By Darlene Smith, VP of Strategic Partnerships at tekVizion

How many times have you joined a meeting and one of the following has happened?

• Someone can’t unmute themselves.
• Someone’s video camera won’t turn on or off.
• People leave the meeting and rejoin to get their devices to work.
• People get frustrated and don’t rejoin the call blaming their devices.

How long does it take for the call to begin?  How much time is wasted? I don’t know about you, but with 25-minute meetings, an additional 5-7 minutes wasted just joining is too much.

We all expect the devices we are provided by our companies to work with the meeting service we use, and no one wants to be the reason the meeting didn’t begin on time while everyone waits for you to rejoin or connect.

The reasons devices don’t function properly are varied and I won’t go into the device itself not being set up and configured properly (another topic that I’m happy to address if you’re interested).

I will talk about these devices being properly tested and ‘certified’ to work as expected.

I had a customer tell me recently, that almost all devices were, and these exact words were used, “plug and play –it doesn’t matter what device you use (for a meeting) they should just work.” If that were true, then the challenges I presented above and the ones which I witness at least once a week on calls with partners and customers would not be true.

As people that work in the technology space, we all have an expectation that things will work and, quite often, are surprised when they don’t. We start blaming the most recent patch or security update as being the culprit. Still, with today’s frequently changing systems, the result is devices that were tested last month may experience challenges today.

The value of certification programs spans the horizon from the assurance that the device or application works to being ‘fully supported’ by the communications platform. As an end user, I liken the need for testing to cell phone apps. If I download an app from the Apple store or Google Play, the expectation is that the app will work AND not affect my ability to use my smartphone. A similar requirement is expected by users of any device, particularly in business communications.

Most if not all meeting services have formal certification programs for all devices to ensure successful deployments, minimize issues, and provide a better customer experience for users.

Ensuring that your users’ devices are not the reason their meeting experience is terrible is essential to customer retention. Having your devices tested, certified, and supported by all UCaaS providers guarantees your customers a positive collaboration experience.

tekVizion provides user experience and certification testing for all major platforms, including Microsoft, Cisco, Amazon, RingCentral, and Zoom.