Power of IP Video, The: Unleashing Productivity with Visual Networking

by Jennifer Baker, Felicia Dalke, Mike Mitchell, Nader Nanjiani

Overview

The Power of IP Video

 

Unleashing Productivity with Visual Networking

 

Jennifer C. Baker

Felicia Brych Dalke

Michael Mitchell

Nader Nanjiani

 

The definitive guide to deriving business value from IP video solutions

 

Using today’s rich new IP-based technologies for video, voice, and web collaboration, businesses can streamline and accelerate processes, increase productivity, and improve both top and bottom lines. In The Power of IP Video, a team of Cisco® experts shows you exactly how to make the most of these powerful new IP video solutions. Writing for both business and technical decision makers, the authors present new best practices for optimizing virtually any program or process and for improving collaboration between virtually every employee, customer, supplier, and stakeholder.

 

Drawing on their pioneering experience working with IP video internally and supporting the top Cisco customers, the authors show you how to make the business case for IP video and offer practical guidance for successful implementation. To demonstrate IP video at work, they also present an extensive set of case studies from large, medium-size, and small companies in many leading industries. Along the way, they demonstrate the real-world application and value of several key Cisco solutions, including Cisco Unified MeetingPlace®, Cisco Unified Video Advantage, Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco TelePresence™, Cisco Digital Media Management, video surveillance, and WebEx®.

 

• Use IP video to meet the needs of knowledge workers while reducing travel and other costs
• Extend IP video from the office to anywhere work takes you
• Identify opportunities to leverage IP video in finance, marketing, sales, manufacturing, and R&D
• Apply IP video in financial services, healthcare, e-learning, high tech, sports and entertainment, and other industries
• Use IP video to “scale” the impact of your senior executives
• Use rich media to systematically eliminate barriers to global collaboration while saving money
• Estimate the business value of visual networking applications

 

Jennifer Baker, senior manager in the Worldwide Technology Practice group at Cisco, leads marketing efforts around TelePresence, Digital Media Management, and related solutions.

 

Felicia Brych Dalke is marketing operations manager for Collaboration Business Services.

 

Mike Mitchell is currently director of the Collaboration Business Solutions team at Cisco, responsible for connecting business processes with visual networking tools.

 

Nader Nanjiani is marketing manager for Unified IP Communications at Cisco, and co-author of The Business Case for E-learning (Cisco Press).

 

This volume is in the Network Business Series offered by Cisco Press®. Books in this series provide IT executives, decision makers, and networking professionals with pertinent information about today’s most important technologies and business strategies.

 

Category: Networking: IP Communications

Covers: IP Video

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781587058660
Publisher:	Pearson Education
Publication date:	12/22/2008
Series:	Network Business
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Jennifer C. Baker attended Ohio University, where she majored in telecommunications. Her interest in video stems from this time, when she worked at both the local ABC affiliate and the local PBS station covering the news. She has 16 years of experience with voice and video applications, including telephony, contact center, unified messaging, video, and TelePresence. During her tenure at Cisco, she has been a consulting systems engineer, a senior marketing manager, and is now a senior product manager in the Cisco Worldwide Technology Practice.

She is also a published author and the recipient of numerous industry awards. She lives in San Diego with her husband.

 

Felicia Brych Dalke completed a BComm in MIS from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and a master’s degree in project management from the University of Quebec. She spent nine years in various IT development and planning positions with Revenue Canada in Ottawa before joining Cisco in 1999. During her term at Cisco, Felicia managed development and operation of several global IT services, including remote access, voice/web/videoconferencing, desktop video, instant messaging, and various voice services. Since 2006, she has worked with engineering organizations to promote adoption, new requirements, and integration for collaboration products. She currently manages an international consortium focused on collaboration. Felicia lives in Mountain View, California, with her husband and children. This is her second project for Cisco Press; she participated as an editor and contributor to Troubleshooting Remote Access Networks, published in 2002.

 

Michael Mitchell has been working with video at Cisco for more than 12 years. During this time, he has been uniquely positioned to witness the migration from traditional communication tools to the new paradigm of converged IP-based media. He is currently the director of the Collaboration Business Services team at Cisco. Team responsibilities range from global video production to connecting business processes with the latest Web 2.0 tools.

