Video conferencing (VC) is a major part of doing business in the 21st century. It facilitates visual communication with clients and colleagues anywhere and anytime. Moreover, a video call can save energy, money, and reduce environmental impact in some surprising (but significant) ways. With all the benefits, an increasing number of businesses adopt online meetings as their go-to mode of communication.
Keep on reading for an in-depth look at how video conferencing benefits your business, or visit the ViewSonic workplace solutions for more ways to optimize the way you work.
Video conferencing in previous years has been limited by high costs and network latency. However, this is no longer the case as more meetings are taking place virtually rather than in physical locations. Simply put, face-to-face meetings are slowly becoming a thing of the past.
Initially, video conferencing was used to reduce travel costs. Now, the benefits are more far-reaching as online communication tools are expanding. Working together has never been easier, and greater knowledge of the benefits that come along with it is fueling the growth of remote collaboration. The promise of video conferencing is to:
All the benefits revolve around one key point: We move faster towards our goals when we can see and interact with the people we’re working.
Online meetings have become critical to many companies’ collaboration strategies. Video conferencing systems run the gamut from basic desktops housed in huddle rooms to sophisticated telepresence suites. Thanks to the more reliable tech and lower prices, teleconferencing is transitioning to a core enterprise productivity tool. A steady stream of new tech has also hugely improved usability. Along with greater reliability, the total cost of ownership is dropping.
Cost/demand trends and ease of use are placing the benefits of video conferencing within reach of more businesses. Employees have always talked to one another but now we’re more aware that collaborative, team-focused work environments can deliver incredible business advantages. Among the many research-demonstrated benefits, video collaboration has proven to:
Increased demand for video calling is mostly driven by remote employees and Millennials. These professionals thrive when provided with feature-rich, easy-to-use tools. Their preference for real-time communication has contributed to the massive growth of the market. As Lifesize’s
2019 Impact of Video Conferencing Report indicates, in 2019, 48% of professionals used teleconferences more often than two years earlier in 2017.
That was already a big trend before the pandemic hit causing an impressive global spike of the video conferencing market in 2020 amounting to 5.77 billion in 2020 as per Fortune Business Insights. To give you an example, Zoom saw its profits jump by 300% that year. Not surprisingly, Fortune Business Insights predicts the market to continue to grow and reach a staggering sum of $12.99 billion in 2028.
Aside from reducing travel, there are plenty of other far-reaching benefits, such as reducing the amount of time wasted in meetings. Below are some of the main reasons companies are using video conferencing more than ever before:
Travel costs add up quickly. Hold a video call and you eliminate costs for employee transportation, hotels, and meals. Customer entertainment expenses disappear. Reducing travel costs for just one employee far outweighs the expense of a VC system that can be used by the entire company.
Yes, you can be in two places at once. Several, actually. And it’s all thanks to VC. The implications for productivity are huge. Reduced travel requirements help key employees maximize their time. Holding video calls with customers and partners around the world boosts productivity.
Video calls reduce the misunderstandings that come from email and phone calls. With video conferencing, facial expression and body language deliver a more complete message. VC participants are also more likely to speak up and clarify information. Additionally, they will stay more alert and focused when viewed by coworkers.
The bottom line is that VC maximizes your human resources. Projects can be completed faster and participants feel more in sync with each other and the meeting objectives.
Visual cues bring a level of efficiency not possible with audio calls. Because of this, participants get a lot more done via video conference. Display mockups. Demo products. Impress potential customers. Proponents admit it’s even more efficient than face-to-face meetings. When everyone’s in the same room, discussions can easily get off track due to side comments and digressions. The structure of a video conference permits less room for small-talk.
With VC, tight time constraints and remote call-ins can facilitate a more focused discussion with less side chatter. Plus, when participants can be seen by colleagues, focus and contribution are higher. Sight-unseen phone calls can tempt participants to look at their smartphone, keep working on their laptop or browse the internet.
Bottom line efficiency benefits of video conferencing: Seeing one another boosts efficiency. More interaction. Less distraction.
Have something you need to communicate right away? Convene a video conference. With VC there’s no need to gather all key players in one place. Demo the latest product design. Deliver critical info. Set goals, quotas, deadlines, or strategic changes. All with the added visual impact that’s missing from a phone conference.
Bottom line outreach benefits of video conferencing: VC lets you get critical info to key personnel with added impact.
Happy, healthy employees are productive employees. VC helps with both. Frequent travel takes a physical and emotional toll. Replacing video calls results in greater health and job satisfaction. In turn, this boosts performance and productivity. Also helps reduce job turnover.
Telecommuting is on the rise. Working remotely translates to employee satisfaction. VC supports work-life balance. In a recent study conducted by Owl Labs, 77% of respondents say that having the possibility to work from home after the pandemic would make them happier.
Bottom line employee benefits of video conferencing: Employees who travel less and video conference more are healthier, happier, and more productive. Office flexibility also brings significant cost savings. Jells reported an annual savings of $11,000 per person per year when workers could work from home 50% of the time.
Human communication is complex. Body language. The tone of voice. At times, the spoken word leaves too much for interpretation. Phone calls reveal tone but leave out body language and facial expression. This is often critical for full understanding.
Visual communication generates effective collaboration. Personal understanding and connection are the keys to successful working relationships developed during video conferencing.
As noted in the Harvard Business Review, this connection “promotes a group loyalty that results in a shared commitment to and discipline toward the work.” Having a sense of camaraderie, of really getting to know our coworkers create “a common sense of purpose and the mentality that we are in it together.”
