You want to conduct a meeting with your employees to discuss an upcoming project. However, people in your team work remotely. 

Getting all employees or clients to make in-person visits can be challenging. Needless to mention the social distancing guidelines we’re supposed to follow in light of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Fortunately, video conferencing tools solve that problem for businesses operating remotely. With the swipe of a finger or press of a few buttons, users can remotely connect and converse with their colleagues and clients. 

In this blog, you’ll learn more about the advantages of video conferencing in business, why it’s better for team communication, and what organisations use it. 

Let’s start with the basics:

What is Video Conferencing?

In simple words, video conferencing is a visual communication session that happens between two or more users, irrespective of their location. It features video and audio content sharing in real time. 

In other words, video conferencing systems facilitate video communication between people. This technology ensures delivering real-time, full-motion video conferencing by enabling seamless connection. 

Video Conferencing History

Let’s travel back in time to the beginning of video conferencing - when it was introduced as a more efficient and faster way of communicating:

•  1870: Video conferencing was first introduced as a concept of transmitting image in-real-time. 
•  1927: For the first time ever, two people from remote locations (AT&T president from NYC and Bell Labs from Washington) connected via two-way video connection. 
•  1935: The term ‘video’ was coined.
•  1956: AT&T created the first ever picture-phone prototype to enable video calling.
•  1995: PictureTel conducted a global-dial up video conference for an hour-long demonstration. 
•  2002: Apple launched iChat for video conferencing 
•  2005: Lifesize debuted with first HD video conferencing system 
•  2016: Google and Facebook launched Google Duo and Facebook Group Chat. Slack also introduced group video calls 

Types of Conferencing

Video conferencing has many types. Among the major types of video conferencing, there are:

• One-on-One Conversations: 

Known as one of the most intimate ways of connecting with people, the one-on-one video calls allow employers and managers to manage remote employees effectively. Unlike phone calls, the 1:1 video calls give you the advantage of seeing the person visually and also picking on the non-verbal gestures. 

• Team Meetings or Internal Video Calls:

Team meetings are important for any business that aspires to manage remote clients or employees. Video conferencing allows managers to connect with team members on a deeper level and also create a more collaborative environment. 

• Client or Customer Meetings/ External Video Calls: 

When meeting with external clients or customers, video conferencing tools provide significant benefits. It allows the host and participant to be more present and engaged and also develop deeper connections irrespective of the physical location. 

• Large meetings: 

Large meetings or all-hands meetings are often conducted on a regular basis as a means of keeping employees updated on the important events and also the milestones. Video conferencing tools make it possible for employees to call everyone for the meeting and work together toward the same goal.

Advantages of Video Conferencing

Video conferencing has many benefits. We’ll talk about them at-length in the upcoming sections of this blog. 

At a glance, this technology saves your time, ensures all participants meet with ease, helps brainstorm ideas for an efficient workflow through content sharing, and screen sharing. 

Since most of the video conferencing tools offer integrated features, they can be used as collaboration tools to allow multiple users to work on joint projects. 

Furthermore, Video conferring also helps you get real-time impressions. During online meetings or conferences, you can see the user’s emotions or articulation and also establish eye contact for better communication. 

Another significant advantage of video conferencing apps is security. Modern video conferencing tools are based on proprietary protocols and codecs. They also have E2E encryption that ensures the message is never decoded or read by third party members or unethical access.

Benefits of Video Conferencing vs Audio Conferencing

Yes, we agree audio conferencing can save people time and prevent the expense of travelling. However, the advantages of video conferencing over audio calls and conferences are expansive. Video conferencing has so much more to offer; some of these are mentioned below:

• Visual Aids: 

The obvious difference between video and audio conferencing are the visuals in video calls. Video conferencing enables conferencing participants to view the slide shows, whiteboard, presentations, images, and more. 

• Better Communication:

Video conferencing enables the participants to make use of multiple senses instead of limiting their ability to listen to the conversation. In other words, it enables better communication by eliminating chances of miscommunications or misreading. 

• Increased Productivity:

Apparently, video conferencing or online meetings cut the traveling cost and time people spent in earlier days. Compared to audio calls that can’t be visual or presentable, video conferencing saves a minimum of two hours a week. Hence, increases productivity.  

• Conferencing Quality: 

State of the art technology and video conferencing software enables clear, error free communication, which ensures better conferencing quality, and hence better exchange of information.

Advantages of Video Conferencing over the face to face meetings

Although face to face meetings are still appreciated and preferred, they are losing ground in the workforce as more people are becoming aware of the advantages of video conferencing. Needless to mention, the coronavirus pandemic and ‘work from home’ shift has changed the scenario in favour of video conferencing tools. 

When comparing video conferencing to face-to-face meetings, video conferencing apparently has more advantages. Beyond cost savings, advantages of video conferencing are as follows:

1. Save time: With video conferencing, there’s no need to travel all the way to conduct or host meetings. There’s no hassle of going to the location since all you need to do is log into the system. 
2. Share files more easily: Video conferencing tools and systems save the trouble of sharing files in-person since you can share documents through the screen. 
3. Record meetings: Unlike face to face meetings, video conferencing systems facilitate in-app meeting recording. Not all apps offer this feature, but most of the software now offer recording features.

Advantage of video conferencing Categories wise 

Whether a business is a small startup, a global media conglomerate, or a federal agency, every work set-up can benefits of video conferencing systems. Here’s how video conferencing can be beneficial for companies operating in different industries:

• Healthcare

More than most industries, healthcare revolves around ensuring proper communication between care takers, patients, and doctors. Video conferencing removes the burden of visiting in-person and ensures fast decision during most critical times. It enables file sharing, instant information exchange, real-time condition streaming and more. 

Furthermore, the immobile patients or people living in remote locations can now receive medical care from the comfort of their homes. Similarly, physicians can manage multiple clinics by connecting with nurses remotely through these tools.

• Education

Video conferencing tools, without a doubt, have revolutionized the education industry. It has introduced the best remote learning technologies so people can learn without going to the classroom. These tools have facilitated interactive and incredible learning experiences. 

• Lawyers and courts

Video conferencing acts as a useful tool in the legal world as well. It ensures efficient collaboration with colleagues, witnesses, experts, clients and more. In other words, lawyers and courts can use these tools for ensuring effective interaction, preparing documents together, and training on new protocols and procedures.

• Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

Whether collaborating with partners, customers, or internal teams, small and medium sized businesses can now easily rely on the video conferencing tools for easy information sharing and ensuring faster decision making. Small and medium sized businesses can now collaborate easily across offices, keeping projects on time.

• Government

For government agencies or organisations, video conferencing tools offer a cost-efficient way of extending the reach of your programs. This technology connects office workers and also the field staff instantly - allowing them to ensure operational efficiency and also strengthen partnerships. 

Conclusion

There’s no denying the fact that, when companies use video conferencing tools strategically, it instantly has an impact on the team’s productivity, efficiency, and costs since the video conferencing tools negate the need for office visits and business trips. 

As said earlier, the video conferencing systems empower telecommutes to work from the comfort of their home since they have all the same tools they have access to.