Businesses can reap 80% to 90% of the benefits of telepresence via upgrades to existing videoconference gear at a fraction of what they’d spend on brand-new telepresence systems, according to an analyst firm specializing in unified communications.

“You don’t have to spend $200,000 to get good image quality. You don’t have to spend $170,000 to get a panoramic view. You can do this much less expensively,” says Ira Weinstein, a partner in Wainhouse Research. (See a slide show on telepresence.)

Instead, companies already using videoconference equipment can selectively upgrade it to boost the illusion that participants are all in the same room, which is one of the main goals of telepresence.

For example, audio, not video, is the most important factor in whether a videoconference discussion is satisfying, Weinstein says, so a business could pick the most used videoconference rooms and add $2,000 worth of microphones in tabletops and speakers in ceilings to improve the sound.

“The moment you do that you will have a massive improvement in the experience, yet you spent only a couple of thousand dollars,” he says. “You didn’t have to go to telepresence to improve your audio. With a little money you can make a big difference.”

Click to see: Pros and cons of videoconferencing and telepresence

Similarly, businesses can improve video by installing bigger screens to boost the size of the images of participants. “You spend $7,000 on the screen and installation and suddenly instead of half-life-size images of people you can get full-size,” Weinstein says. “That’s a lot less than $150,000 or $200,000, yet you’ve made a significant improvement.”

But there are those that want the ideal telepresence experience. Anthony Knight, a service delivery manager for Pfeizer Ltd. in the Netherlands, says his firm is buying into telepresence even though it already has 55 videoconference rooms.

“None is perfect,” Knight says. “We get the room done, put in video equipment, and then there’s no money for wall coverings and furniture. Telepresence includes the money to get the room right. You have to do these rooms perfectly.”

That demonstrates a need for telepresence, but something less can be adequate. “There is a place for turnkey telepresence offerings from Cisco, Polycom, Tandberg, HP,” says Weinstein. “But you don’t need the telepresence level of communications in every conference room. What I’m saying is that you can apply those concepts to your videoconferencing deployments and enjoy a better experience.”