Polycom Announces Industrys First Green Services to Reduce Carbon Emissions Through Visual Communications

In conjunction with Earth Day, Polycom, Inc. has announced the collaboration industry's first green services program, Going Green with Polycom. Going Green with Polycom is a three-step program offered through authorized Polycom channel partners that provides companies with Video Readiness, Green Rollout Planning and Implementation, and Tracking and Measurement programs. The program utilizes a comprehensive methodology to help organizations reduce their carbon emissions through increased usage of video applications as an alternative to travel.

Perfect Storm of Economic, Environmental &Tech Conditions Build Video Demand

The unprecedented market growth for visual communications and its associated services including telepresence, is the natural outgrowth of the collision of economic, environmental and technical factors. Globalization has led to the rise of outsourcing, strategic partnering, and the mobile workforce, making timely communications among dispersed employees, customers, partners and vendors increasingly important. At the same time economic uncertainty is high, travel is increasingly inconvenient and costly, and global warming is threatening the planet. Finally, technology has reduced the need for travel thanks to bandwidth-rich IP networks that enable reliable, high definition video communications for desktops, conference rooms and telepresence suites. Companies using video to reduce travel benefit in multiple ways: from maximized productivity and faster time to market, to reduced operating expenses and carbon emissions.

Going Green With Polycom -- Innovative New Program Meets Demand

Polycom's innovative new Going Green with Polycom program meets this growing demand by offering implementation and optimized video usage to reduce travel and improve the environment.

The comprehensive program includes:

• Video Readiness
  This service benchmarks service quality, operational efficiency in
  terms of capacity and resources, and the business benefits resulting
  from maximum user adoption and experience. This service also helps
  identify the applications and workflows that are ideal for video, as
  well as how to optimize conferencing operations.
• Planning Rollout and Implementation or the "Green Assessment Service"
  This service establishes a direct link between effective use of video
  conferencing and reductions in carbon emissions. The service first
  establishes the role and potential for video conferencing to support
  overall organizational environmental objectives. Consultants then
  proceed to examine the current utilization of conferencing and travel
  patterns to develop effective programs designed to increase the
  environmentally responsible use of video conferencing technology in
  existing and new applications.
• Tracking and Measurement
  An application called Video-Miles®, from Polycom ARENA partner
  The Visual Environment, can be licensed for each registered endpoint.
  The unique software monitors and measures every video conference by
  automatically and accurately calculating the number of travel miles,
  the amount of carbon saved, detailed ROI from travel cost savings, as
  well as the ability to target, drive, measure and monitor system
  utilization. Results are tracked and available at the click of a mouse
  in a variety of on-demand reports.

The Visual Environment reports customers experience increases in system
utilization of more than 20 percent, increased travel cost savings of
more than 30 percent, and carbon savings growing at 25 percent per
quarter using Video-Miles. "Decision-making information about video is
now available -- instantly," said Calum Miller, co-founder and partner,
The Visual Environment. "Our customers like the fact that, for the
first time ever, our software lets them be in control of their video
conferencing investment and they have the ability to drive what they
now class as a valuable asset."

"Going Green with Polycom is a new addition to Polycom's suite of Professional Services offerings," said Geno Alissi, general manager and senior vice president of Polycom Global Services. "Polycom and its partners offer the broadest service and support programs for collaboration and communication in the industry. No one knows more about how to implement collaborative communications solutions into a Unified Communications network than Polycom and its authorized channel partners."

Polycom Study Finds Sustainability Programs & Travel Cuts on the Rise in U.S.

Europe and Asia have long focused on sustainability, with some governments even mandating environmental policies. A recent sampling of Polycom customers shows that reducing travel for sustainability is now also becoming a key initiative in the United States:

• 18 percent have corporate sustainability programs to reduce carbon
  emissions and 64 percent of those have had policies in place for over a
  year. Another 20 percent of responding organizations said that they are
  currently considering similar programs.
• 80 percent of respondents are reducing operating costs by limiting
  travel and 52 percent are focused on reducing carbon emission created
  by ground or air travel.
• The majority of respondents are using video conferencing to either
  become more green (54 percent) or reduce travel costs (87 percent) and
  33 percent have a company travel policy that requires employees
  consider virtual meetings in lieu of travel.
• 68 percent of respondents have seen increased video conferencing usage
• most by between 10 and 25 percent -- as a result of decreased travel
  and sustainability programs.
• Individual contributors use video the most (53 percent), followed by
  executives (30 percent) and managers (22 percent).
  

Source: www.biz.yahoo.com