 

Nader Nanjiani has worked in the area of interactive media, IP telephony, communications, and marketing for more than a decade. Nader is currently a marketing manager at Cisco, where he has been specifically responsible for the marketing of IP phones, wireless phones, video endpoints, Unified Communications applications, and related call control applications. While at Cisco, Nader has launched a series of award-winning online games, IP communication products, web applications, and communications solutions to boost awareness, revenue, and brand loyalty around Cisco technologies. In 2003, he launched the first-ever Cisco online community for certified engineers, which today supports the professional development needs of hundreds of thousands of Cisco customers, partners, and prospects. The Power of IP Video is Nader’s second title with Cisco Press. He also co-authored The Business Case for E-Learning, published by Cisco Press in 2004.

Table of Contents

Introduction xxi

 

Part I Where Are We Headed? 1

 

Chapter 1 Quad-Play and the Curse of Interesting Times 3

Executive Summary 4

Virtualization: A Common Modus Operandi 5

    Quad-Play in Virtualized Environments 6

    Why Video? 7

Globalization 3.0 at Our Doorstep 7

    A Rocky Ride 8

    Has It Really Gotten That Flat? 9

Consumer Led: When Work Emulates Social Networks 11

    From Web 2.0 to Visual Networking 12

    Viral Video: The Edward R. Murrow of Our Times? 13

What Next? 14

Summary 15

End Notes 16

 

Chapter 2 The Way We Work 17

Executive Summary 18

Use of Video in Organizations 18

IP Video and Collaboration at Work: An Illustration 19

    Find Them Now 20

    Softening the Edge of Fast Turnarounds 20

    Mobility: Productivity on the Go 21

    Click to Call from Anywhere 22

    Follow Me Around 22

    From Voice to Video to Web 22

    Virtual Collaboration 23

    One to Many in a Matter of Moments 23

    Moral of the Story 24

Making a Difference 25

    Productivity When Away from the Office 25

    A Family-First Workplace 26

    Environmentally Friendly Workplaces 26

    Rationalizing Real Estate 27

    All About Nuance 27

Summary 28

End Note 28

 

Chapter 3 Beyond Workplaces: Video in Collaborative Workspaces 29

Executive Summary 30

How Might Collaboration Really Play Out at Work? 31

    “Virtual Margaret” 32

    Enter TelePresence 33

    Business Implications 34

Too Many People, Too Many Trips 35

Boosting “Engagement” at Work 36

    Workplace Flexibility to Reduce Healthcare Cost 37

Summary 38

End Notes 38

 

Part II Cisco in Play 39

 

Chapter 4 Scaling the CxO 41

Executive Summary 42

Your Broadcast Network 44

Direct Employee Interaction 45

Open Access 48

Accountability 49

From Innovation to Requirement 50

From Requirement to Innovation 52

Customer Interactions 55

Summary 55

 

Chapter 5 Cisco Finance and Investor Relations:

Transforming Processes, Partnerships, and Public

Perception 57

Executive Summary 58

Cisco Finance 59

    Improving Organizational and Cross-Functional Alignment:

        Video Improves Day-to-Day Working Relationships and

        Operations 59

    Developing Team Depth and Skills: Video-Enabled Training 60

    Ensuring Finance Speaks with One Voice: Executive

        Messaging, Global Communications 61

    Providing Consistent Messaging Across Groups:

        All Hands Meetings 62

    Facilitating Sales While Ensuring Compliance: The Sales

        Empowerment Initiative 63

    Looking Ahead: Next Steps for Finance 64

    Finance: Lessons Learned 67

Video Applications in Investor Relations 68

    Internal Uses 68

    External Applications 69

    Press-Related Activity 71

    Web Presence 72

    Latest Applications: Looking Ahead 74

    Investor Relations: Advice and Considerations 76

Summary 77

 

Chapter 6 Cisco Marketing: Video Accelerates

Communications, Collaboration, and Time to Market 79

Executive Summary 80

Internal Uses 80

    One-to-One and Small Group Collaboration 80

    Staff Meetings 82

    Larger Group Meetings 82

External Uses 87

    Webcasts and Bannercasts 88

    Video on the Web: News@Cisco Portal 89

    Video Datasheets 91

    Embedded Video in Websites: External Product Launches 93

    Exploring New Places to Use Video: Second Life 94

Summary 95

End Note 95

 

