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As Managing Director–India and SAARC at Polycom, Neeraj Gill has been guiding Polycom’s business strategy in the region and working to extend its share of key markets, particularly in the fast-growing video conferencing market. Gill is credited for his outstanding skills as a communicator, his tremendous drive to achieve success, and his exceptional understanding of India’s enterprise, financial services and government sectors. Gayatri Maheshwary spoke to Gill on the changing paradigms in the area of communications and the promises and benefits that lie in store for the government sector

Video and voice conferencing have direct correlation to the reduction of carbon emissions by providing alternatives to travel

Where is the world headed in IP-based, enterprise-grade  communication? How can the government and public sector organisations benefit from it?

Current realities like globalisation and worldwide competition continue to drive the need for real-time and life-like collaboration over dispersed geographies. We expect this trend to continue into the future, as we constantly innovate to
cater to the customer demand. Today, organisations want flexibility, choice, and investment protection and do not want to tie themselves down to a single- source vendor when choosing Unified Communication (UC) solutions.

Government offices are spread geographically, and the implementation of UC could help communications become easier and real-time, thus making the decisions sharper and quicker. Spontaneous and real-time UC will help the public sector in terms of improved efficiencies and enhanced mobility with anytime anywhere services.

What are the key trends in the Video Conferencing and Telepresence and how is Polycom gearing up to meet the market needs?

A great range of social, technological and financial trends are influencing the  market for UC. High-definition technology has been one of the most important
key trends in the enterprise communication market. Polycom’s visual communication solutions provide a complete, Ultimate HD experience—HD   video, HD voice and HD content sharing to make the experience much more seamless and life-like. Polycom offers solutions for different application, space and budget requirements that work together seamlessly for enterprise-wide visual communication. High-definition video and telepresence are expected to drive the growth of the industry.

The social issue that is also opening up the market for video conferencing and telepresence is Green IT. Being responsible to the social issues without affecting the revenue is a challenge of the era. Installation and use of video and voice conferencing solutions has a direct correlation to the reduction of carbon emissions by providing an alternative to travel. Virtual collaboration technologies deliver a raft of sustainability benefits to organisations.

Video traditionally was only used by large corporations but another noticeable trend is that now it is enabling new business models and giving small companies big presence and reach. Polycom is expanding the market for visual communication with a range of new solutions that will drive new applications and put high performance video conferencing and collaboration capabilities within reach of smaller organisations, small-office home office environments, and new industries.

Government can benefit  from IP-Based communications for development of  rural India, While also using it effectIvely for disaster management”

The deployment of high definition telepresence and video conferencing solutions is expected to grow significantly in the world. Is India, which is still  dominated by the standard definition, ready for the new wave?

According to a Frost & Sullivan study, India leads the SAArC region’s UC market in terms of total spending and better overall awareness. The report mentioned that India has a good potential for the growth of UC applications. It is growing at the CAGr of 7.9 percent currently.

Public sector cuts across service and manufacturing industries, policy making and implementing, and security enhancement and disaster management. All these areas need real-time presence. UC makes that happen.

The introduction of video conferencing with pretrials has helped to increase
the efficiency of the criminal justice system by helping the police, judiciary and prisons departments to save manpower and bring speedy justice and increased security, while realising discernible time and cost efficiencies.

How do you rate the government and public sector in terms of adoption of IP-based communication technologies?

Post the recession, the most important tasks for companies had been cost reduction, value efficiency, and real-time collaboration. Specific sectors like government, banking, financial service and service industry are the fastest adopters of this technology in India. However, while the technology is becoming essential in the Indian context, a lot of work still needs to be done.

The government sector can draw a great deal of benefits from IP-based  communication technology for development of the rural India. Disaster management can be one of the most vital benefits for the government, at a large scale. Education and healthcare sectors could also be revolutionised with this technology.

In the Indian context, the market is steady and is projected to grow at a CAGr
of around 22 percent and would become $1,200 million by 2012, as per industry sources. Currently, the UC market in India stands at $549 mn, while $321mn comes from enterprise telephony that include 17 percent share of contact centre applications, 11 percent email and messaging, 10 percent telepresence and conferencing while 1 percent comes from mobility, as per industry sources.

India has been experimenting with video conferencing in a big way on the judicial front. Can you give an update on this?

India has implemented the video conferencing solution to enhance the judicial system’s efficiency. Andhra Pradesh Department of Prisons and Correctional Services (AP Prisons Department) oversees seven central prisons, nine district jails, two women’s prisons, one Borstal school and 120 subjails for inmates serving less than one month or awaiting pretrial. The resource and security challenges prompted AP Prisons department to find a convenient way for the courts to effectively communicate with the prisoners to ensure fair pretrial proceedings, without the costs and risks associated with transferring prisoners to and from the courts to stand for pretrial.

Polycom’s cutting-edge technology uniquely satisfied AP Prisons department’s comprehensive requirements. Polycom’s easy-to-use and manage system allows judges, legal professionals, court officials, inmates and witnesses to seamlessly communicate face-to-face in real-time as effectively as if they were in the same room.

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