Travel
Everyone understands that travel is a part of business, right? It doesn’t always have to be. Since the dawn of the information age businesses have had technology available to significantly reduce travel. Video conferencing makes it easy to meet face-to-face with clients and employees without ever having to leave the office. The benefits are immense. Imagine all of the time and money saved on routine travel not to mention helping save the planet by cutting back on your carbon footprint.
Collaboration
Video conferencing not only reduces travel, it increases collaboration as well. With the ability to have quality face-to-face interactions at a moment’s notice employees feel more inclined to reach out to their team members in different locations to get things done. Supply chain management becomes streamlined as video conferencing allows for content sharing and annotation within a single call. Why send an email when you can make a more effective video call?
Ease of use
Out of the box solutions make video conferencing viable for companies of all sizes. In the past companies had to dedicate lots of IT staff to manage video conferencing technology but today’s solutions often require little more than plugging in a device and using a remote. Now anyone who sees the value in video conferencing can confidently take advantage of the opportunity with minimal IT support.
Affordability
As technology evolves it gets smaller and less expensive. Video conferencing has been around since the early 1990’s as strictly enterprise level hardware and infrastructure bundles. I say bundles because this older technology was never just a camera and codec, there was always ancillary hardware needed to make it work. Fast forward twenty years and the playing field looks quite a bit different. All in one solutions that require nothing more than a codec and camera are readily available and cost far less than anything you might have seen twenty years ago. The quality of technology compared to cost is outstanding. Most systems today include HD cameras and the ability to connect as many people as needed to video calls. The single largest advancement in cost reducing technology is the “cloud”. Cloud based video conferencing is the future of the industry and its here now. Cloud based solutions allow your company to communicate anytime, anywhere, without the need for bulky and complicated hardware.
Effective Communication
Technology will never be able to replace an in-person interaction. The experience of looking someone in the eyes and shaking their hand is second to none. What is second to in-person interaction is meeting face-to-face through video. The only major difference between meeting in person and meeting through video is touch. Besides shaking hands, how often are you touching the people with whom you meet? Aside from touch, video conferencing is the richest and most cost effective form of interaction available. Body language can account for up to 85% of communication, when you talk over the phone you lose all of it and when you correspond via email you lose even more. Seeing someone yawn, shift in their seat, smile, nod their head or take notes adds to the quality and effectiveness of communication. Video conferencing removes Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson from the equation meaning you lose less in translation and gain more across the board.