It’s hard to talk about the role of video conferencing in the modern workplace without at least making a passing reference to the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its influence is difficult to overstate and in the intervening years, many of us will no doubt have noticed a dip in our frequent flyer points while simultaneously observing the increased presence and sophistication of video calling software in both our professional and personal lives. A study conducted by Evans (2020) noted an increase in daily Zoom participants alone from 10 million in December 2019 to a staggering 300 million in April 2020.
While the preference to move towards digital conferencing solutions is relatively self-evident in most workplaces, Müller and Wittmer’s 2023 study on the choice between business travel and video conferencing revealed that the former remains not without its merits. Perhaps more interestingly, however, it highlighted where web conferencing can have the most impact – namely for conversations that are a technical exchange or are generally of an informal, or less complex nature.
Like most tools, half of the skill in utilising video conferencing technology lies in knowing when it’s the most appropriate instrument for the job.
Video Conferencing Benefits
The advantages of video conferencing are vast and varied but will no doubt depend on the specific operating model of your business. The benefits for international, office-based businesses are fairly self-evident but that doesn’t mean that value isn’t to be found elsewhere.
Employee Satisfaction and Retention
A recent study by BW: Workplace Experts revealed that, on average, 2.25 days a week is the UK workforce’s preferred amount of time to spend in the office. Meanwhile, the 2023 Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report found that 77% of employees would be open to a new job if their employer withdrew flexible working policies. Hybrid working is here to stay and is a prominent factor in determining work-life balance and overall job satisfaction. Video conferencing is a natural symptom of hybrid working; businesses unable to give their workforce the opportunity to collaborate digitally are not able to offer hybrid working as a viable option. Video conferencing technology is a requirement for office-based businesses that want to engender a positive work culture and remain competitive in the job market.
Time and Cost Efficiencies
Not only do digital conferencing solutions save on time and costs that would otherwise be devoted to travel, but they also save on travel planning. On a micro scale, this might look like a few minutes saved trying to plot the most efficient route across town. On a macro scale, it eliminates countless business hours spent booking flights, and hotels, and dealing with the inevitable administration of international travel or expense claims. This allows you to devote these precious resources to areas of your business where they will have the most impact.
Asynchronous Collaboration and Posterity
As anyone who has had to catch up on a meeting by deciphering a set of intelligible minutes will be able to attest, sometimes there is simply no substitute for being in attendance yourself. As we all know, that’s not always possible and so the fact that web conferencing can be easily recorded for playback later makes it a much more accessible option for part-time workers, those with caring responsibilities, or simply those with busy diaries. It also gives us the option to watch the action back at a faster speed or to skip to parts of the agenda that are most useful to us, allowing us to optimise our time. Moreover, having a digital record of conversations gives us one source of truth, reducing the occurrence of misinterpreted conversations.
Inclusivity and Reducing Barriers
We’ve already touched on how digital conferencing might benefit part-time workers or carers, but it also creates more equal opportunities for members of the workforce who may have impairments to participation or even just different personality types. As well as removing physical barriers, it creates a safe space where more introverted colleagues feel safe expressing themselves. A Capstone Research project found that younger or less experienced team members felt more comfortable expressing themselves through virtual collaboration. This is perhaps due to a lack of physical proximity to other colleagues or the option to submit contributions in writing rather than having to speak out. Either way, virtual collaboration is an easy way to encourage wider participation within your business and this is perhaps one of the most significant advantages of video conferencing.
Sustainable Conferencing
Many developers of video conferencing technology will be eager to point out that it’s a much more sustainable workplace alternative to racking up the air miles for business trips. While this may be true, it fails to acknowledge both the environmental impacts of intensive software usage owing to the emissions and water consumption of data centres; and the existing business travel practices within individual companies. In reality, the environmental advantage of digital conferencing lies in empowering you to make a choice about where you focus your carbon-saving efforts. If your business depends on international meetings and you can host a substantial portion of those online, then you may well find a sustainable advantage in video calls.
Disadvantages of Business Video Conferencing
Before diving into the realm of business video conferencing, it’s useful to be aware of some of the challenges you may encounter.
