Video conferencing in business, government and education

Video conferencing offers solutions large and small, across the road and across the globe

Video conferencing is already a major communications tool. Developing technology, the need to reduce carbon emissions, and the need for ever easier communication with global reach, are all combining to accelerate its take up in business, Government and educational environments.

Audio and visual equipment now provides organisations with a range of communications tools unthinkable only a few years ago. Video conferencing takes this technology into real time, in allowing instant audio and visual communication across the road or across the globe without the need to leave the office chair. The benefits are already being enjoyed across the corporate world, in education and in Government funded organisations and they can only increase rapidly as technology continues to develop and continue to improve the virtual experience.

The driving force behind the continued growth, and projected growth, is not only the intrinsic improvement that audio visual communications make in the way the information is communicated; there is also increasing impetus resulting from the need to address issues related to the demand for all organisations to look at their carbon footprints and tackle the issues of carbon emissions



Group or room video conferencing

Group (or room video) conferencing needs to engage the highest quality systems available. Located in boardrooms, meeting rooms and auditoriums, screen sizes must be larger simply because more people are involved, and this requires higher definition. More participants also increase technical complexity, again demanding top end functionality.

For video conferencing to compete successfully with live meetings then it must deliver, as nearly as possible, the feel and ambience of the live meeting. Again this demands the highest quality that can be sourced.

There is also the question of prestige and brand image. In a large virtual meeting, whether it’s a presentation by the CEO to company personnel or a virtual board meeting bringing together directors from every continent, it is vital that the communication system does not detract from the presenter and his message. Cutting-edge presentation technology reflects well on the image of the organisation. Anything less does not.

Desktop or personal video conferencing

Video conferencing applies to one to one communication just as much as to large group-based meetings with which it is more traditionally associated. Large and small scale systems may have different specific requirements, but fundamentally the technology is the same. The benefits are similar as well.

Desktop (or personal) video conferencing demands can be more varied in their technical and quality specifications. When used by key personnel to communicate globally, then output quality requirements are likely to be similar to those components sited in larger rooms. As personal video conferencing inevitably becomes more frequently used in the ordinary office environment, then there is likely to be a less rigorous quality requirement, particularly for the display devices within the system. Quite simply, large display devices require the highest definition available; with smaller devices it is more a matter of choice and affordability.

Mobile video conferencing

Mobile phone use is universal. Video is universal on mobile phones. It is reasonable to assume that the take-up as these two modes are combined to offer mobile video conferencing will be quick, and not just by early adopters. The improvement in 3G availability and in WiFi broadband can only speed its introduction.

Mobile devices are now at a size where they are truly mobile; any further reduction is more likely to reduce their attraction as screen sizes below a threshold size become difficult to use. Ruggedised devices also make their use in challenging environments more viable, the very environments that offer perhaps the most immediate commercial potential for mobile video conferencing.

Benefits of video conferencing

Video conferencing is a technology that has the potential to offer both cost and usability benefits with no trade-off between one and the other. Furthermore, benefits are likely to increase as the issues they are able to address become more problematic.

Video conferencing – cost saving

Video conferencing saves travel costs. It also saves time out of the office which again is costly. A meeting between colleagues in Singapore and London lasting an hour takes an hour if done virtually. The live meeting alternative is at least three days out of the office for one of the parties plus a considerable cost in air fare.

Video conferencing - the work life balance

Video conferencing can deliver an improved work/life balance with a happier workforce and consequently less staff turnover. This is delivered by all levels of video conferencing. Business travel is tiring and wearisome especially for the executive for whom the novelty has well and truly lost its appeal. For many employees, executive and non executive, it offers the possibility of working from home where appropriate.

Video conferencing – expert advice

Video conferencing affords the opportunity to use external experts or internal employees with expert knowledge quickly and effectively. Important bids may require expert input at short notice. Support delivery may require expert assistance with visual communication of the issue.

Video conferencing – relationship building

Video conferencing provides the ability to foster partnerships. Whether these are internal partnerships or those with external associates, video conferencing improves the ability to develop business relationships much more effectively than simply telephone or email can achieve.

Video conferencing – reducing carbon footprints

Video conferencing reduces an organisation’s carbon footprint. Reduced business travel reduces carbon emissions. If there were no other benefits offered by video conferencing, then simply the green benefits it can offer would be enough to ensure its success in the marketplace.
Where video conferencing is going

We may well be in the age of communication but it is only the beginning. As IP (internet protocol) telephony continues to develop and unified communications become the norm, video conferencing is well placed to continue making a powerful contribution in an increasing number of environments, both commercial and non commercial.

Emergency responders

Video conferencing is already making its presence felt in the mobile environment where it can provide police, fire and medical emergency services with the ability to convey complex information visually as well as audibly.

Telemedicine

The expertise of specialist consultants and surgeons is increasingly available to physicians wherever they may be treating a patient. As video conferencing develops and its introduction becomes more widespread, patients themselves will have greater opportunities to consult their doctors and visit clinics without leaving their own homes. There are obvious advantages for the elderly and ill but the cost savings to health services are a huge byproduct of the technology.

Banking and building societies

Video conferencing facilities in high street banks will allow customers access to expert advice on mortgages, pension plans and other banking products from every branch as and when required. Other organisations with multiple outlets may well see the benefits of video conferencing kiosks apply to them.

Telejustice

Video conferencing provides huge benefits to legal systems. It reduces the security issues of transporting violent and dangerous prisoners to every court hearing. It can also reduce the anguish felt by vulnerable witnesses appearing in the same court room as the alleged perpetrator of a crime.

Teleworking

For some employees teleworking may mean full-time working for home. For others, eg sales staff, it may obviate the need to travel to the office to complete paper work of for sales meetings. It is perfectly possible that teleworking will, in the reasonably near future, become the norm and struggling into the office on a crowded commuter train be seen as an outdated behaviour that has seen its day.

Video conferencing - summary

Just as the telephone and subsequently the computer has transformed the way we communicate, video conferencing will inevitably play a major role in how communication develops in the future. Video conferencing is simply a win win technology – it provides improved ease of communication across large and small distances coupled with dramatically reduced costs. That it will become a major resource in every office, meeting and boardroom in the near future is all but inevitable.

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