This growing band of C-Level executives in global corporations and other international organisations are asking themselves whether in telepresence they finally have a communications tool that can reduce the costs, stress and carbon emissions associated with long-distance travel, while simultaneously providing a platform for meaningful productivity gains.
In addition, telepresence differs significantly from legacy forms of visual communication products. Its design goal is to create an 'immersive' meeting environment in which, through the clever use of life-sized images and eye-to-eye contact, the participants can begin to forget they are separated by a barrier of technology, and instead begin to enjoy the benefits usually delivered only by 'live' meetings.
The technological aspect of telepresence is, however, just one component. What significantly differentiates the product from other visual communication technologies is the manner in which the supporting services are tightly integrated with high-definition and high-fidelity video and audio elements to create a high-availability, highly usable solution.
Telepresence is more than just an expensive version of video conferencing. "The higher price is the most obvious buyer barrier to overcome," explains Dodd. "In developing the telepresence market, the challenge for vendors and their service partners is to convince potential buyers of its tremendous potential for incremental benefits."
The success and growth of the telepresence markets will rely on a continued focus and investment by major vendors in broadening buyer awareness, as well as their maintaining an adherence to the principle of a tight, reliable integration of technologies and service components in order to preserve its premium-commanding differentiation.
