The Benefits of Videoconferencing
By Ron Weinberg, Director of Marketing, General Communications Corporation
For business communications to be truly productive a face-to-face experience is often necessary. Traditionally, this has meant physically being in the same room as other people. Yet, with time becoming a premium and the work force geographically dispersed, getting individuals together can be a significant challenge.
As a result of these considerations and the imperative need for organizations to be more productive, videoconferencing is becoming much more popular. In its simplest definition, videoconferencing allows for an interactive audio/visual meeting to take place by connecting two or more sites via high-speed telephone lines.
When videoconferencing first came out, it was tagged with many appealing propositions: Most notably, as a means to reduce travel costs, while offering the ability to bring together people from distant locations. Unfortunately, there was unacceptable picture and audio quality issues, major bandwidth constraints and a hefty capital investment was required. Not surprisingly, the number of users fell well short of initial expectations.
While audio conferencing has certainly gained in popularity, it can’t present important if not necessary nuances such as a participant’s body language. We are a visually oriented society, where seeing someone or something has highly influential consequences
Fortunately, over the last few years dramatic improvements have been made in videoconferencing equipment and the network delivery of videoconferencing. A full motion videoconference with full duplex audio transmission can be conducted over ISDN lines at 256 kbps with superb clarity.
In fact, today’s videoconferencing systems not only provide face-to-face interaction, but make available the means to exchange, review and collaborate on documents, images, animation and other file types. For instance, as a salesperson does a demonstration, they can present a PowerPoint presentation, which can be shown on another monitor or even via a LCD projector. Further, a connected printer can print off the presentation for meeting attendees.
Although the tragedies of September 11th have brought increased attention to videoconferencing, its widespread acceptance will be propelled by a growing and diverse array of applications. Combined with declining price points, the return on investment from videoconferencing is becoming an attractive proposition for a broad spectrum of industries, ranging from biotechnology companies to law firms to educational institutions.
There are many popular applications. Distance learning is a great application, allowing access to expert resources from literally all over the globe. New products and services can be introduced to employees and clients on the fly. For project teams, videoconferencing represents an ideal means to work together.
In these competitive times, when expenses are being closely monitored, videoconferencing offers an opportunity to decrease travel costs while still facilitating interaction. Plus, meetings are easier to schedule. Studies have also validated that videoconferences have had the benefit of making meetings more focused, shorter and stimulating a faster decision process.
Following in the footsteps of the fax machine, e-mail and the Internet, videoconferencing will soon become an essential business resource.
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