AVI-SPL has been a Cisco solutions provider for more than a decade, the company says. It thus continues to deepen and expand the expertise in its Cisco practice to guide companies everywhere. With this, it aims to reimagine the workplace for better employee, partner and customer engagement as new hybrid work models take hold. In Cisco fiscal year (FY) 2023, AVI-SPL ranked as the #3 video devices partner in the U.S. and globally.

“Cisco’s recognition of AVI-SPL as a leading workspaces partner speaks volumes to our ability to confidently guide customers to reimagine and realize the modern work experience,” says Tom Nyhus, AVI-SPL vice president of the Cisco practice. “By embracing Cisco Webex’s innovative, leading-edge roadmap and programs, together we’ve helped global companies stay securely connected and productive from anywhere.”

The partnership between Cisco and AVI-SPL grew significantly in 2023 with new, joint go-to-market efforts. Per a statement, AVI-SPL led the way with the new Cisco Webex Hardware as a Service (HaaS) program. It thus became one of the first partners to conduct a customer pilot of the program. AVI-SPL also beta-tested new video devices and provided feedback through Cisco’s Video Champions Advisory Council around market trends and customer needs.

The Cisco 2023 Webex Partner Award honors partners who have developed and delivered exceptional Cisco-based solutions and services during the past year.

Cisco announced the Annual Partner Awards during the WebexOne 2023 conference on October 25, 2023. Additional details on the 2023 awards are available on the Cisco Webex blog.

Another version of this article originally appeared on our sister-site Commercial Integrator on November 1, 2023. It has since been updated for My TechDecisions’ audience.

The post AVI-SPL Receives Cisco 2023 Reimagine Workspaces Partner of the Year – Americas Award appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Zoom has risen to market dominance during the COVID-19 crisis because it’s relatively easy to use and quick to deploy thanks to a simple user interface, features and flexibility that that other providers are just now catching up with.

As remote workers begin to reenter the physical office, that demand for videoconferencing won’t go away since many of those workers will remain working from their home offices. However, Zoom Rooms deployments can be prohibitively expensive and complicated.

Zoom is aiming to address that need with its Hardware-as-a-Service offering, says Jeff Smith, head of Zoom Rooms for the San Jose-based company, in an interview with My TechDecisions.

“Our goal is to really make Zoom Rooms and Zoom Phone more accessible than it has ever been,” Smith said. “We try to minimize the friction around hardware procurement.”

The program gives customers the ability to deploy Zoom Rooms hardware through partnerships with manufacturers like Neat, Poly, DTEN and others at a monthly price. Managed support through Zoom with the ability to add professional and manages services for installation and management are also available.

Geared towards SMBs

With videoconferencing mission critical, it’s important for businesses to scale up their videoconferencing capabilities efficiently, Smith says.

“Deploying capital is one of those barriers that customers are facing in deploying hardware,” Smith says. “A subscription service allows them to go faster.”

The program is geared toward the small-to-medium-sized businesses that don’t quite need the expertise of an AV integrator and can largely do the installs in house. Those customers also don’t have the capital that larger enterprises deploy when working with AV integrators to build their more complex conference rooms.

“From a coverage perspective, when I look at our portfolio for hardware as a service, it’s focused on those standard deployments, so your small medium spaces — the cookie cutter style where I can deploy a number that are very similar,” Smith said.

Read Next: Zoom Hardware-as-a-Service Makes Zoom Rooms More Affordable

“The pro AV space is really tailored toward those bespoke deployments that are in rooms where there’s no appliance for it – there’s no tailor-made hardware for that particular space.”

According to Smith, Zoom has actually seen interest across a broad spectrum of customers, although the bulk are made up of smaller companies.

I think we’ve seen interest across the, across the spectrum of customers of both from that medium or commercial enterprise all you know, all the way up to large enterprise.

“it’s for different reasons,” Smith says. “It’s, ‘I want a subscription on everything.’ ‘I don’t want to budget for it.’ ‘It’s easier for this department to budget for an operational expense versus a capital expense.’ It’s for a variety of reasons.”

An end-to-end experience

According to Smith, Zoom, Neat, Poly and DTEN introduced Zoom Rooms appliances at the end of 2019 to create an integrated experience that formed the foundation of the hardware-as-a-service offering.

“So the next thing was offering that as a subscription for direct for purchase from Zoom,” Smith said. “Now we’re taking all those products that we developed together and making them available as a service.”

Rather than just a financing program, Zoom wants to create an end-to-end experience and become kind of a managed service provider for videoconferencing users.

According to Smith, the program will include all of the touch points for the customer in once place. That services continues all the way from procurement of hardware and licenses to support management.

The program is designed to remove the pain points along the lifecycle of procuring, installing and using conference room equipment, Smith says.

