From PictureTel Users Group (PUG) to Polycom Users Group (PUG) to the Industry Users Group, Today VCI-Group Supports All Collaboration Users
(PRWEB) November 13, 2013 -- Originally created to support PictureTel and Polycom end users, the VCI-Group has evolved over the years into the de facto users group for all collaboration and conferencing users and has become the voice of collaboration and video conferencing users all over the world. Now the VCI-Group is undergoing another evolution through partnerships and initiatives with the OVCC and TMCNet to drive interoperability issues and solutions for the entire industry.
“We support the end users regardless of brand or vendor, and we help all manufacturers, service providers, resellers and integrators understand the needs of the entire user community," said Toni Alonso, President of the VCI-Group. “Our user members tell us they need a voice to help the vendors understand their issues and opportunities, and our vendor members tell us they need a strong organization that can speak for end users around the world. Our organization does just that. We share information about products and services, while educating and keeping our constituency current on technology, trends and opportunities."
The VCI-Group has focused on bringing valuable information to VCI-Group constituents regarding the industry, the manufacturers and emerging companies. VCI-Group has provided this through monthly educational webinars VCIG Live!, SIG meetings, and the VCIG Alliance Spotlight programs that focus on vendor Alliance Members.
VCI-Group website has also evolved into a powerful source of information for the VCI-Group constituency. In 2013, an Events Calendar that lists all industry-related webinars and conferences was added, and the Buyer’s Guide was modified to the Industry Source Book that allows users to easily find Alliance Members that can provide service or hardware in a specific country or region. “I had a member reach out to me recently to let me know that as he said, 'That Industry Source Book really works.' They were looking for a vendor to deliver streaming and found one much more quickly than if they had been searching on their own.”
Additionally, VCI-Group has removed the cumbersome Listserve and replaced it with VCIG Forums, which enables everyone in the industry, not just members, to initiate and participate in conversations on important and demanding current industry topics.
In 2014, VCI-Group will kick off the New Year with VCDireXions Summit at ITEXPO on January 28th – 31st, 2014 at the Miami Convention Center in Florida. This Summit will focus on collaboration and conferencing interoperability issues. All users will have the opportunity to present their business case about their interoperability needs and have their case reviewed and supported by their industry peers. This will determine which interoperability issues the Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC) will focus on immediately for resolution. This is the first opportunity that End Users will have to truly influence the industry, set the strategy and ensure that the delivery of products and services will be beneficial to the majority of end users. To submit an interoperability issue, or register for the event, please visit theVCDireXions Summit page.
The Visual Communications Industry Group (VCI-Group) is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to working to influence the development of Industry-based standards for multimedia collaboration technologies and applications, to improve industry products and services, and to facilitate the exchange of information among its members. http://www.vci-group.org
J D Vaughn, VCI-Group, http://www.vci-group.org/Home.aspx, +1 678-644-7034, [email protected]
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