Getting the Most Data from Cisco Collaboration Endpoints

By Chris Gentsch

Today’s video endpoints are great collaboration tools for video and audio calls, but they are so much more than that. Video tools like Cisco Collaboration Endpoints provide a wealth of information about room utilization – even when not in a call.

Vyopta’s vAnalytics™ tools already provide insights based on call activity, but most of the modern room systems can provide additional data as long as a few settings are updated. These settings include whether or not any people are detected in the room and, for the newer Webex Room Kit series, (previously called Spark Room Kits) including the next gen Webex Room 55 and Room 70 series, even the number of people detected in the room via their new People Count feature.

People Count during calls is on by default in the Room Kit series, but there are a few optional settings that are typically not enabled by default:

1. People Presence Detector
2. People Count Out of Call

These settings are easily enabled by logging into the endpoint’s web GUI and opening the Settings/Configuration tab. In the search field, enter RoomAnalytics and these options will be visible for you to select:

People Presence Detector does have a dependency – activation of the Proximity feature. This uses the endpoint’s ultrasonic beam to not only allow wireless connections for presentation, but also to determine if there are any changes in the room reflectivity compared to the empty state. If not enabled on your endpoints, simply go to the Proximity setting tab or search Proximity:

Once enabled, Vyopta’s Endpoint Monitor service will collect these stats from the endpoint and incorporate this information in our vAnalytics™ data. To get the full picture of Workspace Insights utilizing all these additional data points, click on the Rooms section of your Advanced Analytics page the Vyopta vAnalytics™ portal:

When combined with the room meeting schedule, these insights start to become more interesting and valuable to the people in charge of making room usage decisions. You can add Exchange calendaring or other room scheduling data into Advanced Analytics™ to provide some powerful insights into how a room is actually being utilized. Questions like “Are people showing up for a scheduled meeting?” “Is the room under-utilized because the technology is not being used?” “Are only a few people occupying a large meeting room?” are now being answered with hard data, no longer estimations. Vyopta even includes “non-call presentation” where the endpoint is used to present locally in the meeting when not in a video call.

By enabling these Cisco Collaboration Endpoint features, new insights into how your video enabled rooms are actually being used are now possible, empowering you to make data-driven decisions.

Learn how our customer, AbbVie uses Vyopta to optimize their global Cisco collaboration environment. 

---

About the Author: 

Chris Gentsch is a leading video communication systems engineer with more than 25 years in the industry. He is the current Director of Solutions Engineering at Vyopta, Inc responsible for all video communications systems engineering and audio visual system designs. Chris works closely with leading manufacturers in beta testing and product development, ensuring that Vyopta remains actively engaged with our clients in a variety of industries including commercial, education and healthcare.