“If they have any trouble with the hardware and it needs replacement, the interact with Zoom,” Smith says. “They don’t have to go back to their hardware manufacturer or a third party to initiate the project.”

Zoom isn’t the only conferencing app to partner with a manufacturer on a bundled package. Cisco’s Webex, GoToMeeting, BlueJeans and others offer similar packages.

Since customers typically interact with Zoom and other platforms via that hardware, these programs are a natural evolution.

“Our perspective is that that end customer experience is largely dependent on the hardware interface that they have to the service,” Smith says. “The partnering becomes more natural.”

The post Zoom’s HaaS Offering is a Simple Way for SMBs to Deploy Zoom Rooms appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Following an introduction in the United States in 2018, this offering is now available to customers in Canada and a number of European countries.

The Avaya DaaS offering is now available for Avaya IX IP Phones, the Avaya Vantage portfolio, select Avaya IX Conference Phones – including the recently launched Avaya IX Conference Phone B199, and the Avaya IX Collaboration Unit.

With the platform-agnostic capabilities of the Avaya IX Device portfolio, these devices can be deployed on both Avaya and Non-Avaya UC platforms.

Customers can contract for terms of 1, 3, or 5 years – longer terms provide lower monthly costs. During the term, customers can upgrade to higher priced devices without any penalty and cancellation options are also available.

“We are excited to announce the availability of our Device as a Service offer to our customers in Canada and Europe,” said Hardy Myers, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Avaya.

Read Next: Cell Signal Boosting: The Two Options Your Building Has for Better Cell Service

“This announcement, along with the recently announced Avaya IX Subscription offer and the Avaya’s OneCloud set of service offers, now enables customers to leverage an OpEx model for both their Avaya software and their Avaya devices.”

The Avaya Device as a Service website provides a drop-down listing of the countries in which Device as a Service is now available.

The post Avaya Expands Availability of Device as a Service (DaaS) Offering to Canada and Europe appeared first on My TechDecisions.

It’s the key to creating a more agile, responsive and competitive IT organization; a highly efficient and effective environment where finite resources are able to focus less on maintaining IT operations and more of their cycles creating new capabilities for the business.

But what about all the remaining mundane, break/fix, keep-the-lights-on operational tasks that are ‘essential’ to supporting the always available, 7 x 24 expectations of the business?

If the care and feeding of your office applications have been moved to Office 365 or Google apps, and the most critical business apps are now being delivered aaS, what about the remaining physical infrastructure that connects users when they are in the office or their physical devices – desktops, laptops, tablets and phones?

What about the care and feeding of those end user devices that consume a tremendous amount of cycles to configure, track, and deploy, as well as the service desk functions that are ‘essential’ to delivering availability, uptime and an exceptional experience to your user community?

Essentials as a Service (EaaS)

In 2019, IT leaders and CIOs will want to consider Essentials as a Service (EaaS), offloading the remaining operational aspects of support to IT infrastructure experts to further drive agility and efficiencies throughout their organizations.

Based upon the limited growth of budgets in 2019 (Gartner estimates only a 3.2 percent increase worldwide), IT organizations are not going to be able to add dollars or people to the mix, so they will want to leverage their limited resources to do higher value creation work, increasing the competitiveness of their organization versus simply maintaining the health and well-being of their IT infrastructures and end user support.

Put in the context of Gartner’s Bimodal IT delivery model, EaaS is simply a better way to consume mode 1 services.

Bimodal is all about transforming legacy IT into an agile, rapid response organization that quickly adapts to changes in a company’s competitive landscape.

In this operational construct there are two modes of IT delivery: Mode 1 focusing on stability, being operationally sound, keeping the lights on, and Mode 2 focusing on creating new capabilities and applications that drive better end user and customer interaction, e.g., web-based apps, mobile apps, the really cool stuff that differentiates them from their competition.

Related: Setting Up O365 as A Unique Layer In Your Governance Hierarchy

One can argue whether there really needs to be two modes of operation to deliver a more agile IT environment, but the idea that offloading the mundane break/fix aspects of IT support to free up limited resources to focus on higher value and more fulfilling pursuits is a sound concept that organizations need to explore in 2019.

Delivering to new expectations

In addition to helping organizations more rapidly respond to the needs of the business, EaaS can also help organizations deliver to the heightened expectations of the new demographics made up of millennials and gen x/z’s, and that’s all about delivering an exceptional customer experience whether that is an internal customer like an end user, or an external customer buying a product or service.

Today’s ‘customers’ expect an experience that is highly available anytime, anyplace, on any device; an experience that is simple, intuitive and secure.

The question is, does an IT organization want to invest the time, money and resources to set up and maintain an operational support structure to deliver this heightened level of user experience or should they leverage an essentials as a service provider that specializes in delivering that experience as a consumable service, as a contracted outcome?

