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2013

INSERT COMPANY LOGO HERE

2013 North American SSL Certificate

Product Leadership Award

2014

2014 Global Enterprise Video Webcasting

Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award

BEST PRACTICES RESEARCH

© Frost & Sullivan 2 “We Accelerate Growth”

Contents

Background and Company Performance ........................................................................ 3

Industry Challenges .............................................................................................. 3

Strategy Innovation and Customer Impact of TalkPoint ............................................. 4

Conclusion........................................................................................................... 6

Significance of Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership ...................................... 7

Understanding Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership ...................................... 7

Key Benchmarking Criteria .................................................................................... 8

Best Practice Award Analysis for TalkPoint ..................................................................... 8

Decision Support Scorecard ................................................................................... 8

Strategy Innovation .............................................................................................. 9

Customer Impact ................................................................................................. 9

Decision Support Matrix ...................................................................................... 10

The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best Practices Awards ..................... 11

Research Methodology ........................................................................................ 11

Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices ................................................................................................................. 12

About Frost & Sullivan .............................................................................................. 13



Background and Company Performance Industry Challenges

Webcasting has become a must-have, oftentimes business-critical feature for enterprises

around the globe today. For any large enterprise with a geographically dispersed

workforce, webcasting is perceived as a tool that helps to not only save costs, but also to

train workforces, communicate with employees and partners and create efficiencies within

organizations. Video, both live and on-demand, is thus becoming increasingly adopted by

enterprises.

Several technology vendors have identified the business opportunity that exists for

webcasting platforms and have launched their own webcasting solutions. Apart from the

traditional vendors in the space, such as VBrick, Qumu and Haivision, companies like

MediaPlatform, TalkPoint and Kontiki have had success in this market. Companies with

traditional core competencies in other areas, such as video conferencing giants Cisco and

Polycom and virtual events companies ON24 and INXPO, also have competed in the

webcasting space. As a result, the enterprise video webcasting space is both crowded and

dynamic.

For many customers, the webcasting market fragmentation is confusing. A number of

different vendors offer a variety of solutions; while some vendors provide point solutions

to enable enterprise IT departments to stitch together home-grown offerings that leverage

existing infrastructure and endpoints, other vendors provide end-to-end platforms that

power all parts of the workflow, from creation to delivery and video management. The

sheer number of vendors and the comparison of products, pricing models and integration

capabilities usually make for long sales cycles. For vendors, market education is an

important priority, and competitive differentiation messaging is critical.

On a broader scale, demand analysis suggests that enterprises would like a single

platform that caters to both live and on-demand video requirements—for communication

with internal audiences (employees) and external stakeholders (prospective and current

customers, suppliers, investors, partners). Cloud solutions and hybrid models are hugely

popular because of flexibility and scalability considerations. Enterprises also have a

declining tolerance for building and fostering multiple business relationships to solve

different parts of the same problem. Consequentially, there has been an ongoing wave of

convergence, wherein most vendors are building platforms that include all the

aforementioned capabilities.

Another key challenge is budgetary constraints within enterprise IT departments, and

video often is not a top priority for many enterprises. Few organizations truly devise

enterprise-wide video strategies. Even when budgets become available, funding often is

diverted for upgrades to existing document-based systems or more widely adopted video

conferencing systems. As a result, single departments within the enterprise ecosystem

look for a solution to fit their unique needs. Once the department is satisfied with the

experience, the solution is adopted by other groups within the same company; eventually,



there is a push for enterprise-wide adoption. Simplified pricing models and scaled product

offerings are key in this environment.

Scalability, reliability, security, quality and ease-of-use are the most important

requirements in the webcasting space. Video webcasting solutions typically have high

visibility because of enterprise C-suite usage. Networks and outdated enterprise

technology also continue to be a challenge, and vendors who can navigate these internal

and external pressures can quickly gain a competitive edge.

Strategy Innovation and Customer Impact of TalkPoint

Strategy Effectiveness

TalkPoint, a PGi company, has been committed to the enterprise webcasting space for a

decade. Over the past fifteen years since its founding, the company has established

technical expertise and market leadership, becoming the partner of choice for over 300

enterprises, including several Fortune 1000™ companies. TalkPoint was originally known

for provisioning webcasting capabilities as a fully managed service. In 2012, TalkPoint

transformed into a webcasting solutions provider with the launch of its webcasting

platform, Convey™. Convey is a self-service webcasting solution robust enough for IT but

designed for the business user. It is easy to use and configure, with an intuitive interface.

