REDEFINING HaaS: HOW TO SIMPLIFY COLLABORATION WITH A BUNDLED SOLUTIONDelivering integrated software and hardware as a service for intelligent meeting rooms has ushered in a new era of all-in-one, maintenance-free video conferencing

Video is a Collaboration Requirement

Video conferencing is an enterprise must-have, but solutions based on outdated technologies and mismatched hardware can frustrate IT and workers.

We all use video calls to keep in touch with friends and family these days. And just as other useful consumer technologies have moved into the enterprise, companies realize that video conferencing is no longer a nice-to-have. For today’s modern enterprise, it’s a must-have technology that helps drive business transformation in the digital age. Video conferencing is now a prerequisite for productive, effective collaboration between customers, colleagues, and others who can’t be in the same room.

As video becomes the default for business conferencing, providers are rethinking how to optimize the delivery of both the solution and the overall experience. For IT, where user licenses, large capital expenditures, and cobbled-together hardware

pieces used to be the norm, new solutions are taking an all-in-one, service-attached, subscription-based approach. For workers, new solutions eliminate the complex hardware connections

and frustrating software, replacing them with effortless video collaboration that lets everyone feel like they’re in the same room.

The result is video conferencing that is easier to procure, setup, use, and maintain, whether it’s in one small huddle room or a thousand corporate meeting rooms. Enterprises can now quickly give workers a modern, digital workplace where every meeting room is equipped for flawless, immersive collaboration that provides a “like you’re there” experience.

VIDEO BRINGS BENEFITS...AND FRUSTRATION 8 min to start a video call (nearly 1/3 of a 30min meeting!)

67% of remote meetings have audio quality issues

ONLY 17% of people are satisfied with their video solution

1 SOURCE: 2018 COLLABORATION SURVEY, HIGHFIVE

Redefining HaaS for a Better End-to-end Experience

5% OF SMALL ROOMS

(<5 participants) have video conferencing

10% OF MEDIUM ROOMS (5–10 participants) have

video conferencing

20% OF LARGE ROOMS

(>10 participants) have video conferencing

SOURCE: 2018 NEMERTES

90% OF MEETING ROOMS

still do NOT have video capabilities

Procuring heavy equipment, devices, and hardware “as-a-service” is becoming more popular, driven by advances in cloud computing and the fast pace of technological innovation.

Using cloud-based software is the preferred choice these days, thanks to the benefits in reliability, flexibility, reduced resource requirements, reduced maintenance, and affordability over yesterday’s on-premise solutions. What’s more, the subscription-based approach enables companies to experience exponentially larger value from a drastically smaller budget.

Delivering “as-a-service” has also been increasing on the hardware side, where computing power, storage, and even machinery and heavy equipment are being subscribed to instead of purchased. Examples abound, such as Microsoft offering their Surface computers to businesses on a monthly service plan that includes support, training, and hardware upgrades every

24 months. Caterpillar offers heavy equipment, Hitachi offers trains, and GE Healthcare offers medical equipment—all on an “as-a-service” model.

The benefits of procuring hardware like a service include eliminating large capital expenditures and replacing them with a low monthly fee, vast reductions in maintenance and support requirements, and the ability to leverage the latest technology without expensive upgrade management projects.

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HaaS improves the experience of procuring, deploying, and using new and better business technologies by bundling both the software and hardware together.

Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS) is the catch-all term for how modern hardware-driven solutions are delivered. Specific to video collaboration, it takes the bits that were previously purchased separately or cobbled together in an ad hoc package, and bundles them into an all-in-one solution. That means the software, hardware, service, support, maintenance, and more are delivered together, for one price, in a fully-maintained and always-on solution. The benefits are many, since buyers have more transparency on what they get and how much it costs, IT spends less effort on deployment, maintenance, and support, and users get a simple solution that works seamlessly and effortlessly.

HaaS improves the video collaboration experience across the enterprise spectrum—from evaluation and procurement through deployment, usage, and support—by

bundling the software, hardware, and related services together to provide a holistic solution. This approach gives companies a streamlined buying experience, a simple and effective user experience, and a lightweight IT maintenance and support experience.

