HP’s Visual Collaboration businesses will have a much better home at Polycom. Polycom folks understand how people talk at work, their engineers build quality product, and their brand defined office conferencing long before Cisco or Skype. The deal is expected to close in the next few months, followed by quarters of product line consolidation, rebranding, some light reorganization, and a renewed marketing push to get the last of this year’s enterprise IT budget from existing and new customers.
Everyone in this space is competing with Skype at the high-convenience, low-cost, network-effects end and Cisco at the high-touch, high-cost, tiny-private-network end. The extra talent, customers, and technology could buy them time to respond to video conferencing’s commoditization.
A new entry level LogitechLifeSize video conferencing system now comes with two points of Skype integration. First, there’s a SkypeKit-based Skype client inside the LifeSize Passport. So you can log in with your Skype account and call or answer people in the Skype network or SkypeOut to phone numbers. Second, your Skype contacts now show up in the Logitech Passport’s directory. Passports will sell for under $2500. Sadly, there are no demos or screenshots. Here are LifeSize’s celebratory news release, the Skype partner page, blog post and Skype’s blog post. I’ll share more info if I get it.
Three observations.
First, SkypeKit must be maturing for this to come out; LifeSize is small enough that they can’t afford product risks with iffy components.
Next, someone at Skype did a yeoman’s job of reviving what must have been a strained relationship after being unable to deliver needed software since 2009. Job well done, team.
Last, having Skype inside your video conferencing system could well become a must-have. The ultimate market reach for 720p interop with a partner that won’t muscle into your market (cough-cisco-cough).
“Respondents needed an average of 4-3/4 hours per week to arrange nine meetings with seven parties involved. Almost a quarter of workers needed seven or more hours per week to coordinate their appointments. Before a single participant was sitting in a conference room, initiators had spent over half an hour arranging the meeting.” LMRMC report of a September survey of white collar workers in the US, Germany and France.
More than one in ten hours is spent scheduling.
1 in 4 workers spend about a whole day out of their week scheduling. 20% of the week!
Do you know anyone who is thrilled by juggling calendars? I don’t.
So what can Skype do before anyone even calls or chats?
Let’s imagine Skype offered a “Future Conversations” tab and a “+” button on that tab.
Skype Journal mockup of left tab in Skype for Windows 6.x with "Future" tab and "Conversation Requests" section.
You will have seven paths through the Add a Future Conversationwizard.
A simple event reminder. Skype would remind you, with all your open clients, of your next meeting. You might type this in or pick it from your Outlook, Exchange or web based calendar.
An invitation service. Think Evite. Invite people you know to a conversation at a time you specify. The folks need not be in your Skype contact list; perhaps you look them up in your Gmail or Facebook contacts. Send invitations, get RSVPs.
A scheduling service. It helps you negotiate the best times and places to talk. This might be through guided conversation (“I’m free Wednesday afternoon. How about you?”) or automation (“According to your calendars, the next three available times are…”).
An expectations setter. The host and attendees can type their meeting goals, agenda items, and deliverables in advance. One of those things that makes for better meetings.
A cross-poster. One event, shown everywhere I need it. Private calendaring software like Microsoft Outlook on the desktop or Microsoft Exchange on the intranet. Hosted calendars like Google Calendar and Yahoo! Calendar. Public listings like Plancast, Upcoming, Meetup and Facebook. Mobile calendars like those that come with RIM, iPhone and Android and many Symbian phones.
A parachute. Before the meeting, offer the attendees a chance to opt out and send their regrets. Better to have people who really need to be in a meeting than those who just lurk or waste time.
A hard start. A minute before the scheduled time, the Skype client of the call’s anchor automatically calls everyone so you start talking on time.
All of this is easy for engineers to build. Would people use it?
Can Skype switch people from their current scheduling tools (desktop calendars, email, phone, and online calendars) to a new one in the Skype client or on Skype.com?
Few people do their scheduling using online tools dedicated to the task.
Better scheduling cuts friction from collaboration. A Skype tool would have to be easier, more convenient and lead more naturally into appointments than existing alternatives.
Can Skype save millions of people a whole month of work every year by adding scheduling features?
I hope so.
Skype’s founding purpose is to help people talk. Getting them to talk at the same time is a great step.
Skypeland has a kingdom in the heart of realtime communication. Skypeland is surrounded by larger countries, tribes, and cities.
Let’s start to the North, where we think the first Skypelanders started: in the Messenger Isles.
The islands are populated by tribes of instant messengers. Nearly all of them support voice over IM but some go further. If you look to the southeast you’ll find the Port of Unified Communications where they bring ornate enhancements to to simple messaging and calls.
Join the Skype 6.X Text Chat Room