10 Questions Businesses Should Ask Themselves

As part of the continued need to reduce costs while boosting productivity, many are considering desktop videoconferencing. Expensive room-size telepresence systems, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to deploy, are out of reach for many businesses, but the price of business-class desktop videoconferencing can be deployed for the price of a smart phone.

Based on its pioneering 15-plus-year history of providing videoconferencing solutions to business, Avistar has developed the 10 questions companies should ask themselves when considering whether or which kind of desktop videoconferencing is right for them. We'll address the first five in this article and follow-up with the second five in a separate article.

1. Why are you considering videoconferencing? Is it to reduce travel expenses? Improve customer or employee relationships? Deliver training materials or access new markets? Understanding a company’s goal for videoconferencing can help determine system requirements.

2. What sort of meetings do you plan to videoconference? Will they be large meetings with a dozen or more people? Will they be smaller meetings, usually two to four people? Meetings involving large groups may require hybrid systems to combine room size and desktops systems. Companies should consider systems that enable both simple point-to-point and multiparty communications from the desktop, and that are fully interoperable with other communications solutions they may have.

3. What does the system cost to deploy? Room-size telepresence systems, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to deploy, may be fine if most meetings entail large groups of people. On the other hand, desktop videoconferencing can be quick, reliable and cost effective to deploy.

4. What will the impact of videoconferencing have on your network? Free video chat services sound great – “free” seems cost effective. But if employees conduct too many chats simultaneously on your network, the demand for bandwidth could crash network applications, could cripple your network capacity, and lose valuable data. Instead, look for solutions that offer bandwidth management controls to manage network stress.

5. Will the videoconferences most likely be in the same time zone or vastly different time zones? Conferences between New York City and Los Angeles are easier to schedule than Boston and Singapore based on when both parties are in the office. If meetings typically take place after business hours in one location, desktop videoconferencing provides more flexibility than a room size system that would require the employee to be in the office.
 
6. What kind of user experience do we need? Some services involve several steps to set up a videoconference. Business users should look for providers that offer single click, point to point and multiparty video calling without complications or hassles. The calls should offer crystal clear audio and world-class video to enable informed decision-making, speed of execution and superior results – not distract users with jerky movement and audio that doesn’t match the person speaking. One click call capability makes it simple to create videoconference calls – which means it’s more likely that employees will use the system.

7. What sort of investment will you need to make? Businesses need to leverage existing infrastructure when selecting a videoconferencing provider. In the face of any type of firewall, network configuration, multivendor hardware or varying security policies, what businesses need is a solution that transparently determines the best way to connect videoconference calls among users spread far and wide. Additionally, find out how easy is it to install, deploy and make videoconferencing calls. Ease of use is an important consideration – especially for businesses that may not have dedicated IT staffs. Complicated systems that could require tech support to use reduces the likelihood that people who had scheduled a videoconference call will do so a second time.

8. Will people using videoconferences generally be in the same location each time? For example, for regular update calls between a company and its outsource vendor, videoconferences are likely to be held in the same conference rooms each time whereas monthly calls with the sales force might find some participants in a different location each time. You should select a system that can be available at desk, in conference room or on the road.

9. Will your corporate culture have to change in order to embrace videoconferencing? Some organizations prefer large meetings and are likely to prefer a telepresence approach. Others, which prefer ad hoc meetings, are likely to prefer a desktop videoconference solution.

10. What regulations or security needs does your company need to address? Security is a top priority, so look for a solution that ensures that critical network data and communications ports are protected. That’s why many have policies that prohibit the introduction of consumer technology into the workplace. Companies need a provider whose technology offers external video call access without compromised security, including seamless, secure connection through firewalls.

Desktop videoconferencing can be a great way to reduce travel costs, shorten sales cycle, generate revenue and boost productivity. Businesses need to make sure they’re asking the right questions before they buy to make sure they’re getting the right system for their needs, culture and budgets.

Happy Holidays,

The Avistar Team