Does it really make sense, given your strategy of offloading operational tasks to focus on higher value business targets, to invest in global, follow the sun 7 x 24 x 365 multi-lingual end user support with predictive, proactive, automated intelligence, natural language and omni channel support?

Or is it better to leverage an essentials as a service provider that delivers these state-of-the-art support services that are architected to deliver an exceptional end user experience?

The most essential EaaS elements

Uptime and reliability – In order to deliver a truly exceptional experience people need to stay connected to their technology.

The reality of delivering to the everything on demand, need it now, consumer driven expectations of end users today is that downtime, interruptions in service and slow performance are simply unacceptable.

EaaS providers are constantly looking for ways to infuse innovation in the form of tools, process and automation into their service offerings to improve uptime, reduce clients’ costs and enhance the end user experience.

Today, delivering to standard expectations and even satisfying SLAs and KPIs are table stakes. Organizations are looking for new ideas and enhanced services that save time and money, increase efficiencies and reduce ticket counts, and that’s all about delivering innovation.

From a support standpoint, the goal is to eliminate issues proactively, so an interruption to the user never happens – and if there is an issue, to resolve it faster so the user is impacted as little as possible.

This includes leading edge technologies such as automated self-healing to capture and resolve issues in real-time and predictive analysis to mitigate issues before end-user escalations.

It also includes proactive analytics detailing the health of a device as well as the ability to look back retrospectively to determine root cause of an issue. And finally, self-help interfaces to allow end users to hit an ‘easy button’ for one-click resolutions to fix issues without having to call for help.

Kiosks and Genius Bars – A challenge facing companies today is how to provide instant access and support to users in a consumer-oriented environment. In 2019, a trend that IT organizations will want to consider is leveraging an EaaS provider to deliver technical support via café-like locations in high traffic areas on corporate campuses convenient for end users.

These walk-up support desks are staffed with qualified technicians with great customer service skills. Quick fixes performed immediately or loaners provided for longer repair. Kiosks and Genius Bars are also used to showcase approved corporate technologies like an Apple or Verizon store.

This is a great way to support traditional workers who demand the most out of technology and to hyper-enable tech-savvy workers who bring their own device (BYOD) to work.

Self service portals – EaaS providers have developed one stop digital portals that allow end users to see the status of their service desk tickets and request items to procure or services to be delivered via automated service catalogs. Service catalogs are a central listing of the goods and services that are available to the end user.

So instead of the putting a new employee through what can be a long, frustrating onboarding process, instead they go out to an automated service catalog to choose their corporate sponsored device, business applications, corporate credit card, etc.

Validation and authorization of the requests are automatically generated to their manager or approval party for authorization. The employee then receives their device configured based upon their persona, ready to go when they power up the first time.

Voice authenticated password resets – Although password resets are typically relatively short calls to the service desk, they represent increased costs, compliance issues, and security vulnerabilities.

Another trend that organizations will want to explore in 2019 is automated password resets based upon voice sampling and authentication technologies delivered by EaaS providers.

In addition to delivering a great experience that provides for convenient access to change or reset passwords no matter the location of the user, this is another way to shift to self-service resolutions that require less effort, are more secure and can ensure a better adoption rate by the user community.

Mobility Device Support – It’s all about connectivity anytime, any play, on any device but delivering that experience from a mobility perspective based upon the many tasks that have to be orchestrated and executed can be frustrating and time consuming for IT support resources.

Essentials as a service can deliver a more seamless experience by delivering devices fully configured, not just with a browser and email but with the mission critical applications that the user needs to do their jobs.

They can also manage the security of the devices and mobile end points and finally, provide Telecom Expense Management to audit and resolve cellular billing issues on a monthly basis.

Product Lifecycle Services – Procurement, integration and logistics may sound pretty old school, but the reality is that many large organizations do not want their finite resources focusing on the tactical execution of integration, configuration, storage, shipping and asset tracking of end user equipment and devices.

Whether it’s a single laptop or a complex deployment of a highly integrated set of technologies, essentials as a service providers can assess requirements, develop the plan and then source, configure, integrate and ‘palletize’ the solution. And then as part of full lifecycle support, they can also receive aging equipment back into

logistic centers for asset disposition, brokering the equipment and sharing the proceeds or decommissioning hard drives and certifying disposal.

Focusing IT on higher value creation

In 2019, IT organizations can continue to deliver these types of ‘essential’ services using their own internal resources much as they’ve done in the past, but the question is, why?

According to Gartner, 28 percent of spending within key enterprise IT markets will shift to the cloud by 2022, up from 19 percent in 2018.

If it makes sense to move mission critical applications to multi-cloud environments and SaaS providers, what additional efficiencies can be gained by offloading the remaining, often mundane and repetitive IT support functions?

