Coming of age

It's been said that video conferencing has 'come of age'. Can companies successfully use this tool to achieve business velocity?

DG. Remember the days of choppy image quality and sound delays? Well, video conferencing has made leaps and bounds over the last decade; state-of-the-art video room equipment and web cams can now deliver clear and effective video at low price points allowing businesses to use video conferencing in a more efficient manner and increase business velocity. 

And of course, there's the green issue. The migration to unified communications and the impact of Web 2.0 have also all played a role. Added to this, ease of use and a greater awareness by consumers of video conferencing has influenced corporate environments - just think of the impact Skype and social networking has made over the past decade.

Thanks to all these technological advances, video conferencing has without doubt 'come of age' and is now a viable medium for effective face-to-face communication. And with 80 percent of communication consisting of non-verbal and visual cues, the use of video conferencing means that businesses can communicate more effectively with clients and colleagues across the globe.

When IT budgets are being slashed, what incentives are there for companies to invest in video conferencing technology?

DG. The benefits of investing in video conferencing are huge. From decreased travel, which obviously saves time and money, to faster decision-making and a reduced carbon footprint, video conferencing is definitely impacting businesses worldwide. Just think back to the weather conditions earlier this year in the UK. It was estimated that one in five workers stayed at home when the UK was snowbound and the cost to the British economy reached between UK£600m and UK£2bn, according to the Federation of Small Business. The volcanic ash cloud also played a major part with people stranded abroad or unable to travel by air to meetings. We see more and more companies turning to video conferencing as a routine and effective way to collaborate virtually with colleagues and clients around the world.  Video conferencing will inevitably play a part, as people can conference or work remotely instead of travelling, which leads to more efficiency, productivity and, of course, addresses the need for businesses to stay connected 24x7.

Research has shown that a majority of companies don't use existing video conferencing equipment. Why is this? What is ACT Conferencing doing to address this to help customers maximise their ROI?

DG. It all boils down to technology. Surprisingly, some 75 percent of video conferences don't work the first time. That's purely due to a lack of understanding of the technology. It does pay to know your system and take the time to learn how to use the technology and not be intimidated by it.  But this potentially requires an in-house team to run the service and this may not be a cost effective option for many businesses. 

To address this and help customers maximise the ROI of their equipment ACT offers a complete managed service from implementation to user support. This provides a dedicated managed service team who assist users around the clock monitoring in-house equipment and ensuring that the technology is always working. This gives companies all the benefits of video conferencing without the need for in-house staff to manage the technology. For example, one ACT video managed services customer, with 150 network endpoints, saw their monthly conference volume more than double from 80 to 190 after bringing on ACT's managed services.

Or if the resources and equipment are simply unavailable in-house, ACT has established bookable video conferencing suites - ACT Proximity. With some 4500 video conference rooms located around the world it is one of the largest networks of state-of-the-art video conferencing rental sites. It is a quick and easy way to schedule video conferencing facilities as booking requests to reserve a video conferencing room can simply be submitted online via ACT's website.

About

As Senior Director of Global Sales for ACT Conferencing, David Gladding oversees direct and channel sales strategies globally. Gladding brings 19 years sales and sales management to the job, 11 with ACT. Prior to ACT, he served as general manager at NYNEX and vice president of sales at AUSPED.