This article is posted here with the consent of the author. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy, position, view, or opinion of Crestron Electronics, Inc., or of any of its employees. Crestron Electronics is not responsible for, and does not verify the accuracy of, any of the information contained in this article.
 
Author: Nic Milani, Executive Director Commercial Product Marketing

With our recent announcement of a full lineup of Android™ operating system appliances, this seemed like the right time to share some thoughts about the impact consistency of experience has, not only on your employees or users, but also on your support staff.

Over the last few years, I’ve watched as a new category of video conferencing products has been released; the Android Appliance, as it’s commonly referred to. In reality, it has very little to do with Android and more to do with an all-in-one device, built for a specific application set – “huddle spaces,” as everyone calls them generically in the industry. This has prompted many vendors to release bespoke products with specific Android features, which I assert, is the wrong approach. It simply adds too much confusion and chaos to your support organizations. To make matters worse, the compute and the hardware have been intertwined. While this may save some money today, it greatly reduces these devices’ shelf-life long term.

What I learned about computing from the police

I had the good fortune to experience working in the early days of mobile computing. Laptops in police cars, primarily. One thing that stood out to me was the importance of buying consistent computing platforms. It had little to do with the end users; let’s face it – a laptop is a laptop. It had more to do with the people that supported them. You might have had a handful of people supporting thousands of laptops. Support tools mattered and device uptime mattered. Key tenets I observed:

• Standardization allowed them to scale and improve uptime
• A single vendor led to standardization and clearer support
• Compute platform was independent of user experience

The support tools for a mature technology, such as business laptops, highlighted the importance of consistency to ensure public safety officers were out serving and protecting, not in the shop with IT. They also understood that you couldn’t embed the computer in the police car and, trust me, many a startup attempted it. Don’t believe me? Check this out: Failed super cop car goes to auction

What this means for the enterprise today

While everyone talks about consistency of user experience, which is the MOST important thing to consider, computing platforms should also be consistent across the lineup. You don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. Even if you have a blended environment, the manufacturer you partner with or the space the gear resides in, shouldn’t dictate the compute choice.

If your organization prefers Android appliances, then use them everywhere. Heck, the entire Crestron ecosystem is built on Android – we get it. This isn’t about what’s good or bad, it’s about what is right for your organization and the team you have TODAY.

Build on the skills you have today to scale quickly

Most organizations’ video conferencing and collaboration teams started with big legacy vendors. Both (let’s be honest, there were only two) primarily leveraged appliances for all their needs. If that sounds like you, don’t fret when upper management asks you to implement Microsoft Teams® or Zoom Rooms™ software consistently across every group space in multiple locations. But it better be consistent to deploy, manage, monitor, and analyze.

Learning multiple vendor tools with different support stacks for different compute platforms simply doesn’t add enough value. Learn from the laptop support folks. Consistency of support is key, Android or PC. What matters is a single vendor that can do it all with one pane of glass managing it.

Why it matters to all of us

Crestron is providing a consistent set of Android appliances on every model. Full stop. This complements our full lineup of PC-based room solutions as well. Regardless of what your support teams prefer, the end user will experience flawless audio, intelligent video, and one-touch to join in every space where they work. And your support teams, armed with a consistent compute backbone, will confidently manage those spaces with the best suite of cloud tools in the industry.

Conclusion

Operating at scale is difficult. As you look to radically expand your offerings in the new year, Crestron has you covered. We offer all the form factors you need for the unique spaces people work in and all the compute options you need to set your support teams up for success.

If you and your organization need help solving these challenges, don’t fret. We have a team of dedicated professionals that can help.