Convey enables users to prepare a webcast presentation and go live in under five minutes.

TalkPoint’s flagship product has seen high uptake in a variety of industry verticals, and as

much as 60 percent of the company’s revenues are derived from the SaaS based self-

service webcasting solution.

TalkPoint has reseller partnerships with two among the largest web conferencing vendors,

giving it a significant competitive edge over other vendors in this space. Through its direct

sales, TalkPoint focuses exclusively on the largest global enterprises. These reseller

partnerships are a great strategic move for the company as it allows TalkPoint to

penetrate organizations of all sizes. One partner for instance has more than 100,000

customers, the majority of which are classified as SMB. Through the reseller partnership,

TalkPoint now stands to penetrate a portion of this high volume SMB market. The second

partnership on the other hand enables TalkPoint to penetrate the higher end, lucrative

large enterprise market.

Competitive Differentiation

Companies that compete in the webcasting space have approached this market in several

different ways. Many started out on-premise and built out large product lines involving

devices, video management, CDNs and distribution technology, while certain others

started on the on-demand video end of the spectrum gradually adding live video offerings.

TalkPoint, on the other hand, focused purely on the enterprise webcasting opportunity and

has developed a fully cloud-based, self-service webcasting offering. TalkPoint also has a

robust on-demand studio complete with an editing suite. The company maintained its core



focus on webcasting, penetrating a variety of industry verticals and functional groups

within the largest global organizations. This laser focus on cloud webcasting gives

TalkPoint a competitive edge today. With Convey, TalkPoint built a solid and scalable

webcasting solution, helping the company nurture partnerships in the complementary web

conferencing space.

From a product perspective, Convey is cloud-based and scalable for up to 10,000

enterprise constituents both internal and external. The solution is easily customizable,

providing customers with a fully branded, highly interactive and engaging webcast

experience through surveys, polls and Q&A. Because Convey is delivered through a user’s

Internet browser, the solution requires no downloads or plug-ins, enabling end-users to

enjoy a seamless mobile experience as well. The solution also has a robust, flexible and

permissions-based management system, enabling enterprises to customize functions and

features based on their unique business requirements. TalkPoint also offers the flexibility

of Assist Services to help customers with fully managed service offerings, although this is

a smaller portion of its business today.

Pricing is straightforward. TalkPoint drives license-based pricing as a monthly subscription

fee on an annualized basis.

Brand Equity

TalkPoint is used by some of the world’s largest enterprises. TalkPoint Convey is widely

used in the financial services market, among insurance companies, investment banks,

commercial banks, financial content companies and mutual funds. Life sciences firms and

drug manufacturers use Convey for online clinical development, education and drug

commercialization. Convey is also widely used by technology and business service firms,

retailers and healthcare organizations across the world. TalkPoint has multiple points of

presence throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The U.S. is TalkPoint’s

largest single market in terms of revenues, whereas Europe, specifically the United

Kingdom, Germany and Dublin, is the company’s highest growth market. Although

TalkPoint does not directly market to companies headquartered in the Asia Pacific region,

they deliver in-country services for European and U.S.-based companies with an Asia-

Pacific presence. [NOTE: we anticipate that TalkPoint’s global capabilities will be greatly

enhanced through its recent acquisition by market-leading collaboration software and

services provider, PGi, which maintains global delivery infrastructure and a local sales and

service presence in 25 countries worldwide.]

Over the past decade, TalkPoint has built a formidable brand name in the webcasting

market. The company has grown at a rate north of 20 percent year-over-year for the past

three years, which is well above the market average. Apart from growing revenues,

TalkPoint keeps its costs low and drives high profit margins. With the crowded nature of

the webcasting space today, this combination is a rarity and sets TalkPoint apart from the

rest of the vendors in the market.



Conclusion

TalkPoint’s strong commitment to the enterprise market and unwavering focus on

webcasting market opportunities have enabled the company to build a valuable brand and

a great product that is used by the world’s top enterprises and brands. TalkPoint’s Convey

solution is a fully cloud-based, self-service and browser-based webcasting solution that

requires no downloads or plug-ins. The intuitive, easy-to-use solution empowers business

users to host live webcasts without technical support. The company is also known for its

superior customer service. TalkPoint’s integration with web conferencing endpoints and its

partnerships give the company a unique advantage within the large enterprise and SMB

markets. This unique advantage substantially differentiates TalkPoint’s growth strategy

from other vendors in this space.

With its strong overall performance, TalkPoint has earned Frost & Sullivan’s 2014

Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award in the Enterprise Video Webcasting

Market.



Significance of Competitive Strategy Innovation and

Leadership Any successful approach to achieving top-line growth must (1) take into account what

competitors are and are not doing; (2) meet customer demand with a comprehensive,

value-driven product or service portfolio; and (3) establish a brand that resonates deeply

with customers and stands apart from other providers. Companies must succeed at these

three things—brand, demand and positioning—to achieve best-practice levels in

competitive strategy. This concept is explored further below.

Understanding Competitive Strategy Innovation and

Leadership

As discussed above, driving demand, brand strength and competitive differentiation all

play a critical role in delivering unique value to customers. This three-fold focus, however,

must ideally be complemented by an equally rigorous focus on strategy innovation and

customer impact.



Key Benchmarking Criteria

For the Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award, we evaluated two key

factors—Strategy Innovation and Customer Impact—according to the criteria identified

below.

Strategy Innovation

Criterion 1: Strategy Effectiveness

Criterion 2: Strategy Execution

Criterion 3: Competitive Differentiation

Criterion 4: Executive Team Alignment

Criterion 5: Stakeholder Integration

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Best Practice Award Analysis for TalkPoint

Decision Support Scorecard

To support its evaluation of best practices across multiple business performance

categories, Frost & Sullivan employs a customized Decision Support Scorecard. This tool

allows our research and consulting teams to objectively analyze performance, according to

the key benchmarking criteria listed in the previous section, and to assign ratings on that

basis. The tool follows a 10-point scale that allows for nuances in performance evaluation;

ratings guidelines are illustrated below.

RATINGS GUIDELINES

The Decision Support Scorecard is organized by Strategy Innovation and Customer Impact

(i.e., the overarching categories for all 10 benchmarking criteria; the definitions for each

criteria are provided beneath the scorecard). The research team confirms the veracity of

this weighted scorecard through sensitivity analysis, which confirms that small changes to

the ratings for a specific criterion do not lead to a significant change in the overall relative

rankings of the companies.



The results of this analysis are shown below. To remain unbiased and to protect the

interests of all organizations reviewed, we have chosen to refer to the other key players in

as Competitor 2 and Competitor 3.

DECISION SUPPORT SCORECARD FOR COMPETITIVE STRATEGY INNOVATION AND

LEADERSHIP AWARD

Measurement of 1–10 (1 = poor; 10 = excellent)

Competitive Strategy Innovation and

Leadership

Strategy

Innovation

Customer

Impact Average Rating

TalkPoint 9.0 9.0 9.0

Competitor 1 8.0 8.0 8.0

Competitor 2 8.0 7.5 7.75

Strategy Innovation

Criterion 1: Strategy Effectiveness

Requirement: Strategy effectively balances short term performance needs with long-term

aspirations and vision for the company

Criterion 2: Strategy Execution

Requirement: Adoption of best-in-class processes to support the efficient and consistent

implementation of business strategy

Criterion 3: Competitive Differentiation

Requirement: Unique competitive advantages with regard to solution or product are

clearly articulated and well accepted within the industry

Criterion 4: Executive Team Alignment

Requirement: The executive team is aligned on the organization’s mission, vision, strategy

and execution

Criterion 5: Stakeholder Integration

Requirement: Strategy reflects the needs or circumstances of all industry stakeholders,

including competitors, customers, investors, and employees

Customer Impact

Criterion 1: Price/Performance Value

Requirement: Products or services offer the best value for the price, compared to similar

offerings in the market

Criterion 2: Customer Purchase Experience

Requirement: Customers feel like they are buying the most optimal solution that

addresses both their unique needs and their unique constraints



Criterion 3: Customer Ownership Experience

Requirement: Customers are proud to own the company’s product or service, and have a

positive experience throughout the life of the product or service

Criterion 4: Customer Service Experience

Requirement: Customer service is accessible, fast, stress-free, and of high quality

Criterion 5: Brand Equity

Requirement: Customers have a positive view of the brand and exhibit high brand loyalty

Decision Support Matrix

Once all companies have been evaluated according to the Decision Support Scorecard,

analysts can then position the candidates on the matrix shown below, enabling them to

visualize which companies are truly breakthrough and which ones are not yet operating at

best-in-class levels.