Technological Barriers
Video Conferencing Fatigue
Let’s begin by addressing the proverbial elephant in the room; while broadband infrastructure is generally in a much healthier place than it was five years ago, the dreaded ‘No internet connection’ error message is still part and parcel of home video conferencing, and it’s rare that at least one person in your remote meeting won’t have connectivity issues, struggling to listen or contribute to the conversation. As with adopting any new technology, you will also need to consider the time and resource investment required to upskill your workforce, but this is generally a short-term commitment that will pay dividends in the long term.
Defined by Riedl (2021) as “physical and cognitive exhaustion resulting from intensive use of video conferencing tools”, video conferencing fatigue is a very real phenomenon resulting in disengagement. It can arise from an over-reliance on the technology due to its convenience, while some psychologists have suggested it elicits a mild stress response due to long periods of intense, close-up eye contact or of having to see oneself in real-time. Web conferencing can also contribute to social loafing – a phenomenon whereby individuals contribute less effort to a group task than they would individually. These challenges can all be overcome with a little governance and guidance around the appropriate use of technology within your workplace.
Limiting Organic Conversations
There are inherent benefits of in-person conferences that are easily lost in the digital world. We might call these the ‘water cooler conversations’ – that is, the informal, organic conversations that arise from chance meetings and can lead to professional opportunities. These might be initiated by small talk while waiting for a meeting room, or by networking during a mid-morning coffee break. Many professional collaborations are a result of a chance conversation rather than a point on a meeting agenda and, while not eliminating them entirely, digital conferencing solutions certainly reduce the likelihood of these partnerships.
Accounting for Time Differences
Particularly relevant for businesses that operate in the international sphere, it’s worth considering when time differences can cause business video conferencing to become a hindrance. Teams on opposite sides of the globe will often find that one half of the team is operating very early in the morning, while another is trying to contribute at the end of a long working day; a scenario that is optimal for either party. Most of us will avoid making important decisions late in the day due to the effect cognitive fatigue can have on our judgement, and throwing virtual conferencing into the mix across international time zones will usually leave at least one party at a disadvantage. This can quite easily be overcome by knowing when a video conference will suffice, and when a business trip might be more productive.
The Impact of Interactive Displays on Video Conferencing
As we have seen, there are a number of advantages of video conferencing, alongside some notable disadvantages, but equipping your office with an interactive display may offer some reconciliation.
An interactive display essentially allows you to harness the power of both worlds and convene in-person meetings that remote participants can join via video link. This is especially useful for presentations, allowing remote speakers to present to a room, or to follow along with a presentation that’s happening in the room itself.
The advantage that this has over using individual devices is that it offers a central focal point to the room, bringing in-person participants together to collaborate rather than becoming distracted by their own devices. Where it really comes into its own, however, is with features such as Promethean’s Desktop Annotate, which allows participants to annotate or draw diagrams over whatever is displayed on the screen, working in a more creative, collaborative way, and improving comprehension for remote participants.
Having an interactive screen that enables the connection of multiple devices also allows participants to share content and take control of the action, inspiring a greater sense of engagement with the meeting or conference.
The Future of Web Conferencing
With a recent Fortune Business Insights report projecting a rise in the global video conferencing market value from $33.04 billion in 2024 to $60.17 billion by 2032, it’s clear the technology is here to stay.
As artificial intelligence (AI) technologies continue to permeate the workplace, we’re likely to see an increasing presence of these in digital conferencing tools. We’re already seeing some software providers integrating AI meeting summaries, transcriptions, and suggested responses into their tools and this is a trend that looks set to continue as the technology is used to make our time together more productive.
The more noticeable changes, however, are likely to be in the realm of augmented reality, with hardware and software developments providing the sense that we are in the same room together, leading to more engaging, organic discussions.
Choosing the right Video Conferencing Technology
When considering your video conferencing setup, you’ll need to take into consideration the appropriate hardware and software solutions for your business. Some important factors to consider are the size of your physical spaces, the size of your workforce, and the applications for which you intend to use the technology. Large conferences with multiple external participants will require a different solution to small, internal one-to-one meetings, for example.
If you wish to encourage creative collaboration and group work, you might find an interactive display a complementary addition to your video conference installation. If this sounds like something you might benefit from, contact Promethean today to book a free demo of our ActivPanel.
Further reading: