Although video conferencing is becoming pervasive within enterprises worldwide, many CIOs find that the technology does not always reach its full potential.
Older infrastructure, complicated client software, limited integration with business applications, and ineffectual end-user training are among the issues that can prevent a company deriving maximum value from its investments in video conferencing technology.
“In the end, employees, not the technology they use, need to be at the centre of the experience,” says Brian Riggs, Principal Analyst, Ovum’s Enterprise Services.
“They need to have easy-to-use video communications tools that let them call any device, on any network, and from any location.”
With this in mind, Riggs provides insight into how the channel can help and advise CIOs to combat these issues. Specifically, CIOs need to:
- Provide a seamless and easy user experience that is available on all devices and networks.
- Deliver an engagement plan that solicits end-user input.
- Establish an internal marketing program to promote the use of video conferencing.
- Document best practices around the effective use of video conferencing.
- Encourage top management to embrace video conferencing.
In addition, Riggs says enterprises are leveraging Cloud services to get the most out of video conferencing with minimal capital expense.
With cloud-based video conferencing, partners should be aware that CIOs can avoid many of the capital expenses traditionally associated with video conferencing, turning it instead into an operational expense.
According to Riggs, this not only lowers the barrier of entry for enterprises looking to invest in video conferencing for the first time, but can also reduce the cost of introducing improvements to an existing video implementation.
“Tapping into the many benefits of video conferencing can be a daunting proposition for CIOs,” he explains.
“But using Cloud-based services enterprises can experiment with many of the different ways video communications can be delivered to employees.”