On the vendor side, HaaS encourages developers to focus on what customers actually want, need, and use. Therefore, vendors must work to solve key customer challenges instead of adding increasingly expensive bells and whistles that customers never use.

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HaaS Solves IT’s Biggest Administration Challenges

What enterprise IT leaders expect of new technologies:

It must have an easy-to-understand,

subscription-based pricing model.

It must be easier to deploy and support.

It must be easy to use, intuitive, and effective.

It must work with previously deployed technology.

IT should not be forced to deploy and maintain more hardware, nor take on the troubleshooting, training, and support of complex applications, especially in today’s cloud-based world.

Every business is working to consistently improve services for workers while lowering the cost of providing those services. Today’s workers—especially knowledge workers—rely more and more on technology to do their jobs. The result is that IT is tasked with deploying, supporting, and ensuring the usage and operation of more technology-based solutions.

With so many solutions to manage, IT yearns for simplified deployment. They want tools that are easier to use and consistent with the technology workers experience at home,

and which work with other enterprise devices and solutions. A new crop of video conferencing providers have taken notice, using a HaaS approach to enhance enterprise collaboration while easing the burden on IT.

While most of these hurdles are overcome through hardware and software bundling, the underlying technology can also contribute to solving the following four common IT challenges.

WATCH RICHARD BORENSTEIN, CRO of Highfive, explains Highfive’s HaaS advantage

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HaaS lets you replace huge capital expenditures with a budget-friendly monthly fee. TCO goes way down, ROI goes way up! Let us show you how

Highfive can fit within any budget.

#1: Pricing Must be Budget-friendly and Easy to UnderstandHaaS brings many benefits, including a lighter impact on budgets. IT teams have embraced the subscription model of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), so it’s a natural transition to move to a similar model for hardware. It also makes cost comparisons easier, eliminating the need for large capital expenditures to purchase the expensive hardware and installation all at once.

Owning and deploying complex, depreciable hardware is archaic and makes no sense in today’s modern, cloud-based world, and the same applies to hardware that quickly

becomes obsolete. What’s more, traditional video conferencing systems can cost many thousands of dollars per room—and that’s just for hardware and installation. Add in the per-user license fees, maintenance,

and support, and it’s no wonder those vendors base their cost comparisons against multi-person, week-long, cross-country business trips.

Conversely, HaaS video collaboration has much lower, per-room subscription pricing closer to the cost of a single team lunch. It includes everything from hardware and software to user licenses and maintenance. IT knows exactly what they’re getting, how much it costs, and that any upgrades will be made overnight via the cloud without disrupting workers.

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A bundled approach, where hardware, software, and services are all included, makes for easier price and feature comparisons across vendors.

>LEARN MORE

#1: Pricing Must be Budget-friendly and Easy to Understand, Continued

When hardware, software, and services are bundled together, there’s no need for multiple payments to multiple vendors covering different pieces of the solution. The HaaS approach gives you a single, integrated platform from a single vendor, along with a single service level agreement and a single source for assistance, training, and customer service. With HaaS, everything is included precisely to avoid additional IT workload.

Traditional vendors sometimes will try to “nickel and dime” customers into paying ever-increasing fees on additional hardware and features. This can cover call

recording, landline dial-in and dial-out capabilities, and fees for every additional user. The HaaS model, with per-room pricing, eliminates all of that, replacing it with a simple, all-inclusive price for everything required.

When optional packages are available, HaaS lets vendors directly highlight the differences instead of hiding them behind murky up-sells and add-ons. For video conferencing, typical HaaS pricing plan differences may be based on meeting room size, premium audio and video hardware, or advanced software features.

“The time savings for me and my team is hundreds of man hours.” –SHAWN WINTERS,IT Director at Mimeo

WATCH

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Businesses want immersive, intelligent in-room video conferencing solutions - all in a single platform from just one vendor.

Bundled HaaS solutions that utilize modern technologies eliminate nearly all of the IT burden.

