A recent study, "Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration" conducted by Frost & Sullivan and sponsored by Verizon and Cisco, provides a wealth of insight into how organizations of all sizes can incorporate advanced collaboration tools into their business processes. 

The study found organizations that deploy the most advanced collaboration technologies see a higher return on their collaboration investment and perform better than their less collaborative peers.

1. Invest in an IP foundation. The launch pad to the world of advanced collaboration rests on a capabilities-rich IP infrastructure. Flexible and expansive IP networks provide a foundation for a successful deployment of unified communications and collaboration (UC&C) tools and should be equipped with on-demand bandwidth and classes of service to accommodate increased traffic loads and support a high-quality end-user experience. The study found IP networks are growing as a foundation for business operations, and collaboration has gone beyond traditional conferencing services to encompass more IP-based applications.
   
   
2. Establish a Benchmark for Collaborative Success. Survey stakeholders to understand their work needs and willingness to embrace change. How is business conducted today and how can UC&C empower employees by streamlining and improving business processes? Determine current and future requirements, and plan accordingly.
   
   
3. Focus on the End Goals. Avoid hype and examine what business problems must be resolved.Then build a UC&C plan based on long-term and short-term goals. Carefully evaluate network, hardware and software options to validate their ability to meet current and future enterprise objectives. Make technology investment decisions that make the most of existing assets.
   
   
4. Combine Ingredients to Create a Complete Experience. UC&C is a strategy - not a specific technology. Effective collaboration is not just about data or video or voice or mobility, it is about how the tools are combined to create a collaborative experience that can reap the maximum benefits.
   
   
5. Create a Culture of Collaboration. Meetings Around the World II found an organization's culture to be a key factor in collaboration capability; even more so than what the first Meetings Around the World study found. Technology is important, but it must be deployed in an organization that is open, with a decentralized decision-making structure. Top executives must be advocates for collaboration tools to promote their use among all employees.
   
   
6. Listen to the Workforce. With current technologies, work has become an anytime, anywhere activity. In the study, 61 percent of respondents say they like to work from anywhere, yet only 47 percent indicated they have a formal telecommuting policy in place and less than a third say they telecommute at least once a week. Evaluate policies to promote efficiencies and productivity within the organization. Morale may even rise in the process.
   
   
7. Big Leaps Often Begin with Baby Steps. Meetings Around the World II showed that organizations of all sizes can increase their return on collaboration investment and that adding progressively more advanced collaboration tools can lead to a correspondingly higher return. Educate users about instant messaging, desktop and mobile voice calls, and audio, Web and video conferencing technologies to achieve value. Consider hosted solutions as they allow an organization to ramp up quickly and scale the operation to changing needs.
   
   
8. Partner with the best. Partner with a solutions provider that can integrate multiple technology platforms for best success. Decide whether to manage UC&C in-house or to choose a managed services provider with the manpower, tools and processes to help provide consistent performance of UC&C applications.
   
   
9. Be Inclusive. Good collaboration goes beyond the organization. The Meetings Around the World II study found teams using UC&C tools can benefit from a "network effect" -- a theory attributed to Robert Metcalfe, the co-inventor of Ethernet, that holds that the more users on a network, the more value is likely realized from it. Extend a culture of collaboration to customers, suppliers and partners to help increase reach and returns on collaboration investment.
   
   
10. Mark Progress Along the Way. Build milestones to measure success. Identify internal benchmarks to determine the impact of UC&C on sales and marketing, finances, the corporate culture and end-user satisfaction, and make improvements as needed.

Glowpoint announced the unveiling of an automated diagnostic application called Video Room Sweep ("VRS") that automatically performs comprehensive "sweeps" and emulations of video sessions for all components of telepresence and video conferencing rooms. Designed to offer a more automated and scalable proactive level of managed service, VRS can ensure higher in-use rates of video technology, resulting in predictable performance and a higher return on investment.

VRS can be programmed for automatic daily sweeps and can also be used as an on-demand troubleshooting tool. VRS tests and diagnoses the health of all components in a telepresence or video conferencing room, along with functionality of the network to ensure proper performance and readiness. Following a room sweep, automated exception reporting and notifications prompt the VNOC of any service, hardware, connectivity or compatibility issues, where highly responsive remediation measures are then immediately implemented.

VRS provides users with the following features and benefits:

• Accessibility Verification - verifies the accessibility and status of every network device in a room, such as video codecs, IP phones, control panels, PCs, projectors, and switches
• QoS Measurement - tests local video to ensure proper functionality by measuring video packet loss, audio packet loss, and packet loss percentages through electronic means as well as via an actual video call that is automatically launched to visually gauge determine video and audio quality
• Room Readiness - checks the local video and audio hardware components, such as speakers, monitors and projectors, to ensure full functionality
• Version Inventory - analyzes and compares all room components and system/software/firmware versions to ensure that they are consistent with the VNOC's database

The daily results of the diagnostics will be available to VNOC customers through Glowpoint's Web-based user portal. Upcoming versions will also offer VNOC customers the ability to activate on-demand sweeps independent of the managed service technicians. Glowpoint's VNOC and managed services support thousands of rooms and systems globally, offering a single point of contact for the comprehensive management of telepresence and video environments.

Glowpoint's VNOC service includes on-line and MS Exchange TM integrated conference scheduling, call launching, conference production, 24/7 remote monitoring, trouble remediation, along with a broad spectrum of room performance reporting features.

More information is available from Glowpoint .