Chapter 7 Optimizing a Global Engineering Organization 97

Executive Summary 98

Technical Strategy and Execution 99

    Employee Communication 100

    Effective Integration of Acquisitions 102

Multisite Product Development 104

    Team Communication Preferences 105

    Program Management and Videoconferencing 106

    Project Management and Desktop Video 107

    Best Practices for Multisite Product Development Using

        Video/Visual Tools 109

    Video and Behavior to Avoid Travel 111

Product Testing and Support 112

    Product Testing During Development 112

    Troubleshooting with Customers 113

Technical Training 114

    The Engineering Learning Organization 114

    Using Live Broadcasts to Increase Awareness

        and Knowledge 116

    Using Video on Demand for Technical Training 117

Summary 118

 

Chapter 8 Maximizing Your Human Resources Through IP Video 121

Executive Summary 122

Recruiting in a “Flat” World 122

New-Hire Orientation 123

Knowledge Transfer 126

Onsite Daycare 127

Change Management 128

Summary 130

 

Chapter 9 Save More, Make More: Increasing Sales Productivity with IP Video 131

Executive Summary 132

Early Drivers 132

Product Launch 134

Scaling the SME 134

Saving Time for Sales 137

    “Scale the Power” 138

    Next Generation 140

Summary 141

 

Part III Show Me the Money 143

 

Chapter 10 Transforming Educational Paradigms with IP Video 145

Executive Summary 146

Evolution of Video-Based Learning at Cisco 146

Video in Today’s Diverse Education Settings 148

    Collaborative Learning for Career Advancement 149

    Safeguarding Schools with IP Video Surveillance 151

    Reaching Dispersed Learners: Mobile and Video Ready 153

    Video Content Enriching the Classroom 156

Summary 159

End Notes 159

 

Chapter 11 Financial Services and Video: Accelerating Revenue,

    Relationships, and Much More 161

Executive Summary 162

Improving the Product Rollout Process, and More, with Video 163

Bridging the Gap: Magnet Bank 166

Supporting Growth While Maintaining Corporate Culture:

    Mountain America Credit Union 168

Thinking Differently About Collaboration: Wachovia 173

Summary 176

 

Chapter 12 The Doctor Will See You Now: Transforming

    Healthcare with Video 177

Executive Summary 178

The Technology Transforming Healthcare 178

Building Expertise and Boosting Communication: Alabama

    Department of Rehabilitation Services 181

Improving Employee Communications and Collaboration:

    Niagara Health 182

Extending Expertise While Providing Improved Patient Care 182

    Robots Enable Physicians to Be in Two Places at One Time 183

    Bringing Life-Saving, Specialty Care to Rural Regions:

        Ontario Telemedicine Network 185

    Video Brings Critical Care to the Littlest Patients: Adena Health System 188

    Beyond Videoconferencing: TelePresence Becomes the

        Next Step in Telemedicine in Scotland and New Zealand 189

    Improving Healthcare and Quality of Life: Afghanistan’s Telemedicine Project 191

    Connecting Clinicians and Patients with Innovative Services:

        California’s Healthcare Interpretive Network 192

    Innovation Improves Image and Patient Care: Arras Hospital 195

Summary 197

 

Chapter 13 The Influence of IP Video on Other Industries 199

Executive Summary 200

Video Use in High-Tech Organizations 201

    Software Developer Uses IP Video to Increase Agility and Reduce Travel 201

    Executives Use Video to Clarify Partnerships 202

    Service Providers Use TelePresence to Improve Internal

    Communications and Provide New Service

    Offerings 205

IP Video Enables New Business Models in the Real Estate

    and Hospitality Sectors 210

    Luxury Hotels Create Competitive Advantage Through TelePresence 211

    Casinos Use IP Video to Enable Growth 212

IP Video Takes Sports and Entertainment to the Next Level 214

    Sports Stadiums Are Transformed Using IP Video 217

    Museums Enable New Experiences with IP Video 218

    2008 Olympic Games Has Greater Coverage Through IP Video 219

Cross-Industry Effort Uses TelePresence to Connect Families 222

Summary 225

End Notes 225

 

Part IV No More Walls 227

 

