In January 2012 an important event for the Russian business took place in Moscow, the first public virtual telepresence room was opened. It is a part of a global network of Public Telepresence. It is easier to solve business problems, because it doesn’t depend on borders, distances or fares for air travel: the system allowsto be at any time in London, New York or Singapore, and communicate with colleagues and partners with a full sense of the personal presence of a round table. The Russian Association of Business Travel correspondent talked about this service with Roman Mornev, CTO BizKomm. The meeting took place in Moscow’s business center «Monarch» in the Public Telepresence room.

— BizKommhas become the first company to introduce on the Russian market the renting of the Public Telepresence room. Tell us about the communication technology. What is its innovation and benefits compared with standard video conference?

— We’re not just the first, we are the only company in Russia that provides Public Telepresence service. However, it is wrong to call it only technology. Everything you see in this room: equipment, lamps, wall color, shape and size of the table and chairs, screens, — makes complete and deliberate decision for the business. Each element is designed so that people could come and without any problems communicate with those who are on the other side of the screen as if they are actually in the same room. You sit at the table and look at the screen on the back of which — absolutely the same prepared room with lighting and sound equipment. In our experience, 10-15 minutes of communication are enough so that participants could really delved into this atmosphere and really feel that they are sitting at a table with their interlocutors, whether they are in London, Singapore and elsewhere. This is the main idea of the solution — the creation of a virtual roundtable.

Many people ask us why to solve business problems is not enough to use Skype or standard video conferencing system. We have expected such question, opening a room in St. Petersburg. We held a large press conference, including journalists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and other cities, and asked them to start conversations on Skype. After 10 minutes the conversation with the «talking heads» was stopped, because of unnatural atmosphere. But when you Telepresence, you completely forget about technology. The effect of the presence of so great that at the first meeting, most participants are trying to shake hands with their virtual interlocutors on the other side of the screen!

Of course, all the solutions are useful and good for their own purpose. Let’s leave Skype for domestic purposes — communication with our mothers and friends. But for the board of directors, the presentation of a new product, a global financial report we need another level of the solution. So we need a personal contact «eye to eye», so head makes a decision — to go on a trip or not to waste time and money but meet virtually using our service.