KNOCKING DOWN BARRIERS

PEOPLE-CENTRIC TECHNOLOGY AND THE NEW COLLABORATION™

OneScreen
TM
 The days of struggling with needlessly complex
collaboration technology are ending and a new era of
intuitive, simple, less technical collaboration is
beginning.

If you’re a buyer, user, or purchase

influencer of communication and
collaboration technology, you’ll
want to read on.

INTRODUCTION
As long as there have been workers there has been
collaboration. Ironically, the more technology that
has been introduced to improve our work, the more
difficult it has become to actually collaborate. Why is
that? And why is it, in this day and age, we cannot do
something about it?

The truth is, we can. This eBook offers insights into

how the tools we use are fundamentally shifting from
being technology-centric to being people and
performance-centric. A sea change in how we work
together is underway. The affects will be extensive
and significant.

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01 Tracing the evolution of any technology can be a

EVOLUTION OF daunting task and that is especially true of

communications and information technology what
today is generally being called Unified

BUSINESS
Communications and Collaboration (UCC).

UCC is a complex beast, evolving from a diverse

COLLABORATION
gene pool stretching back a number of decades and
spanning a wide range of individual technologies. To
gain a quick and basic understanding of it, it helps to
think of evolutionary epochs:

TECHNOLOGY
WHY IT IS WHAT IT IS

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The traditional private
branch exchange (PBX)
business telephone Pure voice telephony
system enabled business was rapidly followed by
professionals to make converged communications The turn of the 21st century
and receive phone and collaboration, driven by saw the growth of unified
calls over several lines advances in IP telephony, communications using such
We’re now in the age of
right at his or her own networking, privatization, off-the-shelf communication
merged communications,
desk, spawning audio and the rise of multiprotocol tools as text messaging, IP
fueled by high-bandwidth,
conferencing, one of label switching (MPLS) telephony, audio and video high-speed networks;
the earliest forms of in the 1990s that enabled conferencing, data sharing, wireless technology; open
technological business voice and data to travel over integrated e-mail apps such source operating systems;
collaboration. the same network. as Outlook, organizational scalable, cloud-based
tools such as Notes, and services; and more unified
even web-based interactive collaboration tools.
whiteboarding.

Today, in this Merged Epoch, the challenges come from the technology innovation. We are now in the perfect storm of technological capacity and
manufacturers themselves. Many operate in what appears to be user expectation, straining to break the constraints of technology-focused
engineering-driven vacuums, continuing to focus solely on the solutions and foster unfettered collaboration. Merging technologies is
technology, creating singular, vertical solutions requiring proprietary not enough. They need to be efficiently and seamlessly integrated for
hardware and software while ignoring how workers really want to work effortless, intuitive use that enables the sum to be much greater than the
and collaborate. various parts.

Once again, as we saw with the earlier UCC epochs, the stage is set for a
revolution. The technology and tools are available and within reach for the
It’s time for workers to be able to focus
kind of collaboration and efficiency that fosters maximum productivity and on the task, not the tools.
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 The rapid globalization of nearly every aspect of
modern work life is driving the need and desire for
collaboration like never before. Today, businesses
the world over see collaboration, supported by
broadband Internet service and mobile technology,
as the key to faster and more effective innovation,
product development, and project management.
In short, true collaboration is the key to success.

For the first time, tools are available to create the

THE POWER OF
kind of comprehensive, intuitive, communication
ecosystem that will enable co-workers – in-room,
intra-office, and intra-enterprise – to finally work

COLLABORATION
together more easily, more productively, and
more often. Now, organizations can finally realize
the benefit of people working together; can finally
see the bottom-line impact that collaborative
THE POWER OF WORKING TOGETHER technology has promised for so long.

Fully-realized, interactive, real-time

collaboration fosters:

Better co-worker interaction

Stronger team bonding
Greater operational efficiencies
Greater work productivity
Better, more informed decision-making
Improved identification and access
to internal and external expertise
Better customer relations
Faster turn-around times
Unbridled innovation
Faster time-to-market
Reduced costs

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 COLLABORATION EFFECTIVENESS

According to a recent survey of over ESC Users Ad Hoc Users

Percent of Respondents
600 organizations by the Aberdeen 20%
Group, enterprise-wide, strategic

n=301 (132,169)
collaboration produces a number of 15%
beneficial results, including improved
effectiveness in several of the areas 10%
mentioned above when compared
to more casual, ad hoc use of 5%
collaborative tools:

FIGURE 1 Time to find Project Time to Mobile access Promotion of

Source: Aberdeen Group, October 2013 subject-matter management business-critical to collaboration innovation
experts on-time delivery information platform

COLLABORATOR’S ADVANTAGE

ESC Users Ad Hoc Users

20%
Change, n=120
Percent Annual

The many benefits of effective 15%

collaboration were even more
dramatic when benchmarked against 10%
non-collaborators:
5%

FIGURE 2
Consumer Employee Employee Sales Cycle Operational
Source: Aberdeen Group, October 2013 Retention Productivity Satisfaction Reduction Efficiency

THE REAL QUESTION THEN IS NOT WHETHER COLLABORATION

IS EFFECTIVE, IT’S HOW DO WE MAKE IT WORK THE WAY WE DO?
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03
THE CHALLENGE What’s particularly frustrating about the state of
collaborative technology today is that it doesn’t
MAKING COLLABORATIVE have to be this way. Surprisingly, however,
“we have met the enemy and he is us”, as the
TECHNOLOGY WORK THE WAY WE DO classic comic strip character Pogo once famously
proclaimed.

In this case, the “us” are the technology developers

and manufacturers themselves. Collectively, the
industry has been guilty of making things needlessly
complicated with proprietary software, hardware,
and cabling that often make integration – or even
simple use – frustratingly difficult and oftentimes
impossible. In fact, many manufacturers have fallen
prey to the technological trap of “engineering for
WHY IT IS WHAT IT IS engineering’s sake” – creating technology-centric
collaborative solutions without regard for how they
are actually used by real people in the real world.
 Yet the benefits of collaboration and the technology that can help us investment they can provide. After all, if collaboration is such a big
collaborate are endlessly touted by manufacturers pushing their deal, why isn’t everyone doing it? The main reason, according to a
individual solutions. It’s no surprise, then, that both IT professionals Forrester Consulting survey, has been a variety of technical barriers
and average enterprise users alike are skeptical about the true that have limited adoption and use, including:
effectiveness of the tools, questioning the actual return-on-

COST LIMITED
Effective collaboration often requires face-to- USER REACH
face interactivity. That traditionally means video
conferencing for out-of-office collaboration,
which has remained an expensive proposition
FRUSTRATION Many enterprises provisioned collaborative
technology for internal use only, driven by
relegated to the executive suite and high level cost and the difficulty of establishing reliable
Brought on by incompatible and proprietary
meetings, not day-to-day team productivity and high quality external connections and
technology, lack of necessary training, and
where the real benefits of collaboration lie. integration.
inadequate features.

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Once again, manufacturers aren’t helping matters. Many a bewildering array of hardware, software, networks, cloud-
technology providers are concerned more about market based solutions, mobility choices and a seemingly endless
share than the sharing of ideas. With communication and number of options, none of which adequately address the true
collaboration systems still in the midst of an IT/AV convergence, nature of how co-workers intuitively prefer to work.
buyers of collaborative technology continue to be faced with

ENTERPRISE COLLABORATION’S TOP PAIN POINTS

ESC Users Ad Hoc Users
PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS

50%

40%
N=301 (132,169)

30%

20%

10%

0%
Team members Employees don’t Need to be Lack of teamwork Difficulty in Project delivery
are too know where more innovative negatively impacts coordinating is inconsistent
geographically to find vital to remain productivity essential or frequently
dispersed information competitive personnel delayed

As we have seen, truly effective, intuitive, and real-time Collaborative teams don’t need a stop-gap fix enabling
collaboration has been hindered at every turn by a variety of disparate technologies to finally work well together. They
stumbling blocks. Collaborative technology providers have need a solution that actually minimizes technology’s impact
willfully muddied their own waters, ignoring – intentionally or on team dynamics and productivity. A solution that moves
not – what the marketplace really needed and wanted. As a beyond being techno-centric to one that is people-and-
result, collaborators continue to be frustrated by a number of performance-centric.
“pains” for which they suspect there is a cure, they just don’t
know where to find it. While this might seem counter-intuitive to some, the benefits
are both profound and empowering. Let’s consider what
What’s lacking is not technology, blogger J.P. De Clerk of communications services company
BT calls the “6 Cs of people-centric collaboration”. These 6
but true integration. Cs provide insight into what makes people-and-performance-
centric collaboration so powerful and effective.