Essentials as a Service allows organizations to focus resources on higher value creation, deliver even greater agility to the organization to respond faster to the needs of the business while at the same time, enhancing the end user experience.

The post ‘Essentials As a Service,’ Or Why EaaS Is the Acronym to Look For Going Forward appeared first on My TechDecisions.

It stops being a question of leading with the hardware, and instead leads with the problem that needs to be solved. What pieces of equipment will we use to be part of the solution? Is this equipment going to work within the framework? The discuss gets a lot more difficult.

Servers

In the past, especially for SMBs, servers were kept on premises. As the cloud became more prevalent, it became a best practice to move some workloads to the cloud.

There may be reasons to still keep servers in-house. Regulatory compliance. Comfort of management. Seeing your data where it physically sits. Also things like bandwidth constraints – if your internet isn’t great you may choose to keep certain workloads local.

Take an architectural firm doing 3D models for example. It’s not easy to push those models back and forth through the cloud without a complete cloud virtualization solution. Instead, you may choose to do file and print storage locally, but things like backup email in the cloud. Typically, we see these types of hybrid deployments.

Whether a server is on premises or in the cloud, it requires the same type of management. You have local services you need to provide. Take security for example. Do you have security cameras? Are they logging data? Do they need an IP address? How are you going to provide that? Take identity. Do you log into the network one time and you can access everything, local or cloud?

By moving to the cloud you’re more scalable but you don’t take away the work that needs to be done.

Bring Your Own Device

Then there is the question of BYOD. It can become a power struggle, even in smaller companies without an IT department that hires MSPs to do the work, to decide the hardware being used. The company may want to set the direction, while employees are used to using different types of hardware. They question why they need to use a corporate-supplied smartphone when they want to use the smartphones they have in their pockets that they are used to.

IT departments aren’t dictating what happens the way they used to. It’s often business groups that decide. If they want to go onsite and bring their tablet, they don’t want to use a company laptop. They likely won’t use the company laptop. From an IT point of view this brings up issues of security and management. You can’t let everything into the network.

Writing an RFP

In order to write an RFP around IT hardware, the IT provider needs to know what problem you’re trying to solve. Many times IT providers will look at an RFP and determine that the organization is trying to solve a problem but going about it the wrong way. So what is the problem?

You’ll then need to include your background. The IT provider will need to understand what you have in place currently in order to determine the proper hardware to solve your problem. Do you have equipment in place already? What does your network infrastructure look like now? Do you have security in place? What is it? Do you have local users? How many? Will you have remote workers? How many? Let the IT provider know what your user base looks like – whether it is scalable, whether it fluctuates up and down or is fixed.

Then let them know the geography. Where do the users work from? Where in the building do they work? Do they move around or are they in fixed positions? What does the physical space of your facility look like? What are the measurements?

Once they understand what your compute environment and user base looks like, the IT provider can determine what you’re a good candidate for in terms of hardware. Laptops, desktops, or thin clients. What servers you need and where to put them.

Related: My TechDecisions Podcast with John Krikke talking IT Hardware

If it is imperative to have servers on premises, let the IT provider know. Let them know which information needs to be physically available and what can be scaled into the cloud. Keep in mind it is much easier to scale in the cloud than on premises. Cloud is a service where servers are a product. If you buy too much or too little cloud bandwidth you can just reduce it or scale it up. If you buy too many servers you don’t just return them. So be clear and be flexible in terms of what you need on premises – it will ultimately affect your bottom line one way or another.

Then define what you want the supplier of the server to do. Do you want a basic operating system load? Do you have your own image you want on it? Will it be part of an existing network? Be sure to clearly lay out your needs. It can take anywhere from an hour for basic installs to several hours for an entire SQL server or Exchange server.

Define what they have to do. Do you want them to ship you a box? Do they need to bring it in and install? Can they work outside of your normal working hours? What support do you need? Four hour response or next day response? One-year, three-year, or five-year support? Make sure you’re not missing anything.

As for devices, in an environment that is not BYOD and will provide tablets and smartphones to an employee, it increasingly matters less which brand you go with. You can access most compute services whether on Android, Apple, or Windows device. It comes down to what your environment looks like and what your IT department can support. Then you can look at vendors.

When choosing vendors you’ll want to decide whether you need Tier 1 or Tier 2 support. Do you need to be able to get support for your devices if your reseller is out of the country? Do you need the reseller to be authorized to service the product or can they pick up Tier 2 support for it? Are you looking for cheaper or various products, or do you want to standardize on specs and models that are reliable and easier to support but more costly? Are you alright with bringing prosumer devices into an office or do you want corporate solutions that have proper tech support? What are the minimum specifications that you need?

If you have a specific manufacturer in mind, say so. Let them know how many users you have and they’ll order the right amount of hardware. If not, answer these questions and let the IT provider sit down, speak with you, and make recommendations based on what you’re looking for.