Chapter 14 Opportunities in the Era of Visual Networking 229

Executive Summary 230

Beyond Web 2.0: To Visual Networking 231

Visual Networking at Work 232

    Enabling E-Commerce Through Visual Networking 232

    Connecting Live Through Visual Networking 233

    Media Conferencing (Sharing) Through Visual Networking 234

    E-Learning Through Visual Networking 235

    Business Process Integration Through Visual Networking 236

    Video Wikis 237

    Advertising Through Visual Networking 237

    Public Affairs and Government Relations Through Visual Networking 238

    Games, Sports, and Virtual Environments 239

    Live Feedback Through Visual Networking 240

Summary 240

 

Chapter 15 Collaboration Like Never Before: To Make a Difference 241

Executive Summary 242

Business Benefits and Carbon Benefits 244

    How Cisco Is Cutting Emissions 244

Strategies for Making Organizations Emissions Savvy 247

    Make Fewer Business Journeys 247

    Decrease Commuting 248

    Better Use of Office Space 249

    Leveraging the Mobility Trend 250

Carbon Conscious with Clinton Global Initiative 250

    Beneficiaries of Connected Urban Development 251

    How CUD Works 251

    Progress So Far 252

Summary 252

End Notes 253

 

Part V Appendixes 255

 

Appendix A How Cisco Uses Streaming Video for Worldwide

    Corporate Events and Training 257

Background 258

Challenge 259

Solution 260

Videoconferencing 261

IP Video Telephony 262

Web Conferencing 263

Live Broadcasting and Video on Demand 263

    Production Studios and Broadcast Volume 267

Results 267

    Business Benefit for Cisco: Cisco ISO Company Audit 269

    Benefit for Cisco: Emergency Process Implementation 270

Lessons Learned 270

Reference Documents 271

Cisco.com Resources 272

For More Information 273

 

Appendix B Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and

    Methodology, 2007–2012 275

Executive Summary 276

Global IP Traffic Growth 2006–2011 278

Consumer IP Traffic 2006–2012 279

Consumer Internet Traffic 2006–2012 280

Web, Email, and Data 283

P2P 284

Internet Gaming 285

Voice over IP 287

Video Communications 288

Internet Video to PC 290

Internet Video to TV 292

Consumer Non-Internet IP

Traffic 2006–2011 294

Business IP Traffic 296

Mobile Data and Internet Traffic 298

Frequently Asked Questions 300

For More Information 302

 

Index 303

Preface

Introduction

Video changes everything!

When we think about the evolution of business communications, we first think about the telephone, text-based email systems, voice mail, text messaging, and voice conferencing. As businesses migrated to converged IP networks, we saw more integrated voice/web/videoconferencing, video streaming, instant messaging, and the start of integrated communications enter the business environment.

Today, we hear about quad-play technologies, Unified Communications solutions, TelePresence, IP video surveillance, video portals, Web 2.0 mash-ups, and various solutions developed to address a variety of business needs, all leading to visual networking. The use of IP video to transform business is a growing trend, and large companies or public institutions that want to remain competitive need to prepare for change!

What Is Visual Networking and Why Is It Important?

In the simplest terms, visual networking is the combination of digital video and social-networking (Web 2.0) technologies. It also includes various traditional video applications such as conferencing and streaming that enable communications, collaboration, and new business models. In terms of trends, IP video combined with interactivity promises to make the video experience measurably distinct and improved from the passive video viewing experience with traditional media. And the possibility of making video interactivity pervasive across web, mobility, and IPTV (next-generation TV) platforms promises even greater engagement and responsiveness for audiences.

So why is visual networking important? From a business perspective, the combination of Web 2.0 technologies and IP video means that your teams will be able to interact and collaborate in a meaningful way from anywhere in the world. Thus, businesses can have an unprecedented level of agility. Teams can form dynamically around an opportunity, rapidly build rapport, begin developing solutions, and then be repurposed to a new opportunity. Physically “being there” is no longer a requirement.

A few Internet video trends highlight the growing acceptance of this form of communication. In 2005, 9 billion video streams were served over the Internet, and in 2006, that number rose to 31 billion streams. By December 2007, in only 1 month, 10 billion video streams were served— (more than all of 2005)! Video now accounts for 60 percent of Cisco internal network traffic; and although we are an obvious early adopter of these technologies, it is a sign of changes to come.

