At this point, I’m sure you have heard the term, “in the cloud.” Recently, cloud-based services have seen a spike in growth, branching primarily into the business sector. There is one cloud-based service in particular that is becoming a staple in the communication infrastructure of many businesses.
That one cloud-based service is video conferencing.
Over the years, the business industry has adopted video conferencing as a viable and efficient means of communication-B2B and otherwise. There are a number of advantages that are apparent, but one of the foremost benefits of video conferencing is the reduced “face-to-face” time needed to travel and meet with prospective clients. Aside from that, adopting a cloud-based video conferencing can also trigger an increase in employee productivity, as well as create a portal for global communication.
Cloud-based video conferencing is a relatively new innovation so it still has some growing to do. At present, the most pressing issues associated with video conferencing is the overall cost to install, use, and maintain it.
As with most new technology though, the price of video conferencing systems and services will likely come down. Most cloud-based services didn’t even exist a few years ago. With new companies like Polycom releasing new cloud conferencing solutions and sparking a growing interest in Video Conferencing as a Service, or VCaaS, the competition is likely to drive demand and lower overall costs.
“Face-To-Face” is an Ancient Practice
Don’t get me wrong, the ideology of face-to-face contact is essential in certain business operations, but for the most part it can be foregone. Since most businesses have employed the use of social-media-based customer service, emailing internally, and even texting, communication can take place both internally and externally without ever needing to make physical contact.
Studies have shown that communicating with customers in person drastically increased sales and kept customers happy overall. However, a large part of the working community telecommutes (works remotely), so physical communication is a little hard to come by. With the implementation of a cloud-based video conferencing service, those in the telecommuting community can visually communicate, not only with customers, but also their fellow colleagues and upper management.
VCaaS is Taking Over the Cloud
The demand for video conferencing services is there and growing with each passing month, but the cost of such services are not dropping in due course with the demand. Businesses are trying to combine the best of both worlds-low cost and high benefit-to establish a completely new line of communication within their infrastructures. While the cost is not ideal currently, the rising growth in VCaaS will likely drive the cost down.
At this point, for a business to fully reap the benefits of video conferencing, the best way to do so is to take advantage of the cloud and everything it has to offer. A regular video conferencing solution can be had that isn’t cloud based, but to install it would mean setting up a complete infrastructure system which requires the hiring of a professional to install and maintain it. A cloud-based video conferencing solution, on the other hand, would eliminate most of that since the bulk of its infrastructure is based in the cloud (no wires).
