Category Archives: Federal Government
2011
Obama Orders Use of Video Conferencing to Promote Efficient Spending by Federal Government
Reducing business travel to save money has long been recognized as one of the major benefits of video conferencing. However, a November 9th executive order promoting efficient spending made it official when President Obama ordered the following: “…to ensure efficient travel spending, agencies are encouraged to devise strategic alternatives to Government travel, …such as teleconferencing and video conferencing.”
When it comes to video collaboration, the most commonly used measure for return on investment (ROI) is savings from reduced business travel. Companies around the world have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by offering employees alternatives to flying to meet with colleagues, partners, or clients face-to-face.
But reduced costs is just one of the benefits of reducing the need to travel for business.
Continue reading »
2011
Benefits of Video Conferencing in Government
Video conferencing is a technology that has been making important in-roads into government – both local and national – for many years. In particular, telepresence offers the ability for citizens to gain more direct access to their elected officials, especially as the cost of video conferencing drops and proliferation of this type of communication becomes more common, even in smaller municipalities.
The advantages of video conferencing at the government level extend beyond constituents and office-holders staying in touch. Inter-agency cooperation can be dramatically improved through the use of telepresence to connect offices that may be geographically distant. The reduction of travel for meetings introduces significant cost savings for government officials, particularly where large territories make it difficult to schedule get-togethers at convenient locations.
Continue reading »
2011
KBZ Communications Roundup of GovComm11
At GovComm11, KBZ Communications greeted close to a hundred visitors to its booth over the two-day show period. Many attendees were KBZ partners, either with clients or visiting solo to discover what this inaugural event is all about. GovComm11 attendance was around 1200 for the overall show, which felt much like a mini-InfoComm.
Educational classes hosted a variety of government professionals, and were sponsored by InfoComm and IMCCA. KBZ’s Brian Ricca presented in the IMCCA panel session about Unified Communications and Collaborative conferencing. The session, moderated by IMCCA executive director Carol Zelkin, featured IMCCA Chair Ken Scaturro, Mike Brandolfino of AVI-SPL, KBZ’s Brian Ricca, and Bob Haley of Compunetix, each of whom offered a different perspective on the relationship between UC and collaborative conferencing. KBZ will post a recording of this event on YouTube for those interested in the presentation.
Continue reading »
2010
Video Conferencing Empowers Public Safety Agencies
During natural or manmade disasters, time is of the essence, and face-to-face interactions provide a much clearer picture of what people are going through than phone calls, email, or text messages. Consequently, a growing number of public safety agencies rely on video conferencing equipment from TANDBERG, now part of Cisco, to streamline communications as well as enhance their training programs.
For example, the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) is responsible for preparing for, responding to, and recovering from disasters in an 1,134-square-mile area housing 700,000 Alabama residents. The agency works with local government departments and private organizations to develop emergency response plans, and a desire to make sure that they all had a common understanding of what was occurring led to the deployment of TANDBERG video conferencing equipment. During Hurricane Gustav in 2008, the county used the system to coordinate placement of 7,000 evacuees, and as a result, a process that could have taken days or longer was completed in a matter of hours.
Continue reading »
2010
Psychiatric Couches Take to the Air
Video conferencing has become popular in many business environments because it is quicker and more convenient than face-to-face communications. Those benefits are now being applied to the psychiatric profession as a growing number of practices are turning to telepresence systems to alleviate busy schedules and reach individuals in rural areas.
Continue reading »
2010
Five Ways Governments Use Videoconferencing
Governments across the globe have turned to videoconferencing as a time saving means for trimming travel costs and improving efficiencies, and some even are conferencing with citizens and businesses for better decision making.
Continue reading »
2010
CMS Proposal Means Money for Telemedicine Providers
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed a credentialing and privileging process for doctors and hospitals providing telemedicine services. The process, which is similar to that recommended by the Joint Commission, cuts out redundant and cumbersome steps in the existing credentialing of telehealth practitioners.
Continue reading »
2010
Welcome to KBZ’s TelePresence & Video Conferencing Blog
With computer power increasing and broadband connections becoming more common, video has become a prime way for companies to deliver information to customers, co-workers, and partners. As a result, video conferencing has become more common everywhere! In response, vendors have been developing telepresence, video conferencing systems, and mobile video solutions that offer different features and have various price points. These systems, in addition to being sold as autonomous units, are being integrated into a growing array of solutions, such as unified communication, whiteboard, document sharing, and messaging applications. Recently, an array of cloud based video services has emerged. The video conferencing market is abuzz with activity!
Continue reading »
Categories
- AV and Video Providers
- Business Video Conferencing
- Cisco Digital Media
- Cisco Digital Signs
- Cisco TelePresence
- Cisco TelePresence Tech Tip
- Cisco Video Conferencing
- Desktop Telepresence
- Distance Learning
- Federal Government
- Green Communications Technology
- Home Telepresence
- Mobile Video Products
- Mobile Video Solutions
- tele-justice
- telecommunications
- Telemedicine Video Conferencing
- Telepresence Chat
- Telepresence Cost
- TelePresence Solutions
- Telepresence Tech Tip
- Telepresence Trends
- Video Calls
- Video Conferencing
- Video Conferencing Equipment
- Video Conferencing Solutions
- Video Conferencing Systems
- Video Conferencing Tools
- VOIP Communications