Video Conferencing Misconceptions
Re-post from blog.cleveland.com | By | July 23, 2015
There are lots of ways that you’ll hear video conferencing put down. It’s either too time consuming or too expensive, too confusing or too glitchy, too outdated or too difficult to learn. However, like most new and steadily advancing technology, you may believe these misconceptions if you don’t actually try what’s out there. Video conferencing is, in fact, one of the most rapidly evolving forms of communication technology in the business world and offers major benefits. Missing out due to myths is the last thing you want to do.
1. Either Unaffordable or Undependable
Venture Beat reports that part of the reason that the video conferencing market was slow to take off in the last few years is because of the confusion about what the market has to offer. At one point, the technology was either extremely expensive or free but full of enough bugs to make a digital Orkin Man seem like a better investment.
However, with advances in the areas of scalability and interoperability achieved in recent years by companies like Blue Jeans on the Blue Jeans Network, these issues have become a moot point. Unfortunately, the myths that video conferencing is either completely unaffordable with high quality, or very low quality but free, have lived on. Today, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. This also presents an opportunity to get ahead of your competitors and take advantage of the fact that video conferencing is actually very affordable, user friendly and increasingly popular amongst businesses with both large and small budgets alike.
2. Everyone Has to Be a Tech Wizard
For many people, video conferencing immediately conjures mental images of a large, clunky conference room outfitted with complicated hardware and software that you need to be able to learn through several long, boring training sessions.
Thankfully, those days are long gone; anyone can use the simplified video conferencing solutions that exist today. For example, according to seasoned employment recruiter Grace MacDonald on LinkedIn, interview candidates don’t need to be tech savvy. It’s as simple as sending a link via e-mail, and having a laptop or mobile device to join. The same can be said of video conferencing when used for business, and any meeting participants you wish to include. Whether you’re dealing with an IT professional or a technophobic consultant, you don’t need to be a computer genius to reap the benefits of video conferencing.
3. Only Good for Saving on Travel Costs
Everyone knows that video conferencing has cut back on travel costs for employers around the world, but there’s more to it than that. ComputerWeekly.com reports that as video conferencing is adapted across a workplace, beneficial effects begin to organically emerge in terms of collaboration and individual work flow. The fact of the matter is that whenever you start to shift how your employees do business and communicate, it’s bound to have an impact in other areas.
Video conferencing has lots of obvious benefits, but many times, some of the most exciting ones come out unexpectedly. The technology has particularly increased the collaborative nature of work, for example, given that it provides fast and easy accessibility to group discussions. It’s also more efficient than e-mail, especially where creativity is concerned. Imagine if you could have more than one brainstorming session per week, or you could advise a team on a particular project to have a smaller scale meeting more frequently. All of this becomes possible with video conferencing, which is all about improving the quality of communication and making it easier to connect more frequently.
4. A Tool Only for Large Corporations
Video conferencing has traditionally been thought of as a tool reserved for large corporations with entire conference rooms dedicated to only those types of meetings. It’s also historically been prohibitive in cost decades ago, but that’s no longer the case.
Since video conferencing solutions have evolved, many providers have specifically focused on services that cater to small and medium sized businesses. Another reason that this has been possible is due to the fact that there are now so any electronic devices available for people to communicate with. From a traditional desktop computer with a webcam to a small mobile device like a tablet with a built-in camera, the world of business is more flexible and accessible than ever before. You no longer need a huge budget to take advantage of video conferencing, just a few compatible devices. A good way to find out what’s available is to do a little research, and see what kind of investment you’re ready to make. Video conferencing companies offer all different types of plans, and will customize the needs of each individual client, depending on what they are.
Video conferencing has kept up with the mobile, scalable, and interoperable world of technology. Today’s technology is all about compatibility, designed to allow users to access different types of communication platforms using mobile devices or browsers. It’s simple, affordable, and fits into the modern model of how business is being conducted. Don’t believe the misconceptions until you’ve tried it for yourself.
