After conversations with analysts, value-added resellers, and customers we have some of the leading benefits of video conferencing. In no particular order…
1. Minimize Travel Costs
Living in a globalized economy often means that travel is a prerequisite for taking advantage of new market opportunities. There will always be times when live interactions between partners, colleagues and customers need to take place, but a surprisingly large percentage of regular or routine business trips could be easily replaced by collaborating over video. This also means that the total expense for every regular business trip would be eliminated. Immersive telepresence has made great strides in availability, quality, ease of use, and high definition interaction with content sharing making anyone feel as if they were there in-person without the need to actually travel. ROI of a telepresence solution is one of the easiest to calculate when looking at travel reduction. This means that most organizations see quickly how a telepresence solution can virtually pay for itself after figuring their annual travel expenses.
2. Increased Productivity throughout Dispersed Teams and Workforces
Today’s dispersed project teams and workforces present many obstacles, of which slow, lost, and sometimes nonexistent communication between employees working in different locations is the worst. While the majority of teams interact by phone, instant messaging, workflow applications, or email this can’t be efficient when considering that 80% of effective communication involves non-verbal visual clues. This is where immersive telepresence solutions rise if not soar above these communication obstacles, enabling every meeting participant too be seen and not just heard. Expressions of confusion, understanding, satisfaction, concern and anything else imaginable are able to be seen and addressed; this alone makes groups more informed and collaboration more effective than any email, voicemail, or IM. The result: faster decisions, projects completed more quickly, and increased productivity throughout the organization.
3. Scout Out Top Talent Quicker and Keep Them Longer
Hiring processes are not only lengthy but also costly, especially when the best candidates are living in other cities or when multiple candidates are being considered. Think of how many expenses that could be cut with the implementation of a telepresence solution. Organizations could bring candidates into a nearby facility instead of flying them to the corporate office, achieving interviews over video and in-person. Interviews over video could also be recorded, allowing those unable to attend the live interview to still review the candidate also over video. Collaboration over video also has a positive effect on employee retention. Examples include helping employees keep balance between work and life by eliminating the need to travel, which keeps them at home enabling more time with family; remote employees can become closer with other team members faster for improved collaboration; employees can work from home full-time or partially to alleviate stress from commuting; or simply enjoying the benefits of face-to-face, real-time collaboration that is more fulfilling, richer, and more effective than any other means of non-video communication.
4. Sustained Competitive Advantage
Immersive telepresence solutions deliver multiple paths for maintaining and creating competitive advantage. Teams that communicate over video spread knowledge wider, resulting in quicker, and better informed decisions which reduce time to market for services and new products. Support teams utilize video to establish more personal one-on-one relationships with valuable customers, exhibiting a loyalty that goes far beyond a classic call center agent’s capabilities. Manufacturing organizations utilize telepresence solutions and HD content sharing to ensure product quality, guarantee accuracy across the supply chain, and make revisions, while top competitors remain relying upon service delivery the next-day. Video allows sales executives to immediately and clearly appreciate the status of the pipeline, going beyond the rows of a spreadsheet. Human resources and public relations departments can advocate the organizations implementation of video as evidence of corporate strivings to protect the environment, making it easier to be placed on the coveted list of preferred vendors for environmentally friendliness. Which makes winning competitive commercial and governmental bids much easier.
To find the best video conferencing solution to meet your needs reach out to your local Solutionz sales representative.
