Due to social distancing, hundreds of thousands of companies have taken to video conferencing to conduct their meetings and daily operations. And many of them have decided to continue video conferencing even after going back to their offices.
Accordingly, we’ve listed the top five benefits of video conferencing for businesses.
Drives high engagement
Unlike phone calls or audio conferences, it’s hard to multitask while on a video conference. Video conferences mimic real meetings, and participants can engage through gestures and read each other’s body language, which can improve communication and develop an engagement that wouldn’t be possible with audio conferences.
It’s also important to note that audio conferences may cause participants to drift off through multitasking or by dosing off. The same isn’t the case with video conferencing since there remains ‘virtual eye contact’ that keeps participants engaged.
Saves business costs
Ineffective meetings in the United States are costing businesses up to $37 billion annually, according to a study published in the European Journal of Work & Organization Psychology, while another study said pointless meetings can cost businesses up to $399 billion in 2019.
Instead of traveling across the country and the world, video conferencing helps people do much of what they’d do abroad from within the office. Employees can conduct training, ‘visit’ conferences and attend weekly meetings that don’t require them to be in another client’s office or country. This saves business costs through money and travel time that can be utilized elsewhere to conduct more important tasks.
Connects teams wherever they are
For global businesses with offices in more than one location, video conferencing becomes crucial for their operations, because it helps them conduct more effective meetings where they see and collaborate with teammates across different offices.
Video conferencing also enables employees to work from home if they have personal matters to attend to, or if they participate in flexible working. Addedly, it provides an invaluable opportunity for remote work, improving employee satisfaction.
Increases efficiency and sustainability
Instead of packing, getting in the car, and driving all the way to meet a supplier or client in a far location, video conferences save companies all this time. Addedly, face-to-face meetings take up a lot of time from employees who could be utilizing their time elsewhere.
Driving to a meeting that’s one hour away from your office costs the same as the electrical power of 1,000 hours of web conferencing, according to a study from the George Mason University.
Improves productivity and collaboration
Connecting the laptop to the charger, the screen, and then trying to showcase a blurry chart on a wall – this is a struggle many have faced during in-person meetings.
Video conferences enable real-time screen sharing so that collaboration is smooth while avoiding the technical complications that can arise from traditional meetings. Also, video conferencing is much more efficient than trying to explain visuals on the phone, ultimately helping teams collaborate.
Concluding notes
Video conferencing has become part of the normal business operations for many companies in 2020, enabling remote working and bringing forth more opportunities for hiring talents across the world. This flexibility, alongside the benefits of video conferencing, from increasing productivity to reducing costs, makes it an innovation that is here to stay.