Video conferencing, or net conferencing as it is sometimes called, is an outgrowth of a number of different technologies, made possible by the availability of high-bandwidth, low-latency connections. Essentially, this is the same technology that makes streaming movies or playing video games across the internet possible. It’s simply that in this instance, the technology is put to more productive use. If your business hasn’t yet embraced the technology, here is a cross-section of what it can offer to you and how you can use it to help increase your bottom line.
On-Site Support
It used to be the case that if you wanted to provide on-side support you had to put a tech on a plane and pay for a hotel. That’s a very expensive proposition. Net conferencing renders that type of on-site support obsolete and unnecessary. Simply patch in a video feed and you’re face to face with your customers. You can walk them through everything they need to do in order to get up and running again. Even better, since they have control of the camera on their end, they can show you exactly what and where the problem lies. It’s as good as being there, for a fraction of the cost.
Facilitating Seamless Communications
This can be used in a number of ways. It connects your employees in the field or working from home with the office as though they were actually there in the room with you. It also allows you to remote-link multiple locations and satellite offices of your business, and/or to speak with clients and vendors all over the world. This ease of communication, whether it be between members of your own team or between your employees and the people you work with or for radically improves your operating speed and efficiency.
Product Development
In the vast majority of cases, product development doesn’t happen solely in-house. The expertise of many strategic partners is necessary to take your idea from its initial design, through various product improvement phases and finally to prototyping, testing, and ultimately building. Again, in the old days, the only way to do this was either to fly people back and forth, and/or mail copies of the plans to far-flung places in order to get them where they needed to be. That’s no longer the case. Now, development can happen mostly in-house, even if your team isn’t.
Productivity
In days gone by, in order to get everyone in the same place at the same time in order to have an important meeting, careful planning was required. Depending on scheduling and arranging travel plans, it could take weeks (or longer) to set something up and actually make the meeting happen. That’s no longer the case thanks to video conferencing. Now, it’s simply a matter of having everyone free up space on their calendars and linking up via the video conference. It simplifies and streamlines the process, increasing everyone’s productivity and giving you the ability to move the ball forward on whatever project you’re working on.
