Key Points for IT Staff as NHS Digital Deploys Cloud Video Interop (CVI) Services

With a large uptake in the use of Microsoft Teams, largely driven by the pandemic, NHS Digital have deployed Cloud Video Interop (CVI) services powered by Pexip Infinity, which can be employed to enable standards-based video endpoints to join a Microsoft Teams meeting.

In this post I will explore the key points IT staff need to consider to ensure their end-users can utilise the service effectively in their communication and collaboration workflows.

Firstly, there doesn’t appear to be any one-touch-join (OTJ) capability available as part of this service. OTJ, also known as One-Button-To-Push (OBTP), allows a user to walk into a room, and push a (generally big, green) button to join the meeting.

Without OTJ, users will have to dial the VTC IVR manually and enter a code to join the meeting. I’ve already written about the critical requirement to make these workflows as reliable and user friendly as possible.

Messing around with join codes or expecting your users to remember how to join a Teams meeting from a standards-based endpoint when they haven’t done it in ages, especially in high-pressure situations, is never going to go well.

They will definitely ignore that crisp, white, laminated instruction sheet you left next to the console (assuming it’s still there), and you can watch your service desk calls slowly creep up, directly correlated to the ire of your user base.

Then there is the question of quality and reliability. Which way do you look when your standards-based endpoint gets flaky call quality? Or simply doesn’t connect at all?

Your network? Microsoft Teams? The CVI platform? The endpoint? The end-user?

And what happens when the worlds of AV and IT collide? Standards-based endpoints and other traditional A/V infrastructure have been and are largely still maintained by facilities management teams. So, is it their problem, or the IT guys who enabled you for Microsoft Teams in the first place?

This is where Cinos’ Managed MDT Service really comes into its own.

We help bring the worlds of standards-based video, and best-in-class collaboration capabilities of Microsoft Teams together, in a solution that provides the many benefits public health organisations have come to expect from our service, with envious reliability (100% uptime for the last several years) and world-leading managed service capabilities.

With a Cinos Cloud registered endpoint, our customers get the very best of both of these worlds.

Organisations taking advantage of N365 can utilise the newly available CVI functionality to protect their existing assets, and take advantage of a #BetterTogether strategy that enables standards-based endpoints to be utilised to their fullest potential, without isolating them from other workflows i.e. public cloud meeting services such as Microsoft Teams.

At the same time, Cinos can provide endpoint management and monitoring services, as well as concierge services for those most critical meetings involving patient care.

As an added benefit, all Cinos Cloud registered endpoints can take advantage of our hosted join service, enabling users to seamlessly connect to Microsoft Teams (or Zoom/Webex/Starleaf) meetings at the touch of a button.

And with everything connected to the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN), no additional firewall configuration/monitoring is required to enable these endpoints to connect successfully to the CVI service; devices registered to the Cinos Cloud can already get there.

For those customers who prefer to utilise their own dedicated O365 tenant, Cinos can also provide CVI Services in addition to those other services outlined above.

If you are looking for a Microsoft Teams Rooms Premium solution for your healthcare organisation, or have a requirement to join cloud meetings from your standards-based video endpoints and would like to discuss your requirements with an expert, please get in touch. We would be delighted to help.