AT&T (NYSE: T) and vendor partner Cisco have developed a new collaboration tool that they say lets business customers immediately activate a conference with voice, video and content sharing over any Internet-enabled device, whether it is a smart phone, tablet or traditional desktop computer.
The new service uses Cisco's Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) Cloud, a video collaboration service that couples WebEx Personal Rooms with the cloud-based WebEx Video Bridge into one meeting experience that users can access from any video device.
One of the key trends the new service reflects is the growing mobile nature of the business customer. By integrating video, audio and web conferencing capabilities into one solution, users can participate in virtual meetings and share content whether they are in the office or traveling or working out of their home.
Another issue the service could address is reducing costs. Video conferencing can help companies control travel costs by enabling their employees to conduct meetings in any location.
Human resource professionals represent one group within businesses that are favoring more video conferencing solutions.
According to a global survey conducted by Redshift Research for Polycom, human resource executives who use video at work today say they will prefer video collaboration over email as their top method of business communication within three years. A large portion of respondents (56 percent) said that video would be their most preferred method of business communication, surpassing email (49 percent) and voice conference calls (32 percent).
AT&T Conferencing with Cisco Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMR) Cloud is expected to be available in December.
For more:
- see the release
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