Executive Summary

Could your organization benefit from the use of videoconferencing or some other mode of video communication? The answer is almost surely yes. But what are the specific communication needs that such a solution would address, and, are the benefits worth the effort and expenditure? To find out the answers to these questions and to zero in on the right video solution for your needs, you first need to know who will use it, how often, and for what purpose. In order to maximize the return on investment (ROI), you need to make sure that the sysem will actually meet the communication needs of potential users. To ensure that users needs will be addressed, you need to know all about their current style of meeting content, size, type, visual aids, and, last but not least, who they meet with and where those people work. This chapter provides a step-by-step method for conducting your own needs analysis. A needs analysis and deployment checklist at the end of the chapter ( see Figure 3-5) should help you cover all the bases, and keep your project on track toward a successful deployment.

Conducting a Needs Analysis

Nothing is more important to the success of a video communications system than a thorough, systematic, and honest needs analysis.

Thorough because the devil is in the details, and a successful system must incorporate, or at least allow for, every foreseeable need likely to be encountered during its planned lifetime. Imagine the embarrassment involved in explaining to...