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Procurement of
video conferencing systems is typically an area where few people
on corporate staffs have any deep experience, since the wide use
of this technology is rather new. Features such as High Definition
Video, computer desktop sharing, sound tracking cameras, and multi-point
bridges need to be considered and evaluated. Our consultants manage
the review, selection and contracting of a video conferencing systems
suppliers. This eliminates the waste of dozens of hours of your
staff time that can be spent meeting with salespeople and trying
to decipher their varied proposals which often will contain what
THEY think you need, versus what you REALLY need.
BCC is in the unique position to provide
an unbiased function to manage the entire procurement process to
help your company avoid being swayed by the sales skills that vendors
can often utilize to motivate customers to buy “more than
they need” with the resultant needless overspending.
The procurement of video conferencing systems
can be outsourced to BCC in order to manage a careful and detailed
analysis of your requirements as they pertain to the products and
suppliers that are available in the market. When the selection is
finally completed, BCC can also provide project management services
to manage the installation and implementation locally or worldwide.
Your staff has more important things to do
than to waste of dozens of hours:
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Determining
your exact requirements |
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Soliciting proposals |
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Determining whether all
your requirements have been addressed |
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Uncovering unnecessary
line items being quoted |
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Normalizing data from various
quotations for comparison |
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Obtaining industry benchmark
data to be able to have a real negotiation of rates and terms.
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The deliverables
are:
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Detailed
description of your video conferencing requirements, both today
and long-term to obtain quotations from vendors. |
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Analysis of internet
bandwidth available at all locations that will use video. This
includes average and peak bandwidth usage and total capacity.
This is vital to determining whether you need to budget for
additional bandwidth. |
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Presentation of the pros
and cons of using present internet circuits versus provisioning
dedicated bandwidth for video. The vendors will always want
to sell you dedicated bandwidth, but you might not require it. |
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Creation of an implementation
plan for video conferencing roll-out. This includes more than
the technical aspects, but the training components so that the
systems are utilized and a method to measure your reduction
in travel expenses that result from use of this technology. |
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Management of the quotation
and proposal process. This ranges from creating an RFP from
your requirements to receiving the responses, normalizing results
so they are comparable to meeting with vendors to judge their
support capabilities. |
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Presentation of competitive
quotations selected from those received by BCC. We present a
concise document to give you all the information you need to
make an informed decision for your company. |
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Analysis and recommendations
regarding a single vendor versus multi-vendor solution. Your
purchase decision should not be based solely on the bottom line
price. Depending on the geography that will be covered by your
system installations, it may be appropriate to utilize multiple
suppliers. But you will never hear that from any supplier. |
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Analysis and recommendations
regarding multi-point conferencing. It may be less expensive
to out-source multi-point conferences, but many vendors will
propose selling you the hardware to do this internally. |
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Recommendations as to the
pros and cons of any potential vendor. Did you know that breadth
of firewall expertise is as important as video conferencing
expertise? |
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Final pricing negotiation
and facilitation of contracts with the selected vendor(s) using
BCC's proprietary benchmark database of pricing. |
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Participation in teleconferences
with vendors to facilitate provisioning of circuits and new
services. Project management with your company and its vendors
regarding implementation of lines to assure a smooth and transparent
process. The details of the execution are vital to success.
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