Lifesize Buys Kaptivo for Digital Whiteboard Technology
Solutions will address areas like meeting rooms, education, contact centers, and remote workers
Lifesize is adding more computer vision and imaging processing capabilities to its cloud-based unified communication and collaboration (UCC) portfolio with the acquisition this month of Kaptivo.
The Lowdown: At the same time, Austin, Texas-based Lifesize is rolling out a new application powered by Kaptivo technology that enhances the digital whiteboard uses in its video meeting offerings.
The Details: Kaptivo’s technology enables enterprises to connect traditional whiteboards to modern cloud-based collaboration tools. The company’s solution uses advanced image processing software to eliminate shadows, reflections, and people in front of the whiteboard, and the hardware leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to capture content that’s written on the whiteboard.
The Lifesize acquisition brings into the fold a company that had already been a technology partner. Integrating Kaptivo’s technology into its platform will enable Lifesize to offer new solutions for customers in a range of areas, including:
> Remote work: The technology can digitize any content, including diagrams, drawings, and financial figures, and deliver it to video meetings. The technology includes advanced features such as bi-directional annotation and automatic translation.
> Meeting rooms: Users can buy bundles from a single vendor to outfit meeting rooms and the whiteboards in them with systems that make them interactive and collaborative.
> Education: Institutions can make the distance-learning experience feel more like an in-classroom experience by enabling educators to better leverage their whiteboards in one-to-one and one-to-many environments.
> Contact centers: Agents using CxEngage Video – a product from Seranova, which merged with Lifesize in March – can document and annotate customer-facing content like billing statements and assembly instructions.
Kaptivo CEO David Hsieh will join Lifesize as head of its advanced collaboration business.
The Impact: The acquisition of privately held Kaptivo builds on the Serenova merger, which combined Serenova’s Contact Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS) capabilities with Lifesize’s Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) product lines. The technology from Kaptivo – which was founded in 2004 – works with a broad array of collaboration tools like ZoomRooms, GoToMeeting, Cisco’s Webex and Telepresence, BlueJeans Network (which is being bought by Verizon), Microsoft Teams, Skype, and Adobe Connect.
Customers include HP Inc., Deloitte, PwC, Kaiser Permanente, P&G, and George Washington University. The Kaptivo acquisition will give channel partners more options in terms of the cloud collaboration tools they can offer their end customers.
Background: In a report released in June, market research firm Nemertes found that more than half of organizations surveyed either are using or plan to use digital whiteboards by 2021.
The Buzz: “Kaptivo is a natural addition to the Lifesize platform, and its unique technology and talented team will allow us to accelerate our rate of innovation while simultaneously delivering new value to customers,” Lifesize CEO Craig Malloy said. “We look forward to rapidly expanding our advanced collaboration offering and helping organizations work, engage, teach, and learn more naturally and effectively, from wherever they are.”
“We are avid users of Kaptivo in conjunction with Lifesize videoconferencing,” said Benoît Bordenave, technical director at Visiolib. “Our distributed team frequently engages over video and reviews technical content digitally, as Kaptivo offers us a truly effortless way to collaborate. This acquisition by Lifesize is an exciting development, and deeper integration between these platforms will help professionals who need high definition, unstructured digital interaction become even more efficient and productive.”
“The entire Kaptivo team is excited to join Lifesize, a trusted partner and seasoned leader in the unified communications industry,” Hsieh said. “As schools and businesses adjust to remote work, advanced collaboration solutions that make all forms of work more productive are vitally important. Together, we are uniquely positioned to lead the market.”
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CHANNELNOMICS:
>Lifesize, Serenova Create UCaaS, CCaaS Company
>Lifesize Shifts Partners to Commission Payment Model
