Video conferencing is a major part of doing business in the 21st century. It facilitates visual communication with clients and colleagues anywhere and anytime. Moreover, a video call can save energy and money, and reduce environmental impact in some surprising (but significant) ways. With all the benefits, no wonder online meetings have become a go-to mode of communication for many businesses worldwide. 

Keep on reading for an in-depth look at how video conferencing benefits your business, or visit the ViewSonic Workspace solutions for more ways to optimize the way you work.   

Video conferencing in previous years has been limited by high costs and network latency. However, this is no longer the case. If the pandemic showed us one thing, is that more meetings are taking place virtually rather than in physical locations. Simply put, regular face-to-face meetings are slowly becoming a thing of the past.   

Increased demand for video calling skyrocketed with the advent of remote and hybrid work.  Now, the benefits are more far-reaching as online communication tools are continuously expanding. Working together has never been easier, and noticing this productivity change is fueling the growth of remote collaboration. The promise of video conferencing is to:  

• Improve communication  
• Enhance business relationships  
• Save time and travel costs
• Streamline collaboration
• Eliminate geographical barriers

All the benefits revolve around one key point:  We move faster towards our goals when we can see and interact with the people we’re working.  

Growing Demand for Video Conferencing  

Online meetings have become critical to many companies’ collaboration strategies. Video conferencing systems run the gamut from basic laptops on a simple work desk to sophisticated telepresence suites. Thanks to the more reliable tech and lower prices, teleconferencing is transitioning to a core enterprise productivity tool. A steady stream of new tech has also hugely improved usability. Along with greater reliability, the total cost of ownership is dropping.  

Benefits of Video Conferencing 

Lower costs, demand trends, and ease of use have been driving the expansion of video conferencing. Over the last couple of years, it even became a tool of vital importance for many businesses around the world, when lots of office employees were forced to switch to remote settings. Employees have always talked to one another, but now we’re more aware that collaborative, team-focused work environments can deliver incredible business advantages. Among the many research-demonstrated benefits, video collaboration has proven to:  

• Move a company more effectively towards its goals  
• Foster creativity and learning  
• Blend complementary skills, strengths, and perspectives 
• Build trust; encourage equal participation  
• Develop a strong sense of purpose  
• Enhance employee development  
• Teach conflict resolution skills 
• Promote a wider sense of ownership  
• Encourage partnership/joint efforts  
• Deliver problem-solving faster and increase innovation  
• Create an efficient pace of work 
• Improve job satisfaction and employee retention  

Top Benefits of Video Conferencing 

Aside from reducing travel and commutes, there are plenty of other far-reaching benefits, such as decreasing the amount of time wasted in meetings. Below are some of the main reasons companies are using video conferencing more than ever before:  

Cost Savings  

Travel costs add up quickly. Hold a video call and you eliminate costs for employee transportation, hotels, and meals. Customer entertainment expenses disappear. Reducing travel costs for just one employee far outweighs the expense of a VC system that can be used by the entire company.  And video conferencing hardware has never been more accessible. From conference room cameras to video conferencing monitors, the setup prices have dropped over the last few years. 

Improved Productivity and Optimized Operations

Yes, you can be in two places at once. Several, actually. And it’s all thanks to video conferencing. The implications for productivity are huge. While reduced travel requirements help key employees maximize their time, holding video calls with customers and partners around the world drives efficiency.  

Video calls vastly reduce the misunderstandings that come from email and phone calls. With the latest all-in-one video conferencing tools, facial expressions and body language deliver a more complete message. VC participants are also more likely to speak up and clarify information. Additionally, they will stay more alert and focused when viewed by coworkers.  

Overall, video conferencing maximizes your human resources. Projects can be completed faster and participants feel more in sync with each other and the meeting objectives.  

Improved Efficiency  

Visual cues bring a level of efficiency not possible with audio calls. Because of this, participants get a lot more done via video conference like display mockups and demo products and that can help impress potential customers. Proponents admit it’s even more efficient than face-to-face meetings. Discussions can quickly get off track when everyone’s in the same room due to side comments and digressions. The structure of a video conference permits less room for small talk. 

With video conferencing, tight time constraints and remote call-ins can facilitate a more focused discussion with less side chatter. With more interaction comes less distraction. Plus, when participants can be seen by colleagues, focus and contribution are higher. Sight-unseen phone calls can tempt participants to look at their smartphones, keep working on their laptop or browse the internet. At the same time, with products like high-quality conference speakers, everyone can hear and be heard clearly, which paired with good video, increases satisfaction and engagement levels. 

Rapid Outreach  

If you have something you need to communicate right away, convene a video call. Whether it’s showing the demo of the latest product design, delivering critical info, or setting new goals, there’s no need to gather all key players in one place. Unlike in a phone conference, sharing your screen is enough to add a visual impact on those quotas, deadlines or strategic changes. Besides, you’re more in control of making sure your message gets across and is clearly understood by everyone.  

Increased Employee Satisfaction  

Happy, healthy employees are productive employees. Video conferencing helps with both. Frequent travel takes a physical and emotional toll which can strongly affect the work-life balance. Replacing video calls results in greater health and job satisfaction. In turn, this boosts performance and productivity while helping reduce job turnover. 

Telecommuting is on the rise and research shows working remotely translates to employee satisfaction. In a recent study conducted by Owl Labs, 77% of respondents say that having the possibility to work from home after the pandemic would make them happier. 

Employees who travel less and video conference instead are healthier, happier, and more productive. Office flexibility also brings significant cost savings.  Global Workplace Analytics, reported an annual savings of $11,000 per person per year when workers could work from home 50% of the time.  

Improved Communication & More Solid Relationships  

Human communication is complex: body language, eye contact, and tone of voice. At times, just the spoken word alone leaves too much for interpretation. Phone calls reveal tone but leave out body language, gestures, and facial expressions which are crucial for understanding.  Let’s not underestimate, however, how crucial sound quality is. Not being able to hear someone clearly can generate frustration as more focus and energy is put on figuring out what someone is trying to say than on the goal of the meeting.  

Personal understanding and connection are the keys to successful working relationships developed during video conferencing.  Ultimately, it’s what generates effective collaboration.  

As noted in the Harvard Business Review, such work camaraderie “promotes a group loyalty that results in a shared commitment to and discipline toward the work” while fostering the teamwork-oriented mentality. Video conferencing builds relationships, trust, and bonds among employees. Executives can hold meetings in real-time with global offices. Hybrid workers feel more included. Project managers see and interact with those they may never have the chance to meet in person. Suppliers deliver informative, visually impactful pitches. The possibilities for building more successful and lasting business relationships are virtually endless. 

Support for Green Initiatives  

Business traveling takes a toll on the environment in many ways. Video conferencing is an energy-smart, economically viable way to attend or sponsor meetings. It’s environmentally friendly, too.   

Reduced business travel helps with:  

• Energy consumption – Flying, driving, and hotel stays use a great deal of energy, which generates smog-producing air pollutants and carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change.  
• Waste production – In-person meetings create lots of waste. Among the landfill hazards: paper, printer ink, toner, plastic water bottles, and non-recyclable refreshment containers.  
• Food waste – Conference organizers typically order much more than can be consumed by the attendees. Leftover meals, snacks, and cocktail hour snacks typically end up in the trash rather than in a food bank.  

Replacing travel with conferencing has a deep environmental impact. It also makes economic sense. One study determined businesses with $1 billion or more in annual revenue adding video conferencing achieve ROI in as little as 15 months. Nearly 900 business trips would be eliminated in the first year. The environmental impact? A reduction of 2,271 metric tons of pollution over five years. That’s the greenhouse gas equivalent of removing 434 passenger vehicles from the road.  

Competitive Advantage  

Each of the benefits listed above sharpens companies’ competitive edge. Teams that communicate via video calls share knowledge faster and more efficiently. This reduces time to market. Support departments establish personal customer relationships. Manufacturers can cut time and improve quality via video conferences. They can verify quality, propose changes, and ensure accuracy throughout the product lifecycle.  

