Christmas Time is Here!

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Ev’rywhere you go;
Take a look in the five and ten glistening once again
With candy canes and silver lanes aglow.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”

With thanks to Johnny Mathis and others who croon this song into the hearts of all at this time of the year.

As the years go flashing by, 2011 and has been challenging for many and for all sorts of reasons starting with tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis. With dictators deposed and further hope for democracy in third world countries, this globe and the people on it have suffered again while others prosper and it is the endearing human spirit of never giving up, constant attempts at improvement that drive us forward.

Currently it is all quiet with hopefully less dramatic weather conditions and some improved economic stability in Europe and the USA. While our politicians beat each other (internally and externally) into senseless negativity.

Our mining and China fuelled economy is performing better than most, unemployment is low and interest rates moving down, none of this enjoyed as fears for 2012 become hedged against production and performance with the populace very wary.

Chorus Call Australia has had an interesting year more than holding its own and continually striving to provide better, faster and smarter solutions to our existing and future clients.

Teleconferencing remains strong and the backbone while Videoconferencing moves faster up the rungs as improved and less costly hardware and software begin to open up the world even more than before.

We wish all of our customers and staff a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! What more can we say?


“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas;
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart.”

The Move To Video

The Question: When will Video conferencing finally dominate over telephone conferencing?

The Background:For years people inside and out off the conferencing industry have been proclaiming the arrival of video conferencing into the Anglo markets. I say Anglo markets because much of video adoption has been a cultural issue. Japan already has a 90% penetration rate of video and uses it far more than just audio and this is largely due to the cultural issues of wanting to see the people they are dealing with. Angle nations do not have the same sensitivity and are driven more by ease of use and cost. I digress. Historically, video in a corporate environment have been hampered by the expensive Tandberg and Polycom units that they are convinced to invest in and many times end up gathering dust in board rooms. They were temperamental, badly supported and you needed to have a 18-23 year old at call to help you make a connection. It is widely known within most video support help desks that the busiest week in video support was the week after the Melbourne cup because the tv’s had been commandeered for the big race. For many large corporate and government departments the use of the tv was the most valuable aspect of the 30-50k systems hoisted upon them by IT teams wanting a toy.

Recently Cisco bet big on video in a couple of ways. Firstly there is Telepresence, a high definition and, quite frankly, an amazing video experience. The HD video monitors are moulded to the table to make it feel like the other site is actually sitting right across from you. The audio is great and the video the clearest you will see when working properly. It is so good I have found myself forgetting that it is video. But this experience is not cheap (multiple 100k’s) and the interoperability to other systems, while growing, is still very limited. The other aspects of Cisco’s bet is the purchase of Tandberg. Tandberg has the premium end of the video hardware market and worked hard to make sure that high end video clients can only use their expensive and IMO substandard equipment. Some of the ratios of this purchase seem crazy to me. The purchase price was over 22 times earnings, and a 25% premium on the three month closing average?! All this before Cisco had to up its offer another 10% to appease some investment funds who knew they had a gun to Cisco’s head with the requirement for 90% acceptance for the deal to become compulsory. While I have seen 3 or more Hollywood movies lately with nice product placement for Cisco video, their bet on Tandberg was badly timed and they will eventually write down a large portion of that investment, if they haven’t already.

The answer: Will we adopt video at a corporate level any time soon? I believe the answer to this is yes. For the first time technology is being driven by consumer requirements. Much to their horror IT and Security managers are being told by their executives to adapt the Iphone and Ipad platforms. This is being driven from a consumer experience of the platform wanting to have it available in corporate world. The same is set to happen with video. With Skype and the video chat functions of the IPad 2 executives will start to demand the same functionality for their businesses. Trying to hold back this tide are the hardware sellers, fearful of the software solutions (at a fraction of the price), and the IT managers worried about their capability to deliver such a huge amount of data.

The video we know of booking a time in the board room, having a service provider bridge 3 or 4 sites with much testing and expense will not be the model. The model will be software solutions where you can choose to deliver audio or video through an application on your desktop, smartphone or tablet with the click of a button. This solution is out there and being adopted at the flexible SMB now much to the consternation of the hardware sellers. I have tested 4 or 5 software solutions and while there are a variety of experiences and models being adopted, the simplicity, cost and flexibility is a compelling argument. The standards will be sorted out because interoperability is in everyone’s interest and it will quickly be adopted into larger corporate as bandwidth cheapens and executive demand continues to grow.

Voice and video will be delivered through the same applications with cloud based bridging either from service providers or the applications providers themselves. People will choose to allow video to be transmitted from their device of choice, or not, depending on their state of dress and if they want to do their email while someone prattles on. Unification is on the way.

The prediction:
In 5 years time the software video application sales will outweigh hardware unit sales 5000 to 1. We may see high end video units in conference centres but when you mention the words “video unit” to your child in 10 years their look will remind you of your reaction to the term 8-track. Sorry Cisco.

…Should Have Had a Chorus Call.

Industrial Disease

“Now warning lights are flashing down at Quality Control
Somebody threw a spanner, they threw him in the hole
There’s rumors in the loading bay and anger in the town
Somebody blew the whistle and the walls came down”
Courtesy of Dire Straits – Industrial Disease

The Global Financial Crisis continues to keep people scared and controlled with superannuation diving, house prices falling, commodity prices rising.

We have Carbon Tax, water tax, soon it will be fresh air tax and yet people are working and companies are making profits in spite of increased share market fluctuations.
Australia’s Big Four Banks have all registered ‘record profits’ BHP, the largest corporate profit in this country’s history.  So with these fantastic results Australia’s economy continues to bubble along with low unemployment and medium level interest rates.

So the media paint a picture of a train wreck when all things considered, Australia is traveling well and punching above its weight.
So there are proven tools required to convey the success achieved by these organisations including;

• Managed teleconferencing with Questions and Answers
• Live & archived video/audio streaming

Much planning and effort by the corporate world, AV engineers and companies like Chorus Call Australia ensure the events are run smoothly and the message is clear. This enables analysts and shareholders to make better informed decisions after viewing theses multi-media presentations.

Chorus Call Australia is very proud to be part of these events and we understand the sustained effort to get it right and to ensure that we protect our client’s brand.
Your brand is our brand!

Effects of the Qantas Strike on Business

With the sudden cancellation of all Qantas domestic and international flights business will wake up on Monday morning with big logistical problems. Will staff be able to get to the planned meetings? What about the staff away for the weekend or holidays? Will any of our products be delayed? Is there any part of our logistics that is dependent upon Qantas?

This type of disruption is akin to the SARS issue faced in the early 2000′s. Business scrambled for video conferencing services, remote office space and voice conferencing accounts to manage the fallout. A day and a half in we are already experiencing a significant jump in conferencing activity.

How a company adjusts and deals with this type of type of disruption can win or lose customers and long term revenue. The obvious is Virgin. They will get access to clients that have never used their service and have a chance to prove to them that they have a good offering. Less obvious are manufacturers who can provide product while international imports are delayed or cancelled.

Whatever the product or service, communication within your company with key decision makers is key.

This is an opportunity for many to differentiate themselves in the market, don’t miss out.

…Should Have Had a Chorus Call.

1800 from mobiles…

Many users of conferencing services are unaware that when they phone a “free call” service from their mobile that their service provider can slug them airtime charges that sometimes are in excess $1 per minute. To make this issue even worse the provider of the 1800 service will also be charging the receiving company, or conference provider, for the pleasure of receiving this call. This is a legacy issue that the dominant carriers have taken advantage of over the years and finally the communications regulator is going to regulate the charging, if any, that can occur here.

Telstra and Optus, being the dominant mobile carriers, will be working hard to thwart this initiative as it will will cost them millions in lost revenue. They will argue that much of the usage is already captured in “capped” or “unlimited” plans and there is not much savings that will be achieved by the end user. Beyond this being absolute garbage the issue goes back to the marketing of the number as a “Free Call” service. People don’t expect they will get charged similarly to some 0055 service when they phone a 1800 number. This can be especially hurtful in the conferencing environment where call lengths are more like 40 or 50 minutes instead of the average of 2-3 minutes on a typical person to person mobile call. We can only hope that the regulator has the fortitude to make the right decision here and not bow to the inevitable pressure.

At Chorus Call we have many organisations that we have worked with to minimise these unfair fees from mobile carriers. We have always offered no connection or booking fees so customers with large mobile fleets have used our operators to call out to mobile users so they don’t get any charges. Similarly, we have systems in place where advanced users can operate their own conference and dial out from our infrastructure to the end mobile, thus avoiding these unfair charges. The crux of the solution is that you have to arrange for our services to dial out to your mobile services to avoid the charges. Charges can really add up. Hopefully we will see the end to this cash grab in the near future, and customers can feel confident that the conferencing charge is the only charge they see form their mobile.

...Should Have Had a Chorus Call.

Chorus Call Australia: the “complete suite” of conferencing services

While 90% of your conferencing requirements may be one area I encourage users to look to the ability of a provider to quote across all services in the conferencing platform. While you may not need them now an astute provider will recognise and suggest conferencing solutions for your organisation.

Can your provider quote on IP and ISDN video? Do they have extensive links to video room providers around the globe? Have they experience in investor relations calls or product launch calls? Do they have an in house application sharing product? Do they have a disaster recovery solution? Regardless of your needs these things should be explored with your provider.

On the service side of the equation customers need to think about on-line billing services. Can we export detail directly into our cost management systems? Can we receive summaries by cost code or receive instant usage summaries on conference break down? What is not used now may become a necessity as your organisation moves forward.

I noticed the other day that a competitor (who shall remain nameless) has been up to the same old tricks. The modus operandi is to have multiple brands with varying price points, with no service differentiation. Clearly this is misleading at best and unethical in the worst case scenario. I count 4 brands that they are working on at the moment, I suspect there are more to come. Don’t be fooled this cheap advertising. Mainstream providers are much more capable and cost effective.

…Should Have Had a Chorus Call.

Teleconferencing Over Travel: iPad 2 Winner tells her story

Recently we announced the winner of our iPad 2 promotion.  

We decided to follow up with a recording of Ruth telling her story in her own words.  

Click to listen.

Once again, congratulations Ruth! From Chorus Call Australia.

More promotions soon at: www.choruscall.com.au