The fact that my interview with Nic Milani was conducted over Google Hangouts provided a nice segue for Crestron’s director of commercial product marketing to talk about why open architecture is so important when it comes to unified communications, UCC strategies and collaboration (UCC).
“What we’re using today, Google Hangouts, didn’t exist 10 years ago,” he says.
His point is that it’s difficult when integration customers plan out their UCC strategies.
They might have an idea of what they want now, but it’s hard to anticipate what will become important in the future. Milani maintains that open architecture is an important factor for integrators when designing UCC solutions that can evolve with their customers.
“If I’m talking to an integrator,” Milani says, he likes to “get them thinking about flexible systems for open architecture for the future. That’s what Crestron has been pushing really hard over the last few years with the Mercury that we offer.”
He describes Crestron Mercury’s flexibility as unique. Customers can use any laptop; use any soft codec to connect quickly; execute a video conference; then collapse the conversation and move on.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m using Webex or Skype for Business or whatever it is,” he says.
“This solution gives us the flexibility, gives an integrator confidence to install a system and realize it’s going to evolve over time.”
What’s Next for Crestron UCC?
Not only can Crestron Mercury solutions evolve along with customers’ UCC strategies, Milani says, but Crestron’s unified communications offerings are evolving, too.
The UCC market and Crestron are “in the midst of a revolution,” he says.
“We’re pushing our UC products even further than just Mercury, and you’re going to see exciting news in the coming months.”
In the video above, Milani goes on to tease updates to Crestron’s unified communications offerings that he says will be “formally unveiled” soon.
Watch the video for our complete interview with Crestron’s Nic Milani.
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