Adding Value to Video Conferencing 

The range of options for implementing video conferencing systems has never been greater. Price points range from entry-level to extravagant. The business benefits of video conferencing are available to companies large and small. Options span hardware-based systems, software suites, and virtualized systems. Prices are also dropping in comparison to a few years ago.    

The key point is to seek simplicity throughout the solution lifecycle. These systems are simple and easy to use. Look for solutions and partners that deliver ease of use. The ability of IT to monitor the software environment helps with any problems managing the system.  

Displays To Support Success

ViewSonic’s range of comprehensive video conferencing solutions includes displays, high-quality web cameras and speakers that support companies and individuals seeking to leverage the benefits of online meetings.  

The vast array of products fulfills the needs of remote workers to small-sized companies, to big enterprises. From Video Conferencing Monitors, that elevate the home office experience, to impressive and cutting-edge dvLED displays with AIO conference cameras for small, medium, and large-sized conference rooms. 

High Visibility Displays

Conference rooms call for large screens. One large format display is the minimum, two or more is the trend. Interactivity on at least one display in the room has become the norm. Offering the ability to annotate and save presentation material helps even more, especially with online content sharing and saving tools.  

Crystal clear images ensure video conferencing visibility in any environment. All-in-one Displays enable the easy setup of tiled video walls for even greater visual impact and versatility. To add value to video conferencing services, look for displays that come with interactivity and content-sharing options that are designed to deliver simplified meeting collaboration.  

Interactive Displays with Embedded Annotation Software 

Interactive whiteboards are large-format interactive displays designed to amp up collaborative capability. Meetings become more engaging when multiple users write or draw on the display. Embedded annotation software makes it easy to highlight, edit, and transform documents and images on-screen in real-time.  

Easily importing virtually any type of document or media file saves time and energy. The same goes for highlighting onscreen and annotating directly onto the integrated web browser. Save all screen content – including notes and edits – and record live meetings to save and share the experience. All on-screen annotations, macros, media files, and ambient audio are saved using the ViewSonic-exclusive record function.  

Content Sharing with Intel Unite  

To make content sharing even easier, ViewSonic has partnered with Intel Unite®. The ViewSonic® ViewBoard® Interactive Flat Panel Display is the first-ever interactive whiteboard solution to be Intel Unite® certified, transforming meeting rooms into smart, secure, and connected spaces. When a ViewBoard is embedded with Intel Unite, communication and content sharing are made easy.   

Intel Unite can be embedded into ViewBoard via slot-in PCs like VPC12-WPO and VPC10-WP-2. With Intel Unite, you can manage your room’s VC from one single point of access. Collaboration is made easy by allowing users to connect and interact with meeting content in real-time, from any location where they have a corporate network connection. 

Together, Intel Unite and ViewSonic offer enhanced visual collaboration and secure, unified communication – myViewBoard.com. Wirelessly share your screen with coworkers. Check out the Executive Brief for more info on how Intel and ViewSonic build team engagement with Interactive Whiteboards. It contains info on how digital collaboration works.  

All-in-one VC Displays  

ViewSonic displays with an integrated webcam, dual speakers, and USB multimedia ports, deliver an immediate, all-in-one video conferencing solution. Large Format Displays come in a wide range of sizes to fit your conference room. ViewBoard® Cast is an easy content-sharing app used to share content across multiple users with screens.  

Reaping the Benefits of Video Conferencing 

Video conferencing as a communication tool is growing at a record rate. Businesses seek to reap the demonstrated benefits of added collaboration. Those that implement VC quickly experience the many benefits of videoconferencing.  

Quantifiable benefits include reduced travel expenses and increased productivity. Even more impactful advantages span across improved communication, better business relationships, and greater meeting efficiency. With enhanced employee satisfaction and reduced environmental impact, the companies improve their improve competitive edge.  

If you liked this article, you might also want to read about successful collaboration while telecommuting or head to our Workspace solutions page for more ways to create efficient and effective workspaces.