Of course, this all changes if you go BYOD. BYOD environments have issues around management and security. What kind of HR policy do you have around bringing devices in? Can you put mobile device management software on these devices to erase the corporate portions or the entire phone in case of loss or corruption? Where does your data sit – can people take data out of the company with these devices? Most devices created within the past two years can run the apps you need to run, so that’s not the problem. You need to include security and management needs in the RFP.

As far as ongoing support, keep it separate from your equipment needs. Let the IT provider know if the equipment will be deployed or if it’s a drop ship. If it is being deployed, ongoing support is needed. If it’s a drop ship, they’ll just deliver the equipment, install it, and leave. Will the supplier be your first line of support or will it be the manufacturer?

Detail your needs for equipment and then delve into your requirements for support. Generally IT providers will make an agreement with the customer to support your users or environment for X amount of dollars per month. Include what is needed in terms of training – use of the equipment or use of your application? Make sure to be clear about your expectations for ongoing support.

Information provided by John Krikke of Onward Computer Systems. Learn more about IT Hardware from John Krikke’s interview on My TechDecisions Podcast.

The post How to Purchase and Install the Right IT Hardware appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The new devices dramatically expand the company’s ConnectKey portfolio of intelligent, workflow-enabled office systems, and establish a beachhead for Xerox, which has long been a leader in A3 products, in the A4 market as well.

“It’s a huge opportunity to make sure [customers] have the right product for the right environment,” said Mike Feldman, president of North America operations for Xerox, in an interview with ChannelPro.

The new devices showcased today fall into two closely related groups. Designed for small and midsize workgroups, the VersaLink family includes 19 printers and MFPs in both A3 and A4 formats. The AltaLink family contains 10 color and monochrome A3 MFPs for midsize to large workgroups.

Scheduled to ship during the second quarter of this year, both product lines share a similar touchscreen interface that Xerox partners can customize for a specific client’s needs, as well as the ability to export documents directly into Dropbox, Microsoft Office 365, Google Drive, and other popular cloud-based file repositories. Built-in security technology encrypts sensitive information, guards against unauthorized access, and maintains audit records of access attempts.

Most significantly of all, however, products in both the VersaLink and AltaLink families can run sophisticated, industry- and company-specific workflows using software in the Xerox App Gallery, an iTunes-like app directory and storefront containing off-the-shelf solutions from Box, Cisco, and other software makers as well as custom-coded apps created by channel partners.

That feature is a game changer, according to John Hand, chairman and co-founder of Fairfield, N.J.-based Xerox dealer Complete Document Solutions LLC (CDS). In the past, companies like his had little choice when clients required specialized functionality but to bring a third-party vendor with roughly appropriate software into the deal or ask Xerox to develop the needed functionality and then wait for a response. Now CDS can create a solution itself in a matter of days.

“This platform, and this product line, will allow a dealer to be able to go out and do what he does best, which is be creative in front of a customer from a technology standpoint,” Hand says. “It takes the handcuffs off.”

It also, he continues, allows partners to enhance their “stickiness” with clients and compete more effectively for customers evaluating products from rival device vendors like Canon and Ricoh.

“If they give the same opportunity to all three, I think we’re going to come back faster with a solution,” Hand says. Better yet, he adds, partners can then resell that solution to other clients with similar business challenges.

“It’s a much bigger opportunity than the one [sale], even though that’s what you focus on when you start,” Hand says.

Xerox notes that dealers can earn monthly recurring revenue from VersaLink and AltaLink deals as well by including managed print services (MPS). All of the new systems unveiled today are optimized for use with Xerox’s managed print portfolio.

“They’re great for managed print,” says Feldman of the new products, “because our tools can see these devices, can do remote management, can read the toner levels of them, and automatically dispatch toner.”

The new systems also include remote management capabilities unavailable in earlier Xerox offerings that let technicians turn devices off, upgrade their firmware, flash the BIOS, and more. Hand sees that functionality as one of several ways VersaLink and AltaLink products will help him build deeper relationships with customers and extend those relationships into new areas.

“This device to me, at a device level, is the onramp,” he says. “We’re going to sell them a device that takes us through MPS, that takes us through IT services, [and] that takes us through workflow and process.”

For Xerox itself, the barrage of new products announced today is an important step in an ongoing campaign initiated some 4 months ago to grab a greater share of SMB imaging outlays in the U.S. According to Feldman, Xerox currently owns about 20 percent of that $14 billion market.

“20 percent is good,” he says. “We’d love to get that to 30 percent or even 40 percent. In order to do that, we need more channel partners leading with Xerox.”

As a result, Feldman’s organization is actively recruiting new SMB partners at present.

“We are looking to expand our channel presence,” he says.
This article was originally posted on sister publication ChannelPro Network.

