Evolving place of work tradition boosts importance of video conferencing

Purchaser society has embraced video communications with cameras in every thing from gaming consoles to cell equipment. The change towards a visual-heavy lifestyle has also extended for the office.

The importance of movie conferencing adoption has developed as businesses transfer their video clip units out of the boardroom and into smaller sized extra accessible areas. Vendors are responding to this cultural shift by furnishing extra adaptability inside their solutions.

On this Q&A, David Maldow, founder of market research firm Let's Do Movie, explains how changing attitudes towards video have led to increased productivity for teams with remote members. He also explains how online video suppliers are moving away from proprietary programs as more hardware distributors enter the movie communications market.

Editor's note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What changes are driving the significance of movie conferencing in businesses?

David Maldow: One from the big things we've been talking about for a while is this idea of making online video really obtainable to everyone. For a while, we didn't know if the idea of taking movie away from the boardroom and putting it into huddle rooms was just hype or a real possibility. Video isn't really a new trend, but how it's being used now is vastly different.

Video clip has been available on cellular and desktop for some time, but it wasn't really available in meeting spaces. For the most part, the two or three people joining a meeting remotely were using audio, not movie. In some ways, that's because things like Zoom were really only for cell phones or desktop. But now we're exploring the room-based versions of these applications, like Zoom Rooms and BlueJeans Rooms. Suppliers have realized it isn't as simple as taking desktop software and putting it in a room. Rooms need an entirely different product that still feels familiar to people used for the mobile or desktop version with the technology.

How have vendors responded to changing attitudes about video for business?

Maldow: We're seeing fewer vendors offering units that work with proprietary hardware. Room software services are popular, but distributors aren't as interested in creating the hardware that goes with these room systems.

For example, Poly -- formerly Polycom -- used to make proprietary hardware. But, at Enterprise Connect this year, it received best in show for Polycom Studio, which is designed to work with whatever software you want to use. Suppliers are realizing that they need to provide a level of versatility inside their offerings.

It also means that we're seeing sellers transition into the UC [unified communications] space from other markets. Logitech started as a computer company, but now it makes meeting room cameras and is dominating that space. Hardware sellers are finding a place in the market because, once a space has the software, organizations look for a good speaker, microphone and camera.

Even companies like Dolby, who was previously thought of as consumer-focused, are realizing, even if they don't want to focus on an entire conferencing system, they do want to be in the space. They can do it by offering the hardware that they're good at.

What is driving innovation and adoption in the video clip conferencing market?

Maldow: It's a mix of innovation from distributors and demand from businesses. But it's really a change in the society overall that's driving much more movie conferencing adoption. Buyer culture is video-centric. When video clip platforms, like YouTube, became commonplace, we started to see that shift. Now, it's gone further; instead of people making phone calls, they're FaceTiming. This video-centric attitude has also reached meeting rooms.

There seems to be a collective agreement that video clip conferencing is important because it encourages a far more productive workflow. If you're trying to get work done over a call, it's difficult to tell if the person on the line with you is still listening. Video clip helps everyone be much more productive and hold each other accountable.

When online video was first introduced, we thought it was going to be mostly for customer-facing interactions, like closing sales. But the entire work lifestyle has shifted from a focus on individual work to teamwork. Teamwork is extra than just having an easy way to share files or contextualized chats. We're becoming a tradition of people who prefer to work as a team. If you have a team, you need video clip, especially as much more people work remotely. Video clip can take a group of people located in different places and change them from individuals contributing to a project to a cohesive group.

What problems does video clip conferencing still face outside the boardroom?

Maldow: In the past, we've had companies adopt expensive devices only to find out that they were being used maybe twice a year because they didn't fit into the everyday workflow from the business. Often, there is this compulsion to adopt technology first and assume that workflow will follow. But, additional often than not, that isn't the case. There is no one-size-fits-all answer to video conferencing. It's important to really understand how your team works and choosing the right video clip conferencing technology to support it.

If meetings make use from the whiteboard, it may be worth looking into digital whiteboard options or screen sharing. If you notice that people are uncomfortable adjusting the camera for meetings, you should be exploring offerings that feature smart framing or automatic camera adjustments. Five years ago, technology was the center from the universe; now, it's more focused on giving teams the overall flexibility that lets them be a lot more productive.