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 6 C’S OF PEOPLE-CENTRIC COLLABORATION

CONFIDENCE CONSISTENCY
Personal, real-time interaction enabled by hi-def video Because people-centric collaborative solution enable
conferencing builds trust among team members, workers to work the way they want they work more
encourages cooperation, and creates confidence both consistently and reliably, minimizing confusion,
in the team and the work it produces. mistakes, waste, and delays.

COMPREHENSION CHOICE
Unified communications enable better, more informed People-centric collaboration provides workers with
collaboration which produces richer, more effective the opportunity to work where and how they work
content that in turn improves comprehension and best, using the communication tools and processes
understanding. they like best to maximize creativity and production.

CONVENIENCE COMMUNICATION
When the technology-centric stumbling blocks of siloed People-centric collaboration takes advantage of all
processes, software and hardware incompatibility, the communications tools people like to use – email,
and feature-driven solutions are removed, it becomes chat, text, social platforms – to create an easy-to-
so much easier and convenient for people to work use, intrinsic infrastructure for dialog.
together. Collaborative teams stop working around
communication and collaboration technology and
begin working better because of it.

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THE NEW
So what does a truly integrated, intuitive, people-
not-technology-centric collaborative ecosystem
look like?

COLLABORATION
™
Over the past few decades the UCC world has
evolved from separate, isolated tools that enabled
limited collaboration to individual solutions sharing
WORKING TOGETHER MADE EASY common networks to a new, platform-agnostic,
intuitive, comprehensive approach to collaboration.
Unified Communication and Collaboration is now
poised to begin a new epoch of fully-integrated,
mutually-supportive, truly-interactive collaborative
solutions – something we’re calling the
New Collaboration™.

The most salient feature of this remarkable new era

is the significant shift away from a techno-centric
UCC model to a people-and-performance-centered
one. Paradoxically, what makes it so powerful
is what it doesn’t have: an intrusive technology
presence.

Instead, the hallmark of the New Collaboration™ is

just how little technology seems to matter. This
new collaborative ecosystem revolves around
what it does, not how it does it. In fact, the better
it enables and encourages collaboration, the less
workers are even aware of it.

OneScreen TM
There are several driving forces behind this new concept in working
together, including the widespread acceptance and use of social media
and presence technology which has helped remove the barriers of

...how you
time, distance, and availability for teamwork. Organizations, freed from
technological constraints, are now able to freely harness the collective
intelligence of their distributed workforces and create stronger, more

like to work,
comfortable relationships between remote team members, partners,
and customers.

who you need

The result is a new definition of what it means to collaborate. Gone is
the old emphasis on technological solutions – “this is what it is and
how it works” – replaced by a new and more productive paradigm:

to work with,
“this is what it does, based on how you like to work, who you need to
work with, and what you want to work on, right now.”

and what you

One of the most valuable aspects of the New Collaboration™
is something fundamentally old: the human bond. According to
workplace psychologist Dr. Nicola Millard, the lynchpin of truly

want to work
effective collaboration is one of the oldest of human traits – trust.
According to Millard, people instinctively will not share knowledge
fully with others without some form of bonding and a certain level

on, right now.

of trust. Building interpersonal trust requires communication and the
most effective way to communicate is conversationally, face-to-face.
The New Collaboration™, with its seamless integration of a variety
of hi-definition audio and video conferencing and digital collaboration
tools, enables the richest interpersonal interaction possible using
network connectivity.

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New Collaboration™ even looks different; for a wide range of applications, content, and formats with zero concern
starters, not a whole lot of devices, cabling, for compatibility or connectivity. No longer struggling with technology,
they’re finally working faster, easier, and better because of it.
and complicated software. Instead, it’s a
single, multi-touch, richly-interactive, high- What makes the New Collaboration™ even more exciting is that it
definition screen enabling users to access shatters the old paradigm of technology trickle-down – expensive first
tools, information, and each other with a generation solutions that only large enterprises with deep pockets
simple touch or swipe of the screen. could afford. The new hubware scenario outlined here utilizes existing
devices and platforms, re-imagined and integrated in new ways to vastly
A separate category of communication and collaboration product is improve their efficiency and effectiveness without the high cost of initial
introduced: hubware. Instead of juggling separate devices, users can development. The New Collaboration™ and the technology that enables
focus on one screen that enables team members to easily work with it is well within reach of even the smallest organizations and enterprises.

