Given the current trend of taking office spaces from the physical to the virtual realm, working together from diverse locations across the world is not at all uncommon. This has changed the way we collaborate and the way we co-work.
However, while we often no longer consider physical presence as an important factor when it comes to attending a meeting or a conference, face-to-face meetings are still important. Face-to-face interaction fosters credibility, a sense of connectedness, and plays an important role in building relationships. But in person, face-to-face meetings aren’t always possible.
That’s where video conferencing systems in today’s business environment can bridge distance and bring people close together, even though they are actually physically miles apart. Cloud-enabled video conferencing or video collaboration is quickly becoming an integral part of modern companies that wish to cultivate smarter workforces.
What exactly is video collaboration?
So, what is video collaboration? It’s a cloud-based application that allows you to hold live video communication from anywhere in the world. Video collaboration helps you participate in meetings, discussions, and conferences, in real time without incurring the high expenses involved with the purchase of hardware, equipment installation and, of course, the cost of travel. But that’s not all. There are even more benefits of video collaboration—let’s talk about how it can help businesses build smarter workforces.
How video collaboration helps businesses build a smart work culture?
Remote and flexible work arrangements: Remote working is a concept that’s growing in popularity. Employees love it and employers are growing more comfortable with remote working all the time, realizing that the benefits include enhanced productivity and a happier workforce, to name just a few. As this work arrangement becomes increasingly more popular, the need for better tools for collaboration is increasing, too. Video collaboration is being embraced as a platform that improves collaboration inside as well as outside of the organization.
Better interaction among the workforce: As remote working becomes more popular, however, it’s important to leverage technology to keep people connected and collaborating efficiently and effectively. Today’s nomadic work culture can breed problems related to detachment and lack of interaction among co-workers who hardly meet each other, and that’s never a desired result. Leveraging innovations like cloud-based video collaboration helps foster teamwork, boost morale and team spirit, and encourages teams to remain connected and productive—a win for everyone!
Eliminating geographic limitations: Thanks to video collaboration, geographic limitations can no longer impede a company’s growth. While previously recruiting a workforce from a different location was unimaginable, today, hiring a candidate who lives in a different time-zone is not an issue at all. By enabling face-to-face interviews from multiple locations, video collaboration may also help in the process of recruitment, and help to streamline human resources processes. This gives companies the leverage to tap into the talented workforce and potential candidates from all over the world.
More productive meetings: Since video collaboration allows you to hold meetings on a virtual level, you can make sure that your meetings are on topic and to-the-point. With cloud-based video technology, you can quickly and easily arrange a meeting or a presentation on a short notice, just as you can in an office environment. Enabling your scattered workforce to come together at a single point, you can improve productivity while it can also lead to better team-building within your workforce.
Reduced costs: As an organization, travel costs are inevitable. However, traveling contributes to a fair share of expenses which can be significantly lowered by deploying video collaboration platforms. By leveraging technology and using video collaboration more effectively in certain situations, you can significantly reduce your travel budget. In addition, and one of the real beauties of cloud technology, is that your access is in the cloud, not in expensive hardware and software upgrades and a need to set up a dedicated infrastructure for video conferencing.
Today’s businesses recognize video collaboration as a key factor in staying ahead of the curve by outsmarting their competitors. Since video collaboration can empower you with multiple benefits, you should consider this as a viable strategy towards building a smart and motivated workforce.
Have you integrated video collaboration within the communication modules of your business? We’d love to hear how it’s impacted your business operations.
This post originally appeared as part of the Connect With Ricoh Innovative Ideas program. While Daniel was compensated for this post, the ideas and views are his own.
Additional Resources:
10 Favorite Tools For Small Businesses To Rock
Best Video Conferencing Apps
Google rolls out Box integration, improved videoconferencing
