In business, a lot of client and customer relationships are built up over the phone. It is almost second nature now to pick up the phone and call a customer or business partner, to establish connections, confirm details and create leads. But so much can be missed in a phone call. Without video conferencing, the tiniest frown or subtle smirk can't be picked up in the tone of a person's voice. These tells can indicate whether following a particular course of conversation is going to win a sale or drastically sour relations.
Email only compounds the problem. It's great for keeping in touch with clients, sending large documents such as proposals, quickly and conveniently but there is no way to tell if a customer is growing frustrated with a service unless they say it outright. Anyone who works in business know it's very rare that people speak their mind.
Missing out on face to face meetings can leave businesses wondering why they've lost one of their best clients or how they managed to a contract against the odds. At the same time going out to visit clients face to face is often prohibitively expensive and impractical, especially in a time when even small businesses can work internationally. Its here that video conferencing comes into its own.
Video conferencing has come a long way since the days where only the boardrooms of massive conglomerates could afford them. Even then, lack of proper networks meant video conferencing systems often served to establish how wealthy the company was as much as any practical purpose. Now that the majority of the world is wired for wide capacity telephony, particularly for internet and cell phone communication video conferencing is far more practical than ever.
The types of systems available on the market differ wildly. There are systems for every kind of function. Most smart phones these days incorporate a camera that allows for video calls. While they are good for families to keep in touch they are not exactly ideal for business conference calls. It doesn't look very professional to spend an entire video conference with you arm stretched out in front of you and have the camera constantly shaking.
There are desk set conferencing units that are essentially a phone with a high resolution display attached. Without taking up much more space that a regular phone, a managing director can have face to face video conferencing calls with clients and customers from her desk. It can make a huge difference when establishing business relations to be able to pick up the phone and see a friendly face at the other end.
For video conferencing that may involve multiple people but cant take up too much space, for example if its to be used in a meeting or training room, there are video conferencing units that utilise a flat panel monitor the size of a large TV. On the largest scale there are what is called tele-presence video conferencing systems. This is where a full wall of a boardroom is taken up by a screen. During conferences another board room or group from a meeting room are shown in such a way that it is almost as if they are in the same room.
Gene Baker is an author of articles in a variety of areas including video conferencing. See http://www.meritec.ie/ for more information on video conferencing.
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