In 2008, another video trend was established. NBC Universal captured more than 3600 hours of video from the 2008 Olympic Games (more video than all other Summer Games combined)! Viewers were able to watch video recordings online via the Internet of events that had never been broadcast before. By 2010, corporate TelePresence traffic is expected to generate more traffic than the entire Internet backbone in 2000. All of these trends demonstrate the growth of IP video and indicate a need for even greater Internet bandwidth.

From a product perspective, these trends keep Cisco focused on video as a strategic priority, and require a next-generation platform to manage the expected demand. The network is the platform to provide new video experiences; and content creators, aggregators, service providers, and consumers are all stakeholders in creating these experiences.

What Is This Book About and Why Are We Writing It?

The purpose of this book is to share with you potential business value from the use of IP video and visual networking in enterprise and public sector environments. Examples, case studies, and quotations are used throughout the text to describe the Cisco experience, or in some cases the Cisco evolution, in our use of IP video to engage employees, partners, and customers. We also describe how IP video is changing customers’ businesses or services within several industries. The examples demonstrate how visual networking is used to increase agility, cut operational costs, improve communications, grow revenue, and create new competitive advantages.

Besides the examples and case studies, we also provide an introduction to quad-play technologies (voice, video, web, and mobility applications) and describe how they are changing today’s workplace. Employees are able to conduct business, regardless of location, as long as there is an Internet or appropriate smartphone connection. In the summary chapters, we cover many visual networking use cases and discuss the future of visual networking, particularly as it relates to green initiatives (the new global priority).

As authors, our experience crosses many viewpoints about video as product managers, marketing experts, business sponsors, IT managers, end users, and teleworkers. We have either planned, developed, deployed, or used all Cisco video or video-related products, and we see how the integration with social-networking applications is changing how we do business.

As an authoring team, we make use of visual networking wherever we can, whether contributing to a blog about the book or conducting a review session with our Cisco Press team members. We’ve included here a recent picture of Jennifer, Mike, Felicia, and Chris using our USB cameras and WebEx Meeting Center to conduct a meeting about this book and share our video. Jennifer and Chris are both full-time teleworkers, but by using visual networking tools, they are just as connected to their team members as if they were sitting in the next cubicle. Chapters 1 and 2 explore this concept of enabling remote work and more efficient communications through quad-play solutions.

Who Should Read This Book?

The focus of this book is on the business value created from IP video in an enterprise or public sector environment. It does not cover the technology considerations for implementing the individual technologies. Based on this business focus, CxOs, business decision makers, managers, business process experts, communicators, and strategic planners from any functional discipline, within any industry, will benefit from the examples and best practices shared in this text.

We assume you will be able to apply these examples to your business and identify how you might be able to improve communications, cut costs, or even transform your business to grow revenue. At the very least, the examples will show you what Cisco and other companies are experiencing and might spark some new thinking.

Visual Networking to Transform Business

Across many industries, visual networking is creating positive opportunities to improve business. The most natural example is improving communications within a corporation, which can be as simple as deploying video blogs to enable one-to-many communications, or can be more complex such as deploying video telephony to enable better one-to-one communications. Either way, the visual queues available through video provide a richness to the communication that is not present through audio or text alone. Video increases the impact and retention of the message and helps build trust.

In the education space, organizations are globally deploying video technologies to transform learning and education management. The current use of IP video has enabled innovation of learning for career advancement and to enrich the classroom. The University of California - Berkeley uses it to reach dispersed learners via podcasts, delivering content to students both on and off campus. IP video is also being leveraged to secure campuses and schools, thus fostering safer learning environments.

With regard to the financial services sector, we discuss how a major U.S. bank implemented IPTV as a new training method, accelerating new product revenues by nearly 25 percent. This initiative achieved a return on investment in less than one quarter! The bank also uses the IPTV solution to improve corporate communications and share best practices among its sales associates. Several other U.S. financial institutions are also using IP videoconferencing and TelePresence to improve business relationship, extend expertise to customers, grow revenue, and reduce travel.

Besides the traditional use of video to improve communication and collaboration between staff and hospitals, the healthcare industry is finding innovative ways to improve patient care by increasing access to medical expertise. The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and Johns Hopkins medical facilities are using InTouch Remote Presence Robots to enable doctors to project themselves to another location via remote-controlled mobile robots: to move, see, hear, and talk as though they were actually there. In Canada, the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN) uses a dedicated IP network to link nearly 400 sites in rural northern Ontario to large urban teaching hospitals. They conduct more than 32,000 video consultations per year, and use the infrastructure to deliver educational broadcasts.

