2016 Perspectives On Video Conferencing
Over the last decade or so, companies that were serious about increasing productivity by using video conferencing understood that the only way to get users to adopt the technology was to provide a viable alternative to the live meeting. This meant room-based solutions that provided dedicated, high quality video and instant connectivity.
Anyone who has tried using desktop video conferencing software solutions for work knows that it can often feel like a slightly more complicated conference call.
We’ve all been on that conference call – the one where it takes fifteen minutes just to get started. You have dialed in early using the ten-digit number, entered your sixteen digit passcode and now you have to sit through the endless beeps and questions from the void,
“Hi?”
“Hi, who do we have on the call?”
“Can you hear me?”
With consumer desktop video conferencing a few more hurdles were added to the mix like,
“Is your webcam on?”
“I think I need to install the software again.”
“I can see you but I can’t hear you.”
That said, stand-alone desktop video conferencing solutions continue to evolve. The codecs for video compression continue to reduce packet size while bandwidth availability continues to increase. While this means that staying in touch with loved ones has never been easier, it is not a replacement for professional business meetings.
So what does successful video conferencing implementation look like?
The above illustration does not mean that desktop solutions are not viable. However, it is now understood, among successful adopters, that implementation must begin with a high quality, room-based solution so that users gathered in one location can confidently meet virtually with another group elsewhere – in very high quality – effectively blurring the line between the infrastructure and the end point. Users need an experience so good that they can forget about the technology and focus on holding a productive meeting.
This also means connectivity issues need to be all but invisible to users so they don’t require expertise in video just to hold a video meeting. In terms of adoption, once room-based hardware is the norm at a company, desktop solutions are a valuable addendum to the mix. Preferably desktop solutions that are integrated with the in room setups. These offer the out-of-town traveller or the home office contributor the ability to attend and participate. The key is to start with the in room experience.
What has changed recently?
As companies began to move to Cloud based data centres and look for opportunities to shift computing power into the Cloud through virtualization, it was only natural that new configurations for enterprise video conferencing would emerge.
Today, room-based endpoints – integrated with Cloud based facilities – offer virtualization and therefore scalability. This is significant because cost has always been a barrier to entry but Cloud based virtualization offers smaller firms the ability to “get in the game” for a much lower price, check that in room, high quality video conferencing really works within their organization, and then scale up from there.
What to look for in a solution?
The most successful sequence of video conferencing adoption is to build in room endpoints for that high quality, seamless, always on experience, then look at integrated desktop solutions that augment the configuration. The industry term for this is Unified Communication or UC.
UC is the Cloud’s answer to video conferencing for the enterprise firm and because of the scalability and flexibility of Cloud, it has become a viable option for small to medium and large enterprises.
(April, 2016)