The steps to successful immersive telepresence

For financial organisations to get the most out of Telepresence, they need to think beyond the obvious cost reduction and environmental benefits. Hugh McCullen, General Manager of Multimedia Services at Nortel, explains the concept of immersive Telepresence, and gives us his secrets to getting it right.

Telepresence brings individuals in different locations together virtually. Crucially, they look and feel as if they are actually located in the same room. If you attend a meeting using true immersive Telepresence, it’s safe to say you probably won’t know much about it – that is as it should be. There are no visible cameras, speakers, or microphones. You’re simply at a meeting around a table with colleagues. The technology is there, naturally, but it’s discreet, seamless, incidental.

Immersive Telepresence enables those vital non-verbal cues to come through with no distractions. Because it’s so real, everyone starts to act naturally. And that makes the experience so valuable that people no longer have to be physically next to each other to hold a successful meeting.

But merely understanding the outcome is not enough. More important is: how do you choose a Telepresence solution which is right for your business, simple to implement and manage and delivers a demonstrable ROI?

Step 1: ensure the technology looks, feels and sounds good
Firstly the technology has to be simple to use and visually/aurally seamless. You don’t want to be made overtly aware of any cameras, speakers or microphones; people must believe the other attendees are really there. So crisp HD images and clear sound are a must for an immersive experience.

Step 2: choose a pricing model that works for your business
Getting the pricing model right is critical for financial organisations. Choose a supplier which offers a range of payment options. CapEX is not the only option, and may not be suitable anyway. 

Many of Nortel’s largest financial customers use an OpEx model, which bundles together the latest products, services and support they require for a simple annual or monthly fee.

Step 3: make it secure, end-to-end
For financial organisations, the security of the Telepresence environment is paramount.  Nortel provides an SLA which ensures every conference is secure. Alongside robust security procedures such as encryption, password-protected access and firewall management, we perform trace routes and diagnostics throughout the entire series of networks we touch, for every conference.

Step 4: manage the user experience skilfully
Importantly, a truly successful immersive experience is about more than the hardware or the security. To forget that technology is in use at all demands a fully managed experience. This must begin long before the users enter the room.

Nortel’s teams can manage the whole lifecycle of a Telepresence event, from booking through pre-event network testing to post-event metrics – using our worldwide Multimedia Network Operations Centers which deliver global support 24/7/365, thus ensuring nothing impacts your meeting. Alternatively, our experts can train your staff to do all of this themselves.

Step 5: integrate the technology across your business
Nevertheless, even if the technology looks and sounds impressive – and even if it’s well-priced, well-managed and highly secure – you should be asking two more critical questions: can it be integrated with your existing voice, data and video networks and tools? And can you bring in your partners, suppliers, customers, shareholders and even the media into your Telepresence environment? Nortel’s answer is yes to both of these questions.

In line with our belief that open standards benefit all, Nortel has a unique network of highly experienced partners, including Microsoft, Polycom, Tandberg and IBM (to name but a few) who bring their full experience to the table for your benefit. And it’s this complete package – this integrated ‘ecosystem’– that ensures you get the very most out of Telepresence.

By following these few simple but critical steps, you can gain the maximum advantage from your investment.

For more on Nortel’s Telepresence Services please visit www.nortel.com/Telepresence and read the in depth article on the FST website.

Hugh McCullen is responsible for Nortel’s Telepresence, HD video conferencing, web casting, audio conferencing and web collaboration services for enterprises/providers of communications, networking and application services. He also leads the strategy for the integration of the Unified Collaboration Communications environment with Nortel’s Multimedia Services driving business development/integration across key markets.