The post Xerox Launches 29 Printers and MFPs for Small Workgroups and Up appeared first on My TechDecisions.

I can understand that.

Integration firms have been selling hardware for years and then providing friendly, courtesy service on the back end.

It was only recently (generalizing here) that many firms came around to the realization that they ought to be charging for that back-end service and that their time is valuable and billable.

Now the concept of also not selling that hardware blows a lot of integrators’ minds. Instead of the traditional business model built around margins from selling and installing equipment, the idea is that the customer pays on a recurring basis for access to their AV solution.

Even reading my own explanation in the previous paragraph, I’m a little confused. However, I like how Paul Konikowski explains AV as a service in a blog on his site PK Audiovisual, “AVaaS = Audio/Video as a Service.”

AV as a Service (AVAAS) Explained:

I try to explain AV as a Service using the cell phone model.  The average American cell phone user often spends a few hundred dollars on their phone, plus a monthly fee for service. Ok, I know, they mean cell service, aka coverage, but it’s the same model.

You need cell service or wifi to use your mobile devices, right?  You need the calling or chatting software, plus the other apps, to run on your phone, or it is worthless, right?  Some of those apps are free, some are a one time fee, others you might pay monthly.  Some SaaS sales models will offer the first month free, then a monthly fee, or a discount if you pay annually.  This is how you need to structure you AVaaS business.

OLD WAY: Integrator sells client conference room hardware, installation, and one time programming fee for the DSP and Control System.  Annual service plan is optional.

NEW WAY: Integrator sells the client the hardware once, or leases it to them. For the hardware to work, the client pays the integrator a monthly fee, which includes all service calls and software upgrades.  The client pay a monthly fee per room, just like you pay a monthly fee for your cell phone.  In return, they get free reports because you are now monitoring their AV systems for bulb life, energy usage, and downtime.

Savvy programmers will figure out a way to lock the AV systems if the client misses payment … most importantly, please remember that AV as a Service, is just that, a service! We are now in a service industry, not a sales industry. Customers can buy AV gear with a click of a mouse; what we offer our clients is our professional services.

Read Konikowski’s entire column here. 

The post An Integrator’s Explanation of AV as a Service appeared first on My TechDecisions.

And just like a card collector might like to flip through the players and revel in the stats of baseball seasons long past, from time to time I like to pull an old Sharp PDA (personal digital sssistant), MiniDisc player, or gaming console off the shelf and take it for a spin down memory lane. Spending so much time using these now-ancient devices has given me some insight into the paradigms around design, user interface, and function that grace the digital devices of today, which I believe has helped me as a technology writer.

When Hardware Becomes Useless

Unfortunately, would-be future gadget collectors (be they writer or enthusiast) may not get the chance to really play with the hardware of yesteryear, and the reason is something that those who both use and devise solutions with technology must understand: Hardware obsolescence is increasingly caused by the termination of a supporting service, not the usefulness or physical failure of the device. In other words, more and more electronic devices are reliant on the existence of a back-end service for most or all of their intended function, and without it, the hardware itself is essentially useless.

Computers and obsolescence are nothing new. Heck, any computer put into service today is already obsolete, and if it isn’t right now, it probably will be tomorrow. One of the things I love about a PC, however, is that its usefulness can last far longer than its intended purpose, and far longer than it is “officially” supported. Computer hardware itself isn’t reliant on anything to operate; so long as the software it runs doesn’t exceed the capabilities of the hardware itself, it can operate as long as the physical hardware is operable.

Right now, I could run to the basement and fire up any 20-year-old Windows 95–era machine and do almost all of the same things I would have done with it at the time. Internet Explorer 2.0 probably wouldn’t render the modern Web, but I could still download, install, and run a huge range of era software. That was the nature of computing back then, and most devices for that matter. Assuming I still had good VHS tapes, my VCR would still play them on my TV screen today. With four AA batteries, my original Nintendo Game Boy would still play my Link’s Awakening cartridge just as flawlessly today as it did all those years ago.

But that was then, and this is now. Using the iPod Touch/iPhone as the modern-day equivalent to the Game Boy (at least it wishes!), do you think in 20 years you’d be able to fire up an iPhone 6 and even connect to the iTunes App store, let alone download and install apps? Out of the box, an iPhone without the app store is just a Windows Phone that wishes it were a Windows Phone (zing!). And even if you had apps still installed, most of those wouldn’t function without the service behind it to authenticate ownership, and feed it information, stats, and so on.

What about Client Computing Devices?

Phones are one thing, yet client computing devices are heading in the same direction. Some are already there. The iPad, for example, is just as equally dependent on the cloud as any other iOS device. Android is centered around the cloud, but not 100 percent dependent on it given the ability to side-load applications. Windows PCs will always have a large library of Win32 software it can run, but the push to Universal Windows Apps will make Windows that much more dependent on the cloud.

