key business benefits As might be expected, the benefits captured by each firm varied with their specific business requirements, but each offered examples that would apply in contexts beyond their specific niches. The advertising agency focused on system flexibility and the fact that we have been able to collaborate in a much more efficient and effective way than before. The IT services firm CEO praised the clutter-free (wireless) operation, sessions that can be initiated with a click of a button, easy screen sharing, and WHITE PAPER 7

8 multi-display capabilities for showing video participants and presentation material display simultaneously. The real estate management firm focused on the benefits of virtual travel: we have been able to connect with our customers more frequently we have been able to save costs, effort and time and also achieve a higher degree of customer engagement and serviceability, and also observed that staff teams feel connected and are able to better manage work-life balance. The real estate management firm reported that almost all of the employees have used the solution. We are frequently using it for conducting internal meetings, and added that employees who have customer facing roles use it for connecting with existing clients and new opportunities; the IT services firm in New York said that the solution has been mostly used for external meetings. We have been able to connect with our customers more frequently we have been able to save costs, effort and time and also achieve a higher degree of customer engagement and serviceability Two of the three firms installed Chromebox for Meetings themselves, while a third the real estate management firm purchased the unit from a reseller who did the installation. The VP at the advertising agency said our internal IT personnel installed it, and the IT services firm said we did it ourselves. It is a straight and simple plug and play device. Dell s Chromebox for Meetings Empowers SMBs Recognizing the rapidly evolving requirements of SMBs, Dell is addressing the need for video conferencing capabilities. Dell s Chromebox for Meetings is an integrated solution designed to help geographically dispersed teams conduct virtual face-to-face meetings that promotes collaboration, accessible via a variety of devices. The solution includes a Dell-branded Chromebox, high-definition camera, combined microphone and speaker unit, remote control, and management service from Google. Hitting on all the video collaboration requirements of SMBs as mentioned earlier in this white paper, Dell Chromebox for Meetings offers important benefits to SMBs looking to deploy best-in-class video collaboration capabilities: Easy to Use Dell Chromebox for Meetings allows businesses to simultaneously connect to 15 locations across any device - including PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones - while also allowing users to join a video meeting with a single click or through their Google calendar. Users can also , chat and video conference in one interface, share their screen wirelessly and completely manage their meetings remotely, thereby, promoting collaboration virtually. Powerful and Compact The Dell Chromebox for Meetings is built on the most powerful class of Intel processor to power HD video and great video collaboration while also supporting Google s Chrome OS, providing for secure storage and protecting business critical files. Importantly for SMBs operating with space constraints, the Dell Chromebox for Business WHITE PAPER 8

9 hardware hub is easy to mount and hide, while also offering multiple ports, wireless internet and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity. Designed for the Modern Workforce: With location no longer a barrier to where employees work, organizations of any size and in any field need to be able to effectively meet and collaborate while on the move. The Dell Chromebox for Meetings solution allows for employees to join HD meetings from any device, and for workers to collaborate mid-meeting and share their screens at any time. Dell Chromebox for Meetings leverages existing display and includes everything that an SMB needs - the hardware and software required to deploy a collaboration solution in one box, for any workplace that wants a flexible, secure and affordable virtual meeting solution. SMBs can use existing displays or purchase a new video-enabled display. Chromebox for Meetings incorporates an annual license from Google; the Dell Chromebox for Meetings package includes first year s license, and the annual renewal is managed by Dell. Figure 5 Dell s Chromebox for Meetings solution is a great way for geographically-dispersed teams to meet and collaborate, with participants able to join by a variety of devices. It is also suited to companies that offer flexible or remote working arrangements, allowing for employee engagement from any location. The scope of the solution can easily expand outside the bounds of the SMB itself - not only to connect employees together, but to connect them with customers (and in some cases, suppliers) as well. WHITE PAPER 9

10 Main benefits of Dell Chromebox for Meetings for SMBs Dell Chromebox for Meetings has many benefits for SMBs. Two that are of high importance to growing SMBs are: Flexible enough to meet the needs of any environment The Dell Chromebox for Meetings offers a range of features that combine to deliver the flexibility needed to use the solution in a range of office and at-home environments. These features include simple mounting options, multiple ports including HDMI, DP++ and SD the most up-to-date connectivity options, the latest Intel processors, the ability to output 4K2K video (the new standard in high-definition displays), and support for dual monitors. Easy to Secure and Manage The Dell Chromebox for Meetings offers superior security and manageability, making it perfect for organizations with limited IT resources or time constraints. The Chrome OS is updated continuously and automatically, meaning that Dell Chromebox for Meetings customers always stay up to date with the latest security fixes and system updates, while also allowing for files to be both securely stored in the cloud and automatically scanned for viruses and malware. Summary Collaboration is essential to SMB business success. With a mobile workforce, it is necessary to bring collaboration solutions to staff members, rather than bringing the staff members to a central location for meetings. In an SMB environment, a successful collaboration solution needs to deliver a best of all worlds experience: it needs to be low cost, easy to set up and operate, and deliver high-quality connections to participants using a wide variety of endpoint devices at a variety of locations; it needs to help facilitate better productivity and teamwork, faster decision making, and improved customer support; it needs to be useful to and usable by all levels of staff, and often, by customers as well. In short, collaboration systems are expected to deliver the best features of other important IT solutions the ability to collaboration across communities that is inherent in social media, the multi-location coverage that is a feature of mobility, the ability to create corporate memory that comes with use of CRM and BI, and the reach and flexibility of the cloud while avoiding the specific drawbacks associated with each of these technologies. Most collaboration solution approaches are poorly suited to SMB needs. Video rooms are too expensive and too complex to be a realistic alternative for most SMBs, consumer technologies are not robust or feature-rich enough to fully support business requirements, and major software-only, web-based systems can be both expensive and complex for SMB users. In the SMB market, Chromebox for Meetings is carving out a niche as a capable, low-cost, easy-to-operate collaboration solution platform. WHITE PAPER 10

11 About Techaisle Techaisle is an SMB IT Market Research and Industry Analyst organization. It was founded on the premise that Go-to-Market strategies require insightful research, flexible data, and deeper analysis. Its analysis is based on a strong data-driven foundation which is consistent across all geographies. To achieve its objectives, Techaisle conducts surveys with SMBs and channel partners to understand market trends, opportunities, buying behavior, purchase intent, business issues and IT priorities. Its market research studies cover cloud computing, managed services, mobility, collaboration, virtualization, business intelligence, analytics, big data, networking and data centers. The organization offers its clients: Syndicated Research, Custom Primary Research, Consulting Engagement, Competitive Intelligence, Segmentation and Predictive Analytics services. For more information on Techaisle or its global products/services, please visit and our blogs at Contact: Techaisle 5053 Doyle Rd, Suite 105 San Jose, CA Ph: inquiry@techaisle.com WHITE PAPER 11