Video Conferencing Can Fill the Gaps in Your Workflows

Today’s companies are all about the flow of information from colleague to colleague and team to team. So when work at your organization gets stuck, lost, or forgotten, where does it usually come to a grinding halt? In email? On team collaboration boards? During meetings? If you find that work often stops until the next meeting or until a key team member gets back into town, there are faster, more efficient ways to keep work moving. One of those ways is to get on a video conference call right now.

Video Collaboration Improves the Flow of Work

Video collaboration tools are better quality and more reliable than in the past. Solutions designed for meeting spaces do more than just video. They make real-time information and content sharing easier than ever. Solutions intended specifically for small meeting rooms may include cameras and microphones designed to pick up much more than a laptop, as some employees will try to use—unsuccessfully.

Also look for features like annotation, touch screens, video capture, wireless sharing, scheduling capabilities, video recording, and easy integration with your existing systems and workflows. Companies invest in workflow technologies but overlook the collaboration aspect. Video conferencing helps fill in the gaps.

The latest video solutions improve workflows and processes by:

• Facilitating faster decision making
• Increasing productivity
• Connecting employees of all kinds, including remote, mobile, and in office
• Merging content tools with collaboration, allowing work to be completed during meetings
• Cutting costs through preventing project delays

In high-growth companies, 73 percent of executives say that video conferencing improves communication, when compared with audio conferencing. That also means work outcomes are better because there is less miscommunication and mistakes.

Improve Work Efficiency with Video Conferencing

Video collaboration solutions improve workflows and coordination of efforts across teams. It gives you a path to bypass all the potholes, roadblocks, and dead ends in your work because it adds a faster, more accurate means of communication. And with the rise in ad hoc meeting spaces, like huddle rooms, it’s another tool to get work done in the present, without having to organize a formal meeting.

Organizations should make video collaboration available not just in these ad hoc meeting spaces though. Video conferencing capabilities should be in huddle rooms, conference rooms, and virtually any other work or gathering space.

It’s not just workspaces that are changing. The way employees work is changing to be more mobile and more flexible. Employees need the tools to accommodate that kind of agility.

Create Spaces That Make Video Collaboration Easy

The video collaboration technologies that support your workflows should:

• Work from anywhere using any device
• Integrate with other technologies in the room
• Be intuitive for all users

Consumer video conferencing applications, like Skype, Google Hangouts, and FaceTime, are easy to use outside of work and have become part of routine life for many users. In fact, Apple has announced that’s it’s releasing the ability for up to 32 people to participate in a FaceTime video call. That’s a sign that video conferencing and consumer-style tools are overlapping more than ever. However, a FaceTime video call won’t be practical for many professional use cases.

An experienced audiovisual integrator can help organizations decide which tools make the most sense for their needs and goals.

Next Steps

The key to improving work is making video collaboration a part of your everyday workflows. As work becomes more collaborative and more of it is conducted in small group meeting spaces, it becomes increasingly important to ensure that those spaces are equipped with video collaboration tools.  Consider those designed for these modern spaces, like the Crestron Mercury or the Polycom Trio. Download “A Standardized Huddle Space Catalog and Guide” to learn more about equipping huddle and small meeting spaces for video collaboration.

How to Make the Case for Better Video Conferencing

Is video conferencing at your organization up in the air and all over the place? Maybe some employees love to hop on impromptu video calls with just about anyone from anywhere—even when they’re just down the hall. On the other hand, some resist turning on the camera or using video conferencing at all. You may see different departments favoring different solutions. If there is no consistent user experience and video conferencing has become a big hassle for your IT department, you’ll want to make some changes.

You know you want to provide an easy, standardized experience in your meeting rooms, small or large. But what do you do when executives don’t make video conferencing a priority, don’t understand the benefits, and don’t want to set aside budget to solve your organizations collaboration issues?

Start by gathering user and stakeholder feedback, researching and narrowing down your options, and then presenting the information to those who will make the final decision. State your case by beginning with the “why” behind the push for video conferencing.

Why Organizations Should Invest in Video Conferencing

You already know why an easy-to-use, standardized video conferencing solutions makes sense, but it’s important to let decision makers in on the long-term, big-picture benefits.

Video collaboration:

• Is cost-effective. Video conferencing has always been a good way to save on travel costs, but the rise of cloud and software-based solutions makes it more affordable than ever. Organizations also save on hardware, data storage, and real estate by accommodating a growing remote workforce.
• Improves work. With video conferencing available in any room, from any device, employees are able to meet and work with more speed, efficiency, and accuracy. At a moment’s notice they can show remote colleagues an asset, a product, a presentation, or whatever they may be working on and ask advice, clarification, or help. And that’s just one use case.
• Has more uses than ever. It used to be that video conferencing was seen as suitable for more formal staff, client, and executive meetings. However, now it’s being used to support ideation, innovation, and employee engagement among all kinds of teams. Whether planned or impromptu, formal or informal, video conferencing is being used by nearly all departments, including tech support, production, and field service.

How to Present the Case for Video Conferencing

Let stakeholders know you’ve done your homework, and ask those who already support video conferencing to help others get on board.

• Identify stakeholders. Determine who will need to approve the video conferencing purchase. Learn what kinds of details they need before making a decision.
• Explain the problem and solution. Share the user feedback, usage reports, and request for features you gathered early on. This way, you can explain to stakeholders how the problems will be solved with a new solution.
• Document your research. Track which vendors or solutions you have researched, noting which features align with your requirements. Highlight your recommendations and write an explanation of your decision to share with stakeholders.
• Justify the investment. In addition to outlining the benefits mentioned above, you will want to include a cost/benefit analysis in your business case that also includes tangible costs and benefits. With this analysis, you should include all one-time and recurring expenses. A qualified AV integrator can also help determine the expected ROI which can help with making that final decision.

Next Steps

Not all video conferencing tools are designed for all spaces. If you’re looking for ways to implement video collaboration in small meeting rooms, consider tools like the Crestron Mercury or the Polycom Trio. Both feature webcams and content sharing capabilities. Check out “A Standardized Huddle Space Catalog and Guide“