In 2008, the use of TelePresence made significant advancements. More than 40 global service providers have deployed Cisco TelePresence in their networks. Several providers, such as AT&T and British Telecom, have already started to grow their business by offering TelePresence services to their customers. Even the real estate and hospitality sector is buying in to this new business offering. Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces have started to offer public TelePresence services between global locations on a pay-by-the-hour basis to customers. This offering is definitely a competitive advantage for Taj over other global luxury hotels.

Two Cisco vertical solutions provide the opportunity to change real estate and sports industries through Cisco Connected Real Estate and Cisco Connected Sports. The solutions incorporate a combination of Unified Communications, TelePresence, IP video surveillance, digital media, wireless, and other applications to transform the management and operations of buildings and sports complexes. The benefits associated with these solutions include lower operating costs, improved security, new and improved customer experiences, and new revenue opportunities. Pechanga Resort and Casino and the Watford Football Club are two organizations in this sector that are taking advantage of the power of IP video.

Overall, the use of IP video and visual networking are transforming business in many industries. Within Cisco, the application of video is evident within each functional line of business. From key delivery organizations such as product development, marketing, and sales to corporate support organizations such as human resources and finance, IP video is improving communications, enabling knowledge transfer, growing revenue, and reducing costs, particularly through travel reduction.

Visual Networking to Influence Public Opinion

Cisco began studying trends in visual networking earlier this year by sponsoring research for and application of a Visual Networking Index (VNI). A VNI Forecast was first introduced to provide projections for global IP network growth and usage. It is based on analysis from independent analysts’ forecasts. You can read more about about VNI in Appendix B.

As part of this VNI focus, regular installments of a VNI Pulse are planned to provide quantitative views of network-based consumer behavior through direct data collection. The first Pulse study, which was released just before this book went to print, describes the influence of visual networking in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. Participants in the Cisco VNI Pulse study included more than 1800 registered U.S. voters, who identified themselves as Democrat, Republican, Independent, or undecided. Some of the key findings included the following:

• Traffic to popular online video websites increased fivefold in 2008 from 2004.
• The Internet was identified by 62 percent of respondents as a regular source of election information, surpassed only by television (82 percent).
• Online video was used by 30 percent of voters to follow election coverage, and 75 percent of these users thought that watching online video enabled them to follow the election news and events more closely.
• Online video users appear more engaged than non-online video users; 62 percent stated they follow the election closely, in comparison to only 37 percent of non-online video users who said they are not following the election closely.

The Internet and visual networking are playing a key role to provide voters with election information and news coverage. One need only browse the content posted on YouTube, Wikipedia, or various news sources to learn about the campaigns, investigate issues, and form an opinion. And more than ever, citizens are using these tools to express their own opinions and have them heard.

How Is This Book Organized?

Although this book is intended to be read cover to cover, it is organized to allow you to focus on only the content that is most relevant to you. Part I of the book, Chapters 1 to 3, provides an introduction to the topic and dscribes why video and quad-play technologies are playing such a crucial role in communications today. These chapters also describe how the workplace is changing into work moments. Part II, Chapters 4 to 9, covers the Cisco experience with visual networking, organized by business function: CxO, finance, marketing, engineering, human resources, and sales.

Part III, Chapters 10 to 13, covers the external customer experience with visual networking, from several vertical markets making the greatest use of video: education, financial services, healthcare, high tech, real estate and hospitality, and sports and entertainment. Part IV, Chapters 14 and 15, describes the many use cases of visual networking and demonstrates how the future of video will impact business and the environment. If you do intend to read all chapters, the order outlined in the book is an excellent sequence to follow.