Video conferencing builds relationships, trust, and camaraderie among employees. Executives can hold meetings in real-time with global offices. Teams feel more connected to the home office. Project managers see and interact with those they may never have the chance to meet in person. Suppliers deliver informative, visually impactful pitches. The possibilities for building more successful and lasting business relationships are virtually endless.
Bottom line communication/relationship benefits of video conferencing: VC brings every aspect of communication to the table, for more effective conversations and better working relationships.
Support for Green Initiatives
Business traveling takes a toll on the environment in many ways. Video conferencing is an energy-smart, economically viable way to attend or sponsor meetings. It’s environmentally friendly, too.
Reduced business travel helps with:
Replacing travel with conferencing has a deep environmental impact. It also makes economic sense. One study determined businesses with $1 billion or more in annual revenue adding VC achieve ROI in as little as 15 months. Nearly 900 business trips would be eliminated in the first year. The environmental impact? A reduction of 2,271 metric tons of pollution over five years. That’s the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing 434 passenger vehicles from the road.
Bottom line environmental benefits of video conferencing: They’re huge. Replacing business travel with VC reduces landfill-bound waste, pollutants, and greenhouse gasses.
Competitive Advantage
Each of the benefits listed above sharpens companies’ competitive edge. Teams that communicate via VC share knowledge faster and more efficiently. This reduces time to market. Support departments establish personal customer relationships. Manufacturers can cut time and improve quality via video conferences. They can verify quality, propose changes, and ensure accuracy throughout the product lifecycle.
Bottom line competitive benefits of video conferencing: Leveraging VC allows companies to be more efficient. Better meetings are generated. Creativity abounds. Product cycles are thought out.
The range of options for implementing VC has never been greater. Price points range from entry-level to extravagant. The benefits of video conferencing are available to companies large and small. Options span hardware-based systems, software suites, and virtualized systems. Prices are also dropping in comparison to a few years ago.
Industry analyst Andrew Davis of Wainhouse Research says: “The capabilities you get with an entry-point system exceed what you could have received with a high-end system just a few years ago. People are trying to figure out what their infrastructure should be: Should they buy it and put it on premises, or should they go with a cloud service? I suspect that many companies, especially large companies, will go with a hybrid environment.”
The key point is to seek simplicity throughout the solution lifecycle. VC systems are simple and easy to use. Look for systems and partners that deliver ease of use. The ability for IT to monitor the VC environment helps with any problems managing the system.
Displays To Support VC Success
ViewSonic offers a range of displays to support companies seeking to leverage the benefits of video conferencing. Content sharing options are designed to deliver simplified meeting collaboration.
High Visibility Displays
Conference rooms call for large screens. One large format display is the minimum, two or more is the trend. Interactivity on at least one display in the room has become the norm. Offering the ability to annotate and save presentation material helps even more. Content sharing tools enable easy group collaboration like dedicated display solutions for team collaboration.
Crystal clear images ensure video conferencing visibility in any environment. Displays with ultra-thin bezels and simplified daisy-chaining enable the easy setup of tiled video walls for even greater visual impact and versatility. To add value to video conferencing services, look for displays that come with interactivity.
Interactive whiteboards are large-format interactive displays designed to amp up collaborative capability. Meetings become more engaging when multiple users write or draw on the display. Embedded annotation software makes it easy to highlight, edit, and transform documents and images on-screen in real-time.
Easily importing virtually any type of document or media file saves time and energy. Highlight onscreen and annotate directly onto the integrated web browser. Save all screen content –including notes and edits – and record live during meetings to save and share the experience. All on-screen annotations, macros, media files, and ambient audio are saved using the ViewSonic-exclusive record function.
To make content sharing even easier, ViewSonic has partnered with Intel Unite®. The ViewSonic® ViewBoard® Interactive Flat Panel Display is the first-ever interactive whiteboard solution to be Intel Unite® certified, transforming meeting rooms into smart, secure, and connected spaces. When a ViewBoard is embedded with Intel Unite, communication and content sharing are made easy.
Intel Unite can be embedded into ViewBoard via slot-in PCs like VPC12-WPO and VPC10-WP-2. With Intel Unite, you can manage your room’s VC from one single point of access. Collaboration is made easy by allowing users to connect and interact with meeting content in real-time, from any location where they have a corporate network connection.
Together, Intel Unite and ViewSonic offer enhanced visual collaboration and secure, unified communication – myViewBoard.com. Wirelessly share your screen with coworkers. Check out the Executive Brief for more info on how Intel and ViewSonic build team engagement with Interactive Whiteboards. It contains info on how digital collaboration works.
ViewSonic displays with an integrated webcam, dual speakers, and USB multimedia ports, deliver an immediate, all-in-one video conferencing solution. Large Format Displays come in a wide range of sizes to fit your conference room. ViewBoard® Cast is an easy content sharing app used to share content across multiple users with screens.
Video conferencing as a communication tool is growing at a record rate. Businesses seek to reap the demonstrated benefits of added collaboration. Those that implement VC quickly experience the many benefits of videoconferencing.
Quantifiable benefits include reduced travel expenses and increased productivity. Even more impactful advantages include improved communication, better business relationships, and greater meeting efficiency. With enhanced employee satisfaction and reduced environmental impact, the companies improve their improve competitive edge.
If you liked this article, you might also want to read about successful collaboration while telecommuting or head to our workplace solutions page for more ways to create efficient and effective workspaces.
