Electronic platforms have paved the way for businesses to seamlessly connect and re-establish relationships with employees, partners, and clients. Video-conferencing is undeniably the next best thing, which provides a more personalized interaction than merely being on the phone. It’s a powerful medium for organizing conferences, presentations, meetings, and live streaming events. The COVID-19 outbreak has led to an unprecedented surge in demand for video conferencing and collaboration apps, as students, teachers, employees, and many others navigate working from home due to the lockdown and overall health concerns.
Common Challenges
Inadequate bandwidth and connectivity can be an issue for many employees working in remote locations, resulting in video freezes and crackling audio transmissions.
- As employees work from home, they may be distracted by unwanted background noise from children, traffic, and machinery that can disrupt the flow of the meeting.
- The lack of security infrastructures is a major threat for organizations, as security breaches by hackers may result in serious financial and reputational loss.
- As most employees use a wide range of devices such as laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablets and want to have the same level of experience, it is crucial to have device integration, or the application may be found impractical and get abandoned.
- The built-in features of the application have a great impact on the quality of communication. It’s important to have screen sharing, optical zoom, speaker tracking, and chat enablement, which enhances the overall user experience.
How to Choose the Right Video Conferencing Service?
It’s important to know exactly what you need from your video conferencing solution before you choose one. For example, small businesses might need only one-on-one conferences, while large corporations need to connect dozens of users at the same time. The key is to choose the right video conferencing service for your business, and for that, you need to ask the right questions. How many participants will you have regularly on your video calls? How much time do you require for most calls? Do you need to include other applications to share with other participants? You need to consider these factors before you make your final decision. A platform that has dozens of features can be a waste of money, but the free video conferencing services might not have all the features that your business needs.
Some important features to keep in mind while looking for the best solution for your business needs:
- Bandwidth and Connectivity
The most important is to have a stable and fast internet connection. Like with any media you send over the internet, the quality of your call experience it’s closely connected with the bandwidth you are using, and the bandwidth that the call requires. When choosing a solution, bear in mind the bandwidth requirements of your devices, to have a quality video call experience. - Encrypted Security
Security is very important for modern collaboration. Not encrypting video conferencing traffic is like leaving your door to your home wide open. You let anyone access all your valuable information and spy on you. Cisco Webex, for example, offers encryption for data with the option for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) included. - Noise Cancellation
We’ve all experienced those meetings when someone is having trouble with their audio, which causes an echo for everyone else. It makes it hard to focus on the meeting. When you hear back your voice like an echo, most likely the issue is on the other participant’s side. But, if the other participants are hearing their voice echoing, most likely the issue is on your side. The BlueJeans Dolby Voice integration, allows participants to hear clearly and communicate naturally, like they would be in the same room, regardless of their physical location. - Screen Sharing
During a meeting, it is very important to be able to share your screen. For the participants, it’s more engaging and interactive. Microsoft Teams and most VC Softwares offer screen sharing and recording features, which stimulates more interactive meetings. If you need to explain a problem, help them understand certain points of a presentation, or just show them how to access certain information, screen sharing is exactly what you need. - Chat Features
When you have any questions during the meeting, you can send a text message to the person who you want to talk to, or even in the group chat room, so you don’t end up disrupting the presentation of others. For example, GoToMeeting offers real-time chat features in its video-conferencing application. - Device Integration
Video conferencing is all about connecting people remotely, which sometimes means some participants need to connect from the mobile devices. Make sure that the chosen solution is adaptable on both tablets and mobile devices. Providers like Yealink offer an integrated consistent tailored user experience for meetings and calling across all the devices. It features a first-class video and audio technology which allows you to have a more effective collaboration experience.
The benefits of video conferencing have been truly remarkable during the COVID-19 lockdown, and the frequency of using this technology across the globe has dramatically increased. The future of video conferencing looks extremely promising because, in the upcoming years, it’s more likely for remote teams to use immersive technologies to collaborate and connect. The ROI from the installation of proper video-conferencing equipment will be much higher than the actual investment. It’s always a wise decision to stay a step ahead of your competition.
Always Keep an Eye out for Phishing
It is a form of a malicious attack by hackers to steal login details and bank credentials. The attacks usually happen by masking an attacker with a trusted entity, which tricks the victims into downloading attachments or clicking on to emails and text messages. Recently, there is a steep increase in phony login sites, which uses the names of well-known video conference applications for their attacks. A momentary distraction and click can lead to malware being installed in your devices, which may cause a ransomware attack or theft of sensitive information. To reduce the security of your video conference applications, you must use links that are password-embedded and can protect you from being a victim of war dialing. Always remember to update your applications, use the latest software versions, and educate all employees who use video-conferencing.
We are here to help your business!
Need some extra guidance to help you make the best choice? Whether you need reliable connectivity, Virtual Private Network, Video-Conferencing Devices, or you would like to discuss the best options for your company, IX is here to help you! Get in touch with us to explore how video conferencing can boost your business!
