Joel Brunson of TANDBERG on How Video Conferencing is Changing Business

ExecutiveBiz recently had the opportunity to sit down with Joel Brunson of TANDBERG to discuss the role of video conferencing technologies in business. He also discussed the public sector sales approach at TANDBERG.

ExecutiveBiz:  Can you talk briefly about your role here at TANDBERG?

Joel Brunson:  I am the President of TANDBERG Public Sector.  I am going to define public sector because everybody has a different view on what public sector means.  If you go back to your math days and you think of Venn Diagrams and the universe as public sector, then the subsets of that would be federal and state & local, education and healthcare.  That“™s what makes up and defines TANDBERG“™s view of public sector.

ExecutiveBiz:  How large is the public sector business unit?  How would you describe it?

Joel Brunson:  I will describe it as being the largest single vertical within TANDBERG with the largest growth rate.  We are responsible for better than 50% of the US revenue and when you compare it on a worldwide basis we are between 20 and 30% of the world“™s revenue.  That is key for a couple of reasons; number one it signifies that we have good market penetration in this space, but the other thing that is most important for the customers to know is that we are a big piece of TANDBERG with resources dedicated to our success.  When customers have a requirement for a special feature or a special need, it“™s a lot easier when somebody has that piece of their business dedicated to public sector to talk to engineers to say “˜look we need this feature, we need this enhancement.“™  If you look at any high tech company and I urge you to look at any one that you want, you“™ll see that their public sector caps out at around 5% of  worldwide revenue.  Going back to that same example, if you need a future code or a product enhancement  – – you have to present a business case for 95% of the other business before engineering, research & development wants to get onboard with that idea.  Here, we“™re quick to react because it is such a big piece of the business.

“[TANDBERG’s video conferencing] is state of the art, high definition, secure, fast technology.  It changes businesses by accelerating  decision making, sending out the same clear message to all participants that are on the call, whether they are in a board room, on the battlefield, in a hospital or a courtroom .  It is really business changing.” -Joel Brunson

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