As a videoconferencing application accessed via the cloud, Fuze is gaining a fair amount of momentum. It delivers all the benefits of telepresence without the infrastructure costs and headaches because it is a cloud service.
Today Fuze extended the reach of its namesake service beyond individual devices to include huddle spaces and meeting rooms using commodity hardware or existing systems rather than having to acquire additional expensive hardware.
Fuze supports sharing of dynamic content such as images, animated presentations and videos in real time. Multiple end users can also annotate documents and upload content from any device or via Dropbox or Box file-sharing services.
Eran Shtiegman, vice president of product management for Fuze, says that as cloud service, Fuze can easily deliver videoconferencing capabilities over the Web instead of via an internal corporate network. Shtiegman notes that most internal networks are limited to usage by internal employees, so setting up a telepresence event that spans multiple companies or to include outside individuals becomes a major IT event. Fuze, says Shtiegman, is designed to bring the benefits of videoconferencing to both internal employees and anyone they need to collaborate with.
The rising popularity of videoconferencing among consumers means it’s only a matter of time before videoconferencing redefines how organizations work. As telecommunications networks become more robust and the cost of network bandwidth continues to drop, it’s clear that videoconferencing is going mainstream both inside and outside of the enterprise.
Rather than letting videoconferencing become the latest shadow IT service to be adopted without help from the internal IT, the IT department should become more proactive in terms of shaping how video as medium will redefine how workflow occurs across the enterprise.