Dimension Data Launches Next Generation Of Its Managed Services For Videoconferencing

NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Dimension Data, the $5.8 billion global ICT solutions and services provider, today announced an enhanced version of its Managed Service for Visual Communications (MSVC) offering. MSVC, the world's first truly global service of its kind, takes the headache out of video management by focusing on maximizing end-user adoption and, ultimately, return on investment.

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Ian Heard, Dimension Data's group general manager, MSVC, says, "Dimension Data is the world's largest video integrator by revenue and endpoints. Through our Managed Services for Visual Communications, we manage 20,000 calls per month for 430 clients across 5,600 Cisco and Polycom endpoints. We are already a big contender in this space, with the most comprehensive set of on-premise, managed, in the private cloud or as-a-service video services in the world."

One company that moved quickly to exploit videoconferencing when it first became generally available is British American Tobacco. Working in partnership with Cisco, Dimension Data replaced the organization's videoconferencing infrastructure at twenty five British American Tobacco sites across five continents in only six months, reducing cost, risk and business disruption.

British American Tobacco also wanted to extend its videoconferencing options beyond telepresence rooms in order to give individual employees access to videoconferencing from their desks or homes.  Today, British American Tobacco now has a future-proofed means to fully exploit its collaborative work culture as a differentiator in the market. With the choice of a full range of videoconferencing technologies, from fully immersive telepresence rooms to executive desktop and remote worker mobile solutions, British American Tobacco employees can easily communicate face-to-face no matter where they're located.

Andrew Cunningham, British American Tobacco's Head of End User Computing said, "We had originally intended our WAN provider to manage the international shipping of the Cisco equipment. However, it very quickly became clear that Dimension Data had an exceptional ability to operate effectively across all sorts of regulatory environments. Also, they are extraordinarily flexible and responsive to client needs and able to put resources on the ground in places where other companies can't."

If managed effectively videoconferencing has many benefits, not only can employees become more productive and organizations more agile, videoconferencing has the potential to transform the way companies collaborate externally with colleagues, clients and partners. The critical element to the success of an organization's videoconferencing return on investment (ROI) lies in the area of user adoption. If employees don't use videoconferencing, the knock-on effect is that their colleagues and clients won't either. Consequently, the business won't derive the benefits that the technology was originally purchased to deliver.

Scalability is also a big challenge for corporations since they struggle to grow their support infrastructure in order to cope with the increasing number of end points that mobility and UC integration is bringing. This is because IT departments can't keep up with supporting the growing number of users in those critical first two "golden" minutes after something goes wrong on a video call – a time when users are most likely to abandon the service and opt for a voice-only alternative.

When Dimension Data launched the first version of MSVC in 2011, the market was focused purely on the bridging and connectivity aspects of making a videoconference call. No provider was addressing the underlying issue of delivering mission critical reliability and ease of use with services such as Concierge and Executive Support services. These services allow a user to simply book a meeting and the videoconferencing call is established without them having to pick up a remote control.

Dimension Data's goal is to enable collaboration and continue to deliver videoconferencing on an open, standards-based platform without confining clients to proprietary, expensive networks, and network services that don't integrate with their broader unified communications estate. With the release of this new enhanced version of MSVC, Dimension Data has taken videoconferencing to a new level with the development of new management and scheduling tools. Now, when users book a call, the only other aspect they need to worry about is what to say in the meeting.

About Dimension Data
Founded in 1983, Dimension Data plc is an ICT services and solutions provider that uses its technology expertise, global service delivery capability, and entrepreneurial spirit to accelerate the business ambitions of its clients. Dimension Data is a member of the NTT Group. Visit us at http://www.dimensiondata.com/en-US and www.facebook.com/DimensionDataAmericas or follow us on Twitter: @DimensionDataAM.

SOURCE Dimension Data