Dan Honour, responsible for UK sales at Videxio, introduces the company and its services – simple, productive video calls and meetings from anywhere.

Please describe Videxio. What does the company do and how does this help its customers? What do you do there?

Videxio is a cloud video conferencing provider. The goal is to make business quality video communication available to all – independent of location, budget or technical knowledge.

This means making it easy to get started, making it simple to use across devices and platforms, and making it affordable, all the while ensuring the quality and security of the video connection.

Explain what is unique about Videxio?

Videxio uses datacentres across the globe which are interconnected by an MPLS network operated specifically for our customers. These datacentres host the infrastructure products required to achieve the high level of interoperability and the exceptional video and audio quality that we provide.

We are vendor agnostic and as such work with all major vendors in the UC space; Cisco, Polycom, Microsoft and Google as a few examples. We are one of the only service providers that currently offer integration with Google Hangouts Meet. This means that G Suite customers will be able to use our service in order to have non-Google Hangouts users join a Google Hangout Meeting

What do you consider to be the most compelling reasons for businesses to use video and why is cloud/ hosted a compelling option?

One of the main benefits of video conferencing is increased efficiency/productivity. With the ability to attend multiple meetings in one day in multiple locations without ever having to leave your office, you maximise your productivity.

On top of this, video increases the impact of discussions and aids with expedited decision making whilst reducing travel costs. Having been in this industry for 20 years, video is a tool I simply could not live without today.

Consuming video as a cloud solution is the easiest way – there are no fixed term commitments, it’s affordable and ultimately scalable. So, there is no risk!

What are the key developments that you see in video conferencing technology that should interest end-users? What is driving those changes?

Users wish to use the communication tool that they prefer. This means a video service must provide interoperability with the widest range of offerings in the market, such as Skype for Business, Google Hangouts Meet, Standard video (SIP/H323), mobile apps, web browsers as well as standard telephony

As companies like Microsoft and Cisco try to strengthen their offering in UC, what can companies like Videxio offer?

One of the main things we can offer is the ability for these platforms (and others) to talk to each other. When Skype for Business has been deployed at large scale, it’s often extremely challenging to connect your users to videoconferencing systems on other networks. Videxio joins the two worlds together. The Videxio calling platform and Microsoft-certified Pexip Infinity Fusion Gateway connects users and devices on the Videxio service directly to the Skype for Business calling environment.

In addition, we help organizations who want to decommission their aging infrastructure from the likes of Cisco and protect their endpoint investments. For those deploying new endpoints, the installation and implementation cycle goes from months to days, and no longer requires a large capital outlay for infrastructure.

Do you see evidence of a strengthening Google presence in the UC Market?

We certainly do. They have improved their Google Hangouts offering to make it more enterprise ready, including Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat.

With this, they will go head to head with Microsoft Teams, Slack and Skype.  They currently have approx. 5 million G Suite customers and have grown more than 100% in the past 2 years

Videxio’s Google Hangouts Gateway will also help Google expand into the UC market as we offer the ability for non-hangout users to join a Hangouts Meet and thus enable G Suite customers to talk over video to those outside the Hangouts Meet environment

What would you like to see businesses do more of (besides buying more Videxio)?

I would like them to realise how important it is to invest in a service that provides high quality video, regardless of location. When the video quality is good, users are more likely to use the service, providing a better return on investment. Investing in a video service is really a no brainer – it’s affordable, it makes communication easier and more effective, it provides employees with a better quality of life – and last but not least, it’s good for the environment. What’s not to like?