Chapter Summary

• Chapter 1, “Quad-Play and the Curse of Interesting Times”: Business is evolving to enable employees to work differently and do more with less. The workplace is being altered by a combination of integrated voice, video, web, and mobility applications, also known as quad-play technologies. This chapter explores the key trends driving the need for change: virtualization, globalization, and consumer-led entry of applications.
• Chapter 2, “The Way We Work”: Quad-play technologies enable employees to conduct business any time, from any location, using any device. They are transforming the traditional work environment and enabling employees to achieve better work/life balance. This chapter describes a real-life scenario that demonstrates their use, and the chapter describes the potential benefits from the use of quad-play technologies.
• Chapter 3, “Beyond Workplaces: Video in Collaborative Workspaces”: As the workspace evolves, we will find all aspects of communication benefit from quad-play collaboration tools. This chapter discusses how “work” is no longer a location we go to, but the activity we engage in regardless of where we are. Work can exist anywhere collaboration is possible, which is nearly anywhere with access to a network.
• Chapter 4, “Scaling the CxO”: Traditional forms of executive communication cannot keep pace in today’s global business environment. IP video is the key to allowing the CxO to scale in this new world. The expected benefits to the CxO from IP video are scalability, consistent communication, and increased global collaboration.
• Chapter 5, “Cisco Finance and Investor Relations: Transforming Processes, Partnerships, and Public Perception”: This chapter discusses how video is used with the finance and investor relations functions to improve internal and external working relationships, improve training and knowledge transfer, provide real-time access to information and subject matter experts, improve the Cisco public image, and reduce travel cost.
• Chapter 6, “Cisco Marketing: Video Accelerates Communications, Collaboration, and Time to Market”: The marketing organization uses visual networking for both internal and external communications. This chapter demonstrates how IP video is used to improve communications and collaboration, to accelerate global go-to-market of new products and services, and to connect with customers in many new, high-impact ways.
• Chapter 7, “Optimizing a Global Engineering Organization”: The Cisco Development Organization uses video to improve communications, knowledge transfer, and the product-development process. This chapter describes various use cases from engineering executives, technical leaders, and program and project managers.
• Chapter 8, “Maximizing Your Human Resources Through IP Video”: This chapter concentrates on the increased productivity that IP video can add to the employment process: recruiting, ramping up new • hires, knowledge transfer, and change management. It also covers the benefits of IP video in a company’s childcare efforts, and how it can help companies execute better during rough market fluctuations.
• Chapter 9, “Save More, Make More: Increasing Sales Productivity with IP Video”: Enterprises should look to revenue generation and not just cost avoidance when measuring the ROI of IP video. This chapter explores benefits experienced by the sales function to drive both cost savings and top-line revenue growth from making the sales force more efficient, conducting product launches faster, and making subject matter experts available sooner.
• Chapter 10, “Transforming Educational Paradigms with IP Video”: This chapter demonstrates how video is being used in education to generate increased value for students, administrators, and communities. With increased adoption of mobile video, we expect even greater innovation in meeting the need for anytime-anyplace instruction.
• Chapter 11, “Financial Services and Video: Accelerating Revenue, Relationships, and Much More”: Financial services institutions tend to take a more conservative approach toward technology adoption (to ensure security and reliability before deployment). However, even these companies are looking at the potential of new technology to help them do business more effectively. This chapter discusses how video makes a measurable impact on collaboration, training and relationship building, new product rollout, customer service, and regulatory compliance.
• Chapter 12, “The Doctor Will See You Now: Transforming Healthcare with Video”: Video solutions provide hospitals, medical groups, and even governments with improved access to support and expertise, and thus improve the delivery of healthcare. This chapter discusses how healthcare organizations are using video to build and extend medical expertise, improve staff communications, transform patient care, reduce the cost of care, and improve patient experience with new and innovative services.
• Chapter 13, “The Influence of IP Video on Other Industries”: This chapter explores the use of video in the high-tech, real estate and hospitality, and sports and entertainment industries to improve • communications, reduce operating costs, and create competitive advantages. A cross-industry example to give back to the community is also shared.
• Chapter 14, “Opportunities in the Era of Visual Networking”: This chapter examines how organizations may benefit when all things Web 2.0 are embedded into video to unleash the era of visual networking. The opportunities and applications for e-commerce, advertising, business-process improvements, and collaboration are extensive and varied. Besides businesses, other segments such as entertainment, education, and public communications also stand to benefit from visual networking applications.
• Chapter 15, “Collaboration Like Never Before: To Make a Difference”: When combined with other collaboration and conferencing tools, IP video empowers organizations to address the environmental challenges stemming from climate change. This chapter discusses how the use of these technologies can improve remote collaboration and productivity, leading to several benefits that protect the environment.
• Appendix A, “How Cisco Uses Streaming Video for Worldwide Corporate Events and Training.”
• Appendix B, “Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2007–2012.”

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