On Monday 11th January I had the pleasure of video conferencing with Craig Malloy, CEO and Tiffany Nels, CMO of Lifesize.
Lifesize is a video collaboration and digital meetings company, that specialises in the development of software deployed across a cloud platform to provide reliable, high quality video conferencing solutions.
[easy-tweet tweet=”Read the review of @LifesizeHD’s tech by @KateWright24″ hashtags=”videoconferencing, comms”]
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company was established in 2003 and bought by Logitech in 2009. Over the years, Lifesize’s video conferencing software complemented Logitech’s hardware. Whilst the focus with Logitech has continued along the hardware and retail route, Lifesize’s vision has evolved to a SaaS and B2B focus. As a result, on December 28th Lifesize officially split from Logitech, with the backing of three VC firms: Redpoint Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Meritech Capital Partners. As Lifesize enters a new phase, I was interested in talking with the company about their focus for 2016, and I had the added advantage of doing this over Lifesize’s own video conferencing platform.
Looking at the product offering itself, I have to say I was extremely impressed. I often find myself dreading video conferences; the awkwardness of the lag causing unintended interruptions, the necessity to repeat yourself due to audio cut outs, and the person looking like a stilted, blurry version of them self. However, I was pleasantly surprised by my experience using Lifsize’s platform. To begin with, there was no annoying download for a plug-in that will sit on my computer unused (a pet peeve of mine). Once ‘on air’, Craig and Tiffany were remarkably clear on screen, and the interview flowed well throughout, with no lag or buffering.
I was pleasantly surprised by my experience using Lifsize’s platform
During the course of the interview, I quizzed Craig and Tiffany on the challenges that the industry is facing and how to counteract them. As a product that will be frequently used to connect people on a global level, it has been essential for Lifesize to understand the difficulties faced in different areas of the world. Craig commented on the highly regulated industries in the USA, the issue of data sovereignty in Germany, and bandwidth and pricing challenges in emerging markets. To have the high level of connectivity needed for their product offering, Craig said there is necessity to be flexible to adapt to the hurdles that different global markets bring.
[easy-tweet tweet=”There is necessity to be flexible to adapt to the hurdles that different global markets bring” user=”katewright24″]
This flexibility is apparent in the two models they offer:
- ‘Land and expand’ in which organisations can scale up (or down) the Lifesize services as needed or,
- ‘Top-down’, better suited to large corporations where the platforms can be deployed broadly across the organisation.
Providing different deployment models, coupled with a high quality product, has supported Lifesize in building their customer base right across the spectrum, from healthcare to finance to government sector and more. Moving in to 2016, after a year encompassed by restructuring, Craig is looking forward to a year focussed on:
- Building customer awareness
- Development of the the Lifesize team, and
- Increasing their global brand awareness.
In my opinion, you can never improve face-to-face contact with a person, but when a plan B is needed, Lifesize’s software is a great option.