Results

Skyrocketing travel costs and growing interest in sustainable business practices have prompted many companies to take a closer look at video conferencing. The timing of this trend could not be better — recent advances in video conferencing hardware and software have made low-cost, high quality options more accessible than ever before.

Equally important to choosing a conferencing solution is having a strategy in place to maximize its benefits. Use these tips to help your company get the most from video conferencing.

Start at the end.

Make a list of goals you hope to achieve through video conferencing. These might include reducing travel costs, saving time, raising employee productivity and helping the environment. Benchmark your company’s current performance in each area, and your expectations for how video conferencing will lead to improvements. Also, review your goals to uncover which applications you need and consider how you will ensure their reliability and quality.

Keep it simple.

If you have multiple users on your system, it’s best to define a limited number of video conferencing configurations you’re company will support, and stick to these implementations without variation. For instance, you might have desktop, mobile and conference room setups, each always implemented with the same hardware and software. Limiting variation will reduce training needs, increase reliability, and control troubleshooting.

Set the standards.

Standardize your company’s video conferencing practices and share this information with all users, both when the system is launched and at regularly scheduled intervals. Include usage standards in your employee manual. It is also a good idea to circulate “cheat sheets” on topics like setting up calls and troubleshooting, and to keep copies of these documents in video-equipped conference rooms.

Communicate.

Success video conferencing relies on fluid communications between end-users, administrators and company leaders, with an end goal of developing practices that support system reliability, lower costs, and end-user satisfaction. Provide users with a point person for call scheduling, troubleshooting and centralized administration. This person should also be responsible for announcing changes to the system, gathering feedback and measuring system performance.

Encourage Adoption.

Like the integration of any technology, video conferencing tools will require training and standards. Choose someone to spearhead these areas, and to collect feedback from users during the process. You may also want to begin implementation with the group that stands to gain the most from video conferencing tools. If the solution helps them to do their jobs more effectively, they will become video-conferencing evangelists and spread the word to other departments. And the value of the tools will continue to grow as more locations, functions and users are added.

Skyrocketing travel costs and growing interest in sustainable business practices have prompted many companies to take a closer look at video conferencing. The timing of this trend could not be better — recent advances in video conferencing hardware and software have made low-cost, high quality options more accessible than ever before.

Equally important to choosing a conferencing solution is having a strategy in place to maximize its benefits. Use these tips to help your company get the most from video conferencing.

Start at the end.

Make a list of goals you hope to achieve through video conferencing. These might include reducing travel costs, saving time, raising employee productivity and helping the environment. Benchmark your company’s current performance in each area, and your expectations for how video conferencing will lead to improvements. Also, review your goals to uncover which applications you need and consider how you will ensure their reliability and quality.

Keep it simple.

If you have multiple users on your system, it’s best to define a limited number of video conferencing configurations you’re company will support, and stick to these implementations without variation. For instance, you might have desktop, mobile and conference room setups, each always implemented with the same hardware and software. Limiting variation will reduce training needs, increase reliability, and control troubleshooting.

Set the standards.

Standardize your company’s video conferencing practices and share this information with all users, both when the system is launched and at regularly scheduled intervals. Include usage standards in your employee manual. It is also a good idea to circulate “cheat sheets” on topics like setting up calls and troubleshooting, and to keep copies of these documents in video-equipped conference rooms.

Communicate.

Success video conferencing relies on fluid communications between end-users, administrators and company leaders, with an end goal of developing practices that support system reliability, lower costs, and end-user satisfaction. Provide users with a point person for call scheduling, troubleshooting and centralized administration. This person should also be responsible for announcing changes to the system, gathering feedback and measuring system performance.

Encourage Adoption.

Like the integration of any technology, video conferencing tools will require training and standards. Choose someone to spearhead these areas, and to collect feedback from users during the process. You may also want to begin implementation with the group that stands to gain the most from video conferencing tools. If the solution helps them to do their jobs more effectively, they will become video-conferencing evangelists and spread the word to other departments. And the value of the tools will continue to grow as more locations, functions and users are added.