Use of Video Conferencing Surges Towards Widespread Adoption

Posted by KBZ Blogging Team

A rush of interest in video conferencing over the past several months has in turn led to increased media coverage of telepresence technologies, applications, and potential near-future growth. Video conferencing usage is predicted to rise in the small and medium business sector, while the growth of telepresence in education and research circles has also been tapped to continue its impressive rise.

An article published by AV Interactive (@AVMag) this past month included recent statistics concerning the use of video conferencing in university, continuing education, and research-focused institutions. 86 percent of these types of organizations expected to continue to see “significant” growth in how video conferencing is being used, both internally and when communicating with other companies and academic entities. The financial benefit associated with travel reduction was cited as being the most important positive aspect of adopting the technology.

From a business perspective, lower cost telepresence equipment has prompted larger companies to take an increasingly aggressive tack when putting together a video conferencing strategy. In turn, small and medium-sized businesses are becoming more and more interested in moving from free or very low cost video conferencing systems such as Skype towards telepresence technologies similar to those formerly aimed exclusively at enterprise-level operations. Light Reading’s Chief Editor, Carol Wilson, reports that mobile video conferencing endpoints such as smart phones and other personal devices have prompted additional growth in the telepresence sector. Companies are also branching out from using video conferencing solely as a method for connecting remote employees to the home office and are now examining its potential in the business-to-business sphere.

Mobile telepresence, academic collaboration, business outreach, and the increasingly affordable cost of high quality video conferencing equipment all point towards a coming surge in the acceptance and use of this technology across a wide range of industries. The evolution of video conferencing from a trusted internal tool to a standard method of reaching out to clients, suppliers, partners, and customers would mark an important milestone for the entire industry. Widespread adoption is a necessary step in helping telepresence achieve the critical mass required to make it a regular feature of business and institutional communications.

Benjamin Hunting
KBZ Blogging Team