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A long-time Lifesize customer explains why video conferencing continues to be a core part of their day-to-day operations

“Lifesize continues
to evolve to meet
all the demands of
our business, and
we’ve seen a huge
uptick in usage
since we started
using the cloud-based Lifesize app…”

Video conferencing is widely lauded as a way to facilitate
collaboration between individuals and teams in geographically
dispersed offices. It also helps companies shrink their travel
budgets and reduce their carbon footprint. We recently caught up with Return Path’s
Diz Carter to hear his take on how video helps Return Path successfully operate as a
highly collaborative organization.

Diz Carter is vice president of Infrastructure Operations at Return Path, where he is
responsible for aligning the company’s internal technology solutions with its business
strategy.

How has video conferencing helped Return Path?

Return Path has been using video conferencing for more than 10 years. Being able
to see each other face to face is a huge benefit, and it’s made a big difference—in
productivity and cost savings—for us in connecting and collaborating across global
offices.

What do you like about Lifesize in particular?

We like Lifesize because the product works for us in every setting: from quarterly all-hands
meetings that involve nearly 500 people across 13 offices to global hack-a-thons
and bringing managers together from all of our remote offices for effective strategy and
planning sessions. It’s a core part of our operations.

In your opinion, what is Lifesize’s key differentiator?

Lifesize continues to evolve to meet all the demands of our business, and we’ve seen
a huge uptick in usage since we started using the cloud-based Lifesize app, as people can connect
directly, share documents and actively collaborate as if they were in the same office.

In addition, the Lifesize app gives our employees flexibility. We can conference in people
without hardware from their desktops or their laptops, or when they’re working
remotely. Ultimately, great HD video conferencing lets us connect offices all over
the world at a more timely rate and at reduced cost. This is a big driver behind our
utilization.

Which Lifesize features are most important for your team?

The simplicity across our company, individuals and our IT team has been amazing. From
the operational/IT side, we’re able to administer the system easily, set it up and deploy
it quickly, and have it functional immediately. This reduces overhead and support needs
from the IT organization, so instead IT can focus on monitoring, administrating and
making sure end users are making the most of the product and service on their own.

For employees, who are the primary users of the system, ease of use and quality are
the two most important features. Lifesize delivers on both points, and both sides—end
users and IT—have benefited.

What do you see as the advantages of video over the phone for conferencing?

Simply put, sometimes communication needs to happen in person, and when you’re
geographically dispersed that can be a challenge. Video helps bring it together for
Return Path. It also cuts down on distraction and allows you to pick up on nonverbal
cues and react to them. Plus there’s the additional benefit of reducing costs and the
environmental impact of not flying people around.

After using video for 10 years, what would you say to a company looking into it for the
first time?

The simple answer is, “You should get one.” Lifesize is an awesome product. We
continue to invest in it, and we highly recommend it for anyone who wants a solution
to collaborate more effectively and drive business forward. There are many other
products on the market, but Lifesize works best for IT and end users—and they’re a
great partner.