DECISION SUPPORT MATRIX FOR COMPETITIVE STRATEGY INNOVATION AND LEADERSHIP

AWARD

High

Low

Low High

Custo

mer I

mpact

Strategy Innovation

TalkPoint

Competitor 2

Competitor 3



The Intersection between 360-Degree Research and Best

Practices Awards

Research Methodology

Frost & Sullivan’s 360-degree research

methodology represents the analytical

rigor of our research process. It offers a

360-degree-view of industry challenges,

trends, and issues by integrating all 7 of

Frost & Sullivan's research methodologies.

Too often, companies make important

growth decisions based on a narrow

understanding of their environment,

leading to errors of both omission and

commission. Successful growth strategies

are founded on a thorough understanding

of market, technical, economic, financial,

customer, best practices, and demographic

analyses. The integration of these research

disciplines into the 360-degree research

methodology provides an evaluation

platform for benchmarking industry players and for identifying those performing at best-

in-class levels.

360-DEGREE RESEARCH: SEEING ORDER IN

THE CHAOS

Technology

Obsolescence

Disruptive

Technologies

New

Applications

CEO

Demographics

Needs

and

PerceptionsSegmentation

Buying

Behavior

Branding

and

Positioning

Competitive

Benchmarking

Emerging

Competition

Competitive

Strategy

Capital

Investments

Availability

of

Capital

Country

Risk

Economic

Trends

Crowd

Sourcing

Growth

Strategies

Career

Development

Growth

Implementation

Industry

Evolution

New Vertical

Markets

Industry

Expansion

Industry

Convergence

Emerging

Technologies

Smart Cities

Sustainability

New Business

Cultures

GeoPolitical

Stability



Best Practices Recognition: 10 Steps to Researching, Identifying, and Recognizing Best Practices

Our awards team follows a 10-step process (illustrated below) to evaluate award

candidates and assess their fit with our best practice criteria. The reputation and integrity

of our awards process are based on close adherence to this process.

STEP OBJECTIVE KEY ACTIVITIES OUTPUT

1 Monitor, target, and screen

Identify award recipient candidates from around the globe

• Conduct in-depth industry research

• Identify emerging sectors • Scan multiple geographies

Pipeline of candidates who potentially meet all best-practice criteria

2 Perform 360-degree research

Perform comprehensive, 360-degree research on all candidates in the pipeline

• Interview thought leaders and industry practitioners

• Assess candidates’ fit with best-practice criteria

• Rank all candidates

Matrix positioning all candidates’ performance relative to one another

3

Invite thought leadership in best practices

Perform in-depth examination of all candidates

• Confirm best-practice criteria • Examine eligibility of all candidates

• Identify any information gaps

Detailed profiles of all ranked candidates

4

Initiate research director review

Conduct an unbiased evaluation of all candidate profiles

• Brainstorm ranking options • Invite multiple perspectives on candidates’ performance

• Update candidate profiles

Final prioritization of all eligible candidates and companion best-practice positioning paper

5

Assemble panel of industry experts

Present findings to an expert panel of industry thought leaders

• Share findings • Strengthen cases for candidate eligibility

• Prioritize candidates

Refined list of prioritized award candidates

6

Conduct global industry review

Build consensus on award candidates’ eligibility

• Hold global team meeting to review all candidates

• Pressure-test fit with criteria • Confirm inclusion of all eligible candidates

Final list of eligible award candidates, representing success stories worldwide

7 Perform quality check

Develop official award consideration materials

• Perform final performance benchmarking activities

• Write nominations • Perform quality review

High-quality, accurate, and creative presentation of nominees’ successes

8

Reconnect with panel of industry experts

Finalize the selection of the best-practice award recipient

• Review analysis with panel • Build consensus • Select winner

Decision on which company performs best against all best-practice criteria

9 Communicate recognition

Inform award recipient of award recognition

• Present award to the CEO • Inspire the organization for continued success

• Celebrate the recipient’s performance

Announcement of award and plan for how recipient can use the award to enhance the brand

10 Take strategic action

Share award news with stakeholders and customers

• Coordinate media outreach • Design a marketing plan • Assess award’s role in future strategic planning

Widespread awareness of recipient’s award status among investors, media personnel, and employees



About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth

and achieve best in class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's

Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined

research and best practice models to drive the generation, evaluation and implementation

of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages almost 50 years of experience in

partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment

community from 31 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit

http://www.frost.com.

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