Life now revolves around a screen. Whether you’re having meetings with colleagues and clients or catching up with friends, we often find ourselves communicating with others not just over the phone, but over video calls.
Covid has forced many of us to work remotely which has ultimately driven the spike in demand for high-quality video conferencing calls. With 78% of CEOs even saying that it will entirely replace audio-only calls.
With this new need, it’s important to choose a solution that provides the best value to your organisation by first considering a few factors. If you’re looking to incorporate a video conferencing solution into your business but don’t know where to start, we’ve come up with 9 important things to help you get started.
Benefits
First, let’s discuss the importance of video calling.
Fortunately, video conferencing technologies are now accessible to any business size whereas before they catered to larger organisations.
Some of the incredible benefits of video calling include:
- The ability to solve business problems quickly and remain productive through virtual meetings
- Creating comfortable conditions from the comfort of your own home
- Maintaining healthy relationships
- Saving time and money by not having to transport to the physical location
- Simple to install, navigate and use
- Creating realistic “face-to-face” interactions compared to other forms of communication
- Affordable solutions
Things You Need to Consider…
Scalability
Reviewing your meeting size and frequency is something to consider prior to choosing a video conferencing solution. This affects the type of plan you may end up going with as a small meeting size may allow for a free plan where a larger meeting will most likely mean that you’ll be paying for the service.
Usage
What is the purpose of your meetings? Will they be for conferences, project discussions, interviews, regular staff meetings, client calls, one-on-one conversations, or all of the above? Are you looking for a solution that offers an interactive question/answer forum or “breakout rooms”?
Reports show that 45% of teams use video calling tools daily or weekly so it’s best to make sure you understand beforehand your meeting’s purpose, along with the features you’ll be needing.
Ease of Use
Nobody likes to jump onto a video conference and spend a few minutes making sure everyone can see and hear you. When choosing a video conferencing solution, make sure the user interface is of high quality. If the program allows you to have a free trial, grab a few colleagues and go ahead on testing everything out.
Video Feed
Many services, such as Logitech video conferencing, advertise that they can host hundreds of users at once in a meeting, however, when this is the case, they do often limit the number of video streams. Check to see if this is the case and also research if they offer HD.
Devices
Your meeting participants will most likely be joining on different devices. In order to accommodate this, ensure your video conferencing program integrates seamlessly with desktops, browsers, mobiles, tablets, and more.
Screen Sharing
During regular in-person face-to-face meetings, we often need to have a presentation up or refer to a particular section within a document. Don’t let video conferencing think you can’t do this! Make sure you are able to have a visual aid to accompany your meeting.
Recording
Recording the video and audio of your meetings is a great way to refer back to what was discussed and include those that were unable to attend. If your video conferencing program allows you to record your meetings, look into the amount of storage space available for your archives.
Application integration
You probably already use a variety of applications and plugins, such as document sharing or PowerPoint. When your program enables 3rd party applications, your meeting participants will be able to take their own notes, have the meetings scheduled in their calendars, receive meeting updates, and much more. This is a huge part of improving a user’s experience.
Customer Service
If you have any questions and you want to speak to someone to resolve an issue, having an efficient and readily available support line is important to fix these problems as soon as they pop up, minimising the risk of business interruptions.
Consider partnering with a local Managed IT Services company that can support your chosen video conferencing solution. They can provide quick responses, support, and installation so you can be confident using your solution.
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Alternatively, you might wish to explore the setup offered by Microsoft Teams calling, which enables you and your team to collaborate effortlessly and efficiently!
Conclusion
Having the ability to connect with anyone at any time through video conferencing technologies has transformed the way we work. However, choosing the right solution is key to ensuring your organisation can communicate and collaborate simply and efficiently. At Future IT Services, we understand what true collaboration is and strive to connect people together from anywhere, anytime.
Learn more about our video conferencing solutions