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#2: Technology Must be Easier to Deploy

The speed of technological innovation has dramatically increased over the past several years. From connected computers on your wrist to Artificial Intelligence (AI) that responds to your spoken requests, the rapid pace of advancement has also shifted the role of IT. Beyond just incorporating more and more advanced technologies into the business, IT is now seen as a strategic asset that companies can leverage for competitive advantage.

Even as IT becomes more strategic, user support, maintenance, training, and troubleshooting still require IT’s bandwidth. IT administrators are working to eliminate as much of those one-on-one requirements as possible by, for example, empowering workers to use their own devices (i.e., BYOD) and even shifting the administration burden to the workers. Other

efficiencies come from working with developers to make hardware and software easier to setup, maintain, and use.

HaaS makes rollouts easier by bundling hardware and software in one simple solution, which benefits both IT and workers, especially for intelligent meeting rooms. Think of the cobbled-together kit of monitors, laptops, tablets, remote controls, software, apps, and more required just to get an in-room meeting started. Adding external participants via video and dial-up brings additional layers of complexity and interoperability issues.

USB +SERIAL +FIREWIRE

USB +SERIAL +FIREWIRE

MEETINGS REIMAGINED™ WITH HIGHFIVE

An easy-to-use solution where setup takes minutes, meetings are effortless, and Highfive takes care of everything else.

TRADITIONAL VIDEO CONFERENCING SETUP

Too much complexity for workers, too much hardware to manage, too burdensome for IT to support and maintain.

A fully-optimized, cloud-native, all-in-one HaaS solution radically simplifies the purchasing model, since everything needed is priced per room.

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For video conferencing specifically, modern technologies like Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC), hyperscale cloud computing and storage, and a cloud-native operating system can be combined to deliver a better experience at a lower cost. Even more, for modern solutions developed from scratch on these technologies, it can eliminate nearly all of the IT burden. Non-technical workers can perform the installations in minutes by just plugging in a few cables, while the vendor manages updates, maintenance, and security via the cloud. And, vendors can support nearly limitless scale, meaning organizations can equip hundreds of meeting rooms and give video collaboration to thousands of workers in an instant.

WebRTC further leverages the ubiquity of web browsers to eliminate end user downloads, the friction of expensive and time-consuming manual software installations and the accompanying troubleshooting and ongoing support requirements on IT. Without being built to natively leverage WebRTC and the benefits of hyperscale cloud, video conferencing

cannot fully realize the advantages of HaaS.

A fully-optimized, cloud-native, all-in-one HaaS solution radically simplifies the purchasing model, since everything needed is priced per room.

The hardware and software are designed to work together, so they just do. Updates and patches can be deployed by the vendor automatically, removing additional administrative burdens from IT (and associated downtime). Workers can start meetings on time, without compatibility issues or version mismatches that derail otherwise productive teams.

WebRTC lets video collaboration happen via web browsers, eliminating downloads, expensive software installations, and related support.

Productivity and collaboration tools should enhance both, not detract with frustrations, hiccups, and misunderstandings.

#3: Solutions Must be Easy to Use, Intuitive and Effective

82 % of workers experience problems with audio during meetings

51% are disruptedby background noise

44% have troubleunderstanding what’s being said

29% hear speakerstalking over one another

20% have trouble

adapting to their tool’s limitations

HIGHFIVE ELIMINATES COMMON FRUSTRATIONS

We’ve all grown accustomed to the simplicity of consumer technology from companies like Apple, Amazon, and Google. It’s nothing for even the most tech-phobic person to video chat with friends, edit photos into near masterpieces, and easily accomplish tasks that required specialized expertise just a few years ago.

On the enterprise side, things are very different. Workers are left to struggle with complex, antiquated technologies that were developed years or even decades ago. With collaboration software, solutions are tied to legacy technologies, like 800-numbers, yet continue adding more features that just increase the complexity. Those solutions are not only difficult to use, they fail to offer a great audio or video experience. Combined, it keeps workers from using video collaboration at all, and instead reverting back to emails and phone calls. The result is hampered productivity, missed messages, and slow progress.

