Hybrid Workforce Ripe Market Opportunity for Video-First Collaboration
With video-first collaboration, there are no geographical limits for sales and marketing.
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Video-first collaboration provides an opportunity to be creative around branding and marketing, said Wave Welcome’s Vennard Wright.
“I think there’s an opportunity for organizations that consider themselves to be a little more on the cutting edge or innovative to really make sure that that messaging is getting across and they’re leveraging the technology to be able to communicate effectively. And maybe find some new opportunities to really carve into their customer base a little bit more,” he said. “It’s also a great way for you to be able to stay engaged with people who are in different locations.”
Cost savings is a “huge” factor with video-first collaboration, said Nerds that Care’s James Rocker. That includes time savings.
“The individuals that were commuting back and forth from Long Island to Manhattan, they got three hours of their life back, not to say that they weren’t working on the train or in the car or traveling,” he said.
In addition, a video-first perspective provides the ability to start leveraging other pieces of technology, said Kairos Data Communications’ Lucas Salvage.
“So think about when you go to an office and you have a meeting with a customer, and you don’t bring something that you should have brought,” he said. “Now I have it at my fingertips. If that customer doesn’t have a whiteboard in their office, I can now whiteboard on a screen right in front of me and show the customer exactly the type of technology solution that’s being designed for them. So if you can wrap your head around the ability to inject more technology into the conversation and leverage the technology that you have at your fingertips, you can almost make a case to say that being behind the computer screen and presenting to your customer gives you somewhat of a competitive advantage by being able to go back, pull out pricing documents and take them to a website that you know they’ll like.”
In terms of marketing messages, one of the big things with video first is “we’re no longer limited by geography,” Wright said.
“So before, I think a lot of us tended to deal directly where we reside,” he said. “But I can tell you during the pandemic, I’m located in Maryland and I have a client who’s in Portland, Oregon. That wouldn’t have been possible without video technology. So that’s a big one, just being able to really work in different places and to make sure that we do have messaging that’s specific to industries, but not just in our region, but potentially across the country. So that’s really one of the big benefits that we can focus on.”
Nerds That Care has created an intranet for displaying company news or trends, and upcoming events, Rocker said. It also has digital signage with digital marketing on display.
“That helps you drive that culture back to where it was pre-2020, pre-pandemic,” he said. “We love these types of technology that are in your face that can drive some of that culture. And guess what? It drives opportunity for MSPs because those are solutions that MSPs should be offering to their clients.”
To drive adoption of video-first collaboration technologies among existing customers, Kairos Data Communications pushed its organization to learn more of the technology so it could evangelize that to its customer base, Salvage said.
“As you’re talking to existing customers and you hope that the existing customer base is listening to you, if you are the one bringing that technology to your existing customer base and they say, “Wow, that’s really awesome, and I feel like I am interacting with you in the same methodology that I would be if I was sitting across the table from you,” that provides a lot of confidence in a customer, especially if you already have that customer to make that move or that shift to get something maybe off premises into the cloud and provide a different kind of experience going forward,” he said.
Leveraging existing customers with a new solution that didn’t exist a few years ago is now mainstream and part of Nerds that Care’s offering, Rocker said.
“And don’t forget, they don’t know what they don’t know,” he said. “And sometimes you have to create a product that’s called consulting … that teaches them maybe how to use Teams, teaches them how to use certain aspects in order to enhance their collaboration inside or outside their organization.”
Cost and complexity are among common objections customers may have to using video-first collaboration technology, Rocker said.
“I really want our customers to spend the money on the good collaboration tools, he said. “The video camera inside your laptop or notebook is going to be made differently here in the future. It already has been compared to what they were like three years ago. So, you know, the quality of the product is going to cost you some money. I think that having the right tools and spending the right money or again spending enough money on the quality products is really important for you to consider.”
In terms of complexity, it’s important to ensure there is consistency across the board, Wright said.
“Make sure that your users are fully trained on whatever solution is in place and making sure that you account for all levels of technological savvy within the organization so that it’s a solution that could be used across the board,” he said.
It’s important to give customers that extra level of comfort by saying “your trusted advisor also uses this technology, understands it and will help you through this journey that you’re taking to get from where you were to where you are today,” Salvage said.
Because so many video-first collaboration technologies are cloud based, Salvage said he’s heard security concerns “over and over, and over again.”
“So we needed to figure out how to get the customers comfortable with the fact that these services are secure and you can use them at nauseum,” he said.
In terms of security, it’s important to make sure you’re accounting for any potential vulnerabilities, Wright said.
“So making sure that you train your end users on potential things that might happen as a result of you working from home, making sure that you are accounting for all of that,” he said. “So as you put the solutions in place, also make sure that you’re guiding them to make sure that you’re not creating vulnerabilities unknowingly. So that’s something that really needs to be accounted for as we roll these solutions out.”
“So we needed to deliver security technologies across the landscape for everyone,” Rocker said. “Connectivity, technical support and then security layered on top of that became challenging. And I always say this, if you want more security, convenience is going to go away. It’s going to make your job a little bit more difficult once you layer security. And as we all know here today, security is a must no matter what we’re talking about.”
Salvage said it’s important to recognize that this is not a technology conversation, but a business conversation.
“What does this do for your business?” he said. “How can I create a good business outcome for you if you think the platform costs too much. Maybe you’re going to save eight times that much because you’re not traveling anymore. So really, I’ve looked at this as a way to enable businesses and try to have that conversation more than just talking about wow, look at the technology. So I think it’s been a great benefit for the customer base to understand that as advisors and MSPs, we have to think about their business, not just their technology.”
Salvage said it’s important to recognize that this is not a technology conversation, but a business conversation.
“What does this do for your business?” he said. “How can I create a good business outcome for you if you think the platform costs too much. Maybe you’re going to save eight times that much because you’re not traveling anymore. So really, I’ve looked at this as a way to enable businesses and try to have that conversation more than just talking about wow, look at the technology. So I think it’s been a great benefit for the customer base to understand that as advisors and MSPs, we have to think about their business, not just their technology.”
Today’s post-pandemic hybrid workforce provides opportunities for MSPs and other service providers to increase their video-first collaboration business. It also provides challenges like addressing complexity and security.
In a recent Channel Futures webinar, “Today’s Hybrid Workforce: What It Takes to Execute,” a panel of experts addressed how to strategically market, sell and support a video-first collaboration experience. Logitech sponsored the event.
Panelists included:
Lucas Salvage, Kairos Data Communications‘ chief revenue officer.
Vennard Wright, Wave Welcome‘s president and CEO.
James Rocker, Nerds That Care‘s CEO.
Arthur Germain
Arthur Germain, story strategist with Brandtelling and Channel Futures columnist, moderated the panel.
Hybrid Workforce Challenges During the Pandemic
MSPs and other service providers faced a myriad of challenges during the pandemic when they had to quickly help their customers switch to remote-work collaboration.
Kairos Communications’ Lucas Salvage