The real danger of cloud-powered hardware becomes evident in other types of hardware, like IoT, surveillance, and numerous gizmos that rely on the presence of a cloud service to function. Oftentimes, that service is wholly supported by the manufacturer, and should that manufacturer go under or simply decide it no longer wants to support the service, then the hardware that relies on it becomes a doorstop. It’s reasonable to assume big players like Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Apple aren’t going to be closing their doors anytime soon and can afford to keep services in place for long periods of time, but it is a danger with smaller players that can go under or be acquired.

The consumer world is becoming increasingly filled with devices that could work one minute and cease to function then next. Consumers, however, choose to either ignore or accept the fact that their brand-new $300 video streaming doorbell will only work as long as the manufacturer stays in business and decides it’s in the company’s interest to do so. As IT becomes increasingly consumerized in a variety of ways, more and more business-class hardware will begin to rely on third-party services. Such services are already creeping into a number of storage devices, networking gear, on-premises security, and more.

Solution providers should be careful when deploying hardware that has an unknown expiration date, or at least relies on services for a large part of their functionality. Get to know your vendors, and when deploying such devices, make sure your customers understand the risks.

5 Examples of Hardware Reliant on Services

Continue on to learn about five devices that essentially turn into door stops without their supporting cloud service:

Nest Protect Smoke Detector

There’s something to be said about keeping things with simple functions simple, but my inner geek believes that everything is better with an LCD screen, Internet connectivity, complex AI, and a smartphone app tie-in. That’s what Nest, now owned by Google, has done with the simple household thermostat and, most recently, smoke detectors. This isn’t your basic “sound the alarm when there’s smoke” kind of device; it’s a real-time, Web accessible, self-testing, smoke analysis device with path lighting and steam checking that talks to you in plain English.

Of course, most of the features that set this device apart from the ones that cost one-fifth the price rely on a Nest account (cloud services). Just last month, Nest customers got nervous when Google announced that the Nest division wasn’t performing as anticipated, and that sent the rumor mill speculating on what would happen to the customers who shelled out several hundred dollars for smart smoke detectors if Nest was shuttered.

Amazon Echo

Put an Echo on your desk, tell it to do stuff, and it does it. For example, it streams music from online services, reads audiobooks, answers questions, gives sports scores, and more. Amazon has been hit or miss with its own hardware offerings, but Echo is a pretty neat device that is constantly getting smarter and doing more things.

The Echo itself, however, is just an impressive microphone, omnidirectional speaker, and some circuitry. All that improvement is happening in the data center, hooking in new features and services to react when a user speaks up. Echo may always be listening, but if Amazon shuts down the brains behind it, you may as well be talking to a wall.

Just about Everything iOS

As alluded to earlier, while an iOS device will still operate to some degree if it’s turned on in 50 years, it’s not going to be the device you remember. What has propelled the iPhone and iPad is the sheer amount of developer support—the apps—that allow it to perform duties far beyond the scope of the original device. It’s not all that different from a PC in that regard, but while a PC can operate almost indefinitely without access to the outside world (software can be developed, installed, and run locally), iOS is reliant on the acquisition of software as part of a larger service.

Apple, by design, mainly operates its devices on a short shelf life, encouraging users to consistently and frequently upgrade to the newest version. So long as you keep upgrading, the store is open. Should you fall too far behind the hardware curve, all those apps will eventually be out of reach. Even if you wanted to run an old version of an app someday on an old iOS device, it probably won’t be possible. Of course, if Apple happens to burn through the billions of dollars it has in cash and fold, iOS devices will be forever relegated to the devices they are out of the box, which isn’t much.

Ring Video Doorbell

I remember when a doorbell was a simple contact switch that rang a bell. Ring took the setup to every knock-knock joke and made it possible to know “who’s there” from anywhere in the world. Ring mounts a full Internet-connected wide-angle HD video camera to your front door that allows the user to see, record, and speak to “who’s there” from anywhere on the planet on a Web browser or smartphone. It can even track and alert you when it detects motion. To top it off, Ring will replace it for free if someone manages to steal it.

One thing is certain, however: Everything this fancy video doorbell does is reliant on the cloud. Without the service behind it, it wouldn’t even function as a basic doorbell.

TiVo

There was a time when digital video recorders, like VCRs, were only available from third-party providers. However, satellite and cable companies caught on and started offering their own devices, in part to try and eliminate any devices they don’t control from their networks. TiVo, arguably the pioneer in the DVR space, has managed to hang in there longer than most would have predicted. Unlike the common VCR, which relied on a user to handle the details of recording (and therefore wasn’t reliant on a service to operate), TiVo (and any other DVR) is reliant on knowing what’s on TV to operate, and that means it needs a service to provide up-to-date guide listings.