Enterprise collaboration is, however, seeing some promising innovation. The explosive popularity of cloud-based apps like Slack, Google’s G Suite, Office 365, and others show that simplicity and a focus on the user experience are important to enterprises and their workers. And with a reliance on SaaS subscription models, they come with a low price and minimal deployment effort.

Intelligent, in-room video conferencing solutions are no different. The unique HaaS approach of integrated hardware and software is changing

the collaboration paradigm from one of mismatched frustration to an all-in-one, simple collaboration solution that workers actually use. Bundling provides an optimized service experience and a vastly improved, reliable, and consistent user experience—for both IT and workers.

9 SOURCE: 2017 WAINHOUSE RESEARCH, DOLBY LABORATORIES

For many years, interoperability had been a major focus of the video conferencing industry. Since software was sourced independently from hardware, the required protocols, encoding, and other technologies had to enable software from vendor A to work with vendor B’s monitor, vendor C’s camera, and across different laptop and smartphone operating systems.

WebRTC democratizes collaboration by making real-time video available via any web browser, thus solving the interoperability challenge. Thanks to the enclosed, optimized, and pre-existing browser ecosystem, HaaS video conferencing allows IT to consolidate

their technology stack. This eliminates both interoperability and complexity issues for IT, while reducing worker frustration and fatigue from having to use yet another complex enterprise application.

Older video collaboration technologies (such as SIP-compatibility or H.323) still work, but come with increased IT complexity, performance downgrades and, ultimately, a shoddy end-user experience—without any of the flexibility, usability, and affordability benefits of WebRTC.

What’s more, it’s important for any new technology to work seamlessly with other solutions already in use. Video conferencing that integrates with single sign-on, calendar, and messaging applications makes it easier for teams to collaborate. And, with the popularity of cloud-based productivity tools, like G Suite, Slack, and Office 365, plus single sign-on apps, integration to those solutions must be built in.

#4: New Solutions Must Work With Previously Deployed Technologies

WebRTC leverages the ubiquitous web browser ecosystem so HaaS video conferencing can pull more value from existing IT investments.

From Microsoft and G Suite to Slack and Okta, Highfive plays well with the messaging,

communications, and SSO platforms that modern businesses rely on.

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Better Enterprise Collaboration at Scale Starts with HaaS...and Highfive

Highfive has redefined HaaS to improve the video collaboration experience for IT and workers.

Cloud-based technologies have become the new norm because they’re easy to deploy and less expensive than on-premise software. It has allowed businesses to quickly add new technologies, pay for only what they need, and leave the management to others. It all makes good economic sense and eliminates capital expenditures.

Now those same SaaS benefits have come to video conferencing. Here at Highfive, we know meetings require great audio, video, and monitor hardware, plus the right software to bring

it all together. The old approach was to purchase the expensive hardware and pay for installation all at once. That meant high up-front costs and a value that begins to decline the next day.

Highfive has redefined HaaS, creating an entirely new model for video collaboration that differentiates Highfive from every other intelligent meeting room solution. We’ve combined the hardware and software into one, sleek bundle, making ours the only integrated, end-to-end HaaS meeting room collaboration solution that requires no up-front investments and no hardware to purchase. If there’s ever a problem with the equipment, we’ll replace it. If there’s an upgrade to software or hardware, you’ll get it, most likely while you’re sleeping so it won’t disrupt your business.

Highfive is driven to improve the experience for both IT and workers. Our HaaS approach delivers easy maintenance, monitoring, and management of your system. It’s also simple enough, anyone can unpack a Highfive kit, plug in three cables, download an app, and be up and running with the industry’s best in-room video conferencing system in under 15 minutes.

That’s meetings reimagined.

To learn more, visit Highfive.com

CAPTERRASPICEWORKS G2 CROWD

CIOREVIEWMOST PROMISINGCOLLABORATION

SOLUTIONPROVIDERS

2018

FAST COMPANYWORLD’S MOST

INNOVATIVE COMPANIES

2018

“INSIGHTSSUCCESS

MAGAZINEBEST PERFORMING

SAAS SERVICEPROVIDERS

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UC AWARDSWINNER, BEST

COLLABORATIONSOLUTION

2018

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