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THE FUTURE
As more collaborative technology manufacturers
get onboard with the New Collaboration™ model
of people-and-performance-centric instead of

OF BUSINESS
techno-centric solutions, collaborative teams will
become increasingly innovative, productive, and
efficient. The expanding adoption of enterprise-

COLLABORATION
wide social media methodologies will foster simpler,
faster, and more streamlined communications –
according to Gartner, by 2014, social networking
services will replace email as the primary vehicle
PEOPLE AND PERFORMANCE for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of
business users. This kind of on-demand availability
CENTRIC SOLUTIONS and common user interface and experience (UI/
UX) will only fuel the demand for simpler, more
intuitive, and more flexible UCC that not only
enables, but encourages ad hoc, on-
the-fly collaboration that can jumpstart
innovation and increase productivity
across the room, the enterprise, and
the world.

On the other hand, companies and organizations

that continue to be hobbled by legacy UCC systems
with their inefficient and inflexible patchwork of
devices, software, and cabling will find themselves
growing steadily less competitive and relevant
as they struggle to communicate and collaborate
internally and externally.

OneScreen TM
The New Collaboration™ will, in large part, help enterprises of all The New Collaboration™ is here.
sizes future-proof their collaborative capabilities to stay ahead of
the curve by providing an open-source, highly flexible and scalable Now. The New Collaboration™ is a
solution that supports the addition of new UCC services and new way of thinking and working
technologies with minimal effort and expense.
together to move business – your
What’s truly exciting is that this unparalleled and unbridled level business – forward today. Are you
of collaboration is not some idle conjecture destined for the
distant future.
ready to embrace it?

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 When
When collaboration
collaboration technologies
technologies work can
work together, business together, Hitachi
realize the benefit of people Solutions
working America, Ltd. is a leader in interactive
together.
business can realize the benefit of people working together. presentation technology and touch software solutions.
OneScreen TM
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ǀŝĚĞŽ ĐŽůůĂďŽƌĂƚŝŽŶ ƐŽĨƚǁĂƌĞ facilitates collaborators
OneScreen video collaboration software facilitates collaborators natural need to flow Hitachi’s StarBoard
from tool to Software aenables
tool while accessing remote
variety of content,collaboration
data, and people
natural need to flow
required for productivity. from tool to tool while accessing a variety in real time, immediate access to relevant content, and
of content, data, and people required for productivity. annotation capabilities over digital media. StarBoard Software
Headquartered
Headquartered in San in Diego, Diego, KŶĞ^ĐƌĞĞŶ
San OneScreen has officeshas offices
in Miami, in
Colombia, helps interactive collaboration happen more often – around
and Pakistan.
Miami, Colombia, and Pakistan. Discover what your screen
Discover what your screen skills can do today at onescreensolutions.com. the world or in the same room. Find out more at us.hitachi-
skills can do today at ŽŶĞƐĐƌĞĞŶƐŽůƵƚŝŽŶƐ.com. solutions.com/starboard.

REFERENCES
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collaboration.aspx

Cattie, Christopher; van Riper, Kris; FCW (2012): Collaboration’s role in the new work environment; retrieved at http://fcw.com/articles/2012/12/07/collaboration-in-agency-
environments.aspx

Dale, Stephen; Collabor8now! (2013; Overcoming the Barriers to Enterprise Collaboration; retrieved at http://collabor8now.com.gridhosted.co.uk/collaboration/overcoming-
the-barriers-to-enterprise-collaboration/

De Clerck, J.P.; British Telecommunications plc, BT Let’s Talk Blog (2013); Empowering the worker: the 6Cs of people-centric collaboration; retrieved at http://letstalk.
globalservices.bt.com/en/2013/04/empowering-the-worker-the-6cs-of-people-centric-collaboration/

Forrester Consulting (2013); Collaboration Frontier: An Integrated Experience; retrieved at http://www.business.att.com/content/whitepaper/Collaboration-Frontier-An-

Integrated-Experience.pdf

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herding-cats-and-calming-our-inner-caveman

Park, Hyoun; Aberdeen Group (2011); Real Time Collaboration – Innovate Your Business and Increase Revenue; retrieved at http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/6831/
RA-enterprise-content-collaboration.aspx

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