TiVo has brushed up against its own demise a few times in the past decade, and has managed to innovate and stay alive. Sure, if someday it doesn’t make it, users won’t have to pay the monthly TiVo service fee, but the TiVo itself is then nothing more than a paperweight.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, general manager Bill Avery says that the inspiration for the program came from the younger workforce that will choose employers based on quality and flexibility in the computing hardware they offer to employees. These employees will instead use personal devices rather than those offered by the company, which “completely circumvents security” according to Avey.

The hardware isn’t all that the service will offer customers. From WSJ:

HP said it would use software to manage how devices are deployed and used, helping customers make sure employees have sufficient processing power or data-storage capacity—or don’t have more sophisticated hardware than they need. The company also expects to monitor the health of components in the devices, so it can, for instance, provide replacement batteries before older ones wear out, HP said… HP said it would ensure that all data is erased from devices that go out of service and that hardware is recycled, something that analysts say often doesn’t happen when companies buy or rent gear, risking the loss of sensitive information.

HP debuted its new service in Asia last year but plans to expand globally in the coming months through its dealer channel. Pricing has not been released but is expected to vary on a case-by-case basis depending on scope and need for each customer. While not the first company to offer this type of service, HP is notable and this service illustrates the increasing trend of as a service offerings in the computing world. HP plans to offer tablets and its own Elite X3 smartphone as options for the service as well.

Why does any of this matter? Consider this: many computing companies are coming out with new models every year or two. While older models are still able to receive software updates for many years, sooner or later as technology progresses they will fall out of usability with the newest software updates. You should probably be purchasing new computing equipment when this happens anyway – I would guess that most computer models will fall out of usability within 5-8 years of purchase at this point, and you don’t want to be using decade-old equipment at any point.

With this model subscription, if it follows similar models, will allow you to upgrade more often at less cost. Likely you’ll be able to insert language into your deal that ensures that after X amount of months you’ll receive the newest hardware for the same price. If there are any problems with your equipment it falls on the provider to replace that equipment or solve problems – you won’t have to pay for it when a faulty computer breaks down after eight months.

While the total cost over the lifetime of the deal will likely be more expensive than buying a suite of computers up front, keep in mind that the cost will be distributed over years of payment, leaving more cash in your bankroll for other endeavors. On top of that, it will ensure you keep your equipment up to date every one or two years, providing your employees with the most advanced computing equipment possible consistently over time. Finally, you get rid of the risk of having to replace computers as they naturally break down.

Expect more companies to offer solutions like this moving forward. I expect this type of service to take over as computer companies continue to offer advancements at less and less lengthy intervals.

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In a recent article with CIO.com, Sharon Florentine explains that many companies (68 percent of respondents in a West Unified Communications survey) have begun to use UC solutions beyond voice and email. Even so, audio still exists as the strongest portion of UC, with 79 percent of respondents utilizing audio conferencing solutions while only 68 percent used video conferencing.

What does this mean? Well, it mostly means that many companies aren’t utilizing UC as much as they could be. One of the main factors in that observation is that it’s not cheap to implement a full UC plan into a company, having to not only outfit your company with the technology but then combine that technology to work together. Even with the cost of implementation handles, integrating the technologies can be a headache that many technology decision makers aren’t ready to deal with.

That’s where Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) comes into the picture. From the CIO article:

“Millennials are driving this in the sense that they demand the availability of certain technologies. Our survey showed that more than half of respondents believe best-of-breed technology wins out over vendor loyalty—so now there’s a lot of point solutions from different vendors. Great, but who’s running IT departments right now? Boomers and Generation Xers, who are tasked with meeting those demands. So, they went out and bought all the best, the right stuff, all the right tools their users were demanding and said, ‘OK’, now you’ve got it,’ without understanding how to integrate it for the greatest efficiency,” says Rob Bellmar, executive vice president of conferencing and communications at West Unified Communications. That’s what IT departments are struggling with, and what UCaaS is aimed at solving.

UCaas combines video, IM/presence, chat, voice, file sharing and desktop sharing while allowing for greater mobile accessibility and cloud integration. The idea is that business now requires all of these abilities at once, where once it did not. So UCaaS will combine them and segment them. When you’re audio conferencing and speaking about a document, you should be able to share it in real time. When you’re on the phone with a client and colleague messages you, UCaaS should pick up on that and inform your colleague that you are on the phone and will respond in due time.

That’s not even taking into account the video aspect. By moving to the cloud, companies have more bandwidth available to them, and down the line it’s expected that UCaaS will be able to predict and plan for network speed and bandwidth needs. With video conferencing continuing to grow, this is an important task for technology decision makers.

Whatever your need, Unified Communications has a place in most businesses. By utilizing services, technology decision makers can benefit from UC systems without the hassle of tying them all together themselves.

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