Strategic plans for video

Videoconferencing has been struggling to take root for years, but real-time IP video has become more affordable, and advances in quality make the prospect of widespread enterprise adoption more likely.

But how can enterprises seize the opportunity and turn video into a corporate advantage? Use these predictions about how real-time IP video applications will emerge to formulate your IP video strategies.

* The arrival of enterprise-grade high-definition IP video, combined with the drive to save costs on travel, will make videoconferencing a facet of day-to-day business communication, as well as a tool for conferences and trade shows. Low cost, software-based IP video will form the basis of these videoconferencing solutions, replacing expensive and unwieldy boardroom set-ups.

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Videoconferencing has been struggling to take root for years, but real-time IP video has become more affordable, and advances in quality make the prospect of widespread enterprise adoption more likely.

But how can enterprises seize the opportunity and turn video into a corporate advantage? Use these predictions about how real-time IP video applications will emerge to formulate your IP video strategies.

* The arrival of enterprise-grade high-definition IP video, combined with the drive to save costs on travel, will make videoconferencing a facet of day-to-day business communication, as well as a tool for conferences and trade shows. Low cost, software-based IP video will form the basis of these videoconferencing solutions, replacing expensive and unwieldy boardroom set-ups.

* IP video solutions will become recognized as an economical green technology as enterprises acknowledge the need to reduce their carbon footprints while lowering travel expenses. According to a June 2008 survey commissioned by GIPS, 64% of business executives who travel say they would rather use a high-definition videoconferencing solution in lieu of commuting. Companies wanting to reduce their environmental impact will certainly move to adopt this technology.

* Presence technologies will evolve so laptops and desktops act as presence management systems, recognizing when a user is present and available to talk. This ambient presence technology will help drive the adoption of video chat and videoconferencing. Through the use of this type of communication, less time will be spent on e-mail, which can often become a time-waster.

* As video technologies become easier and less expensive to deploy, adoption of one-to-many video communications will grow to be more commonplace, especially for internal communications and Human Resources. Video will become a key enhancement to the current trend for self-service HR, performance management and training applications. More interactive virtual-learning systems, which integrate IP video and allow for multiple simultaneous streams (one for each participant), as well as voting, questions and white-boarding, will gain more widespread adoption. The use of such video services will allow employees’ productivity to increase because they can be conducted at one’s convenience and on an ongoing basis.

* IP video will also start to be used as a differentiator in customer service and customer relationship management. Customers in gold partnership or VIP programs, for example, may be offered video chat access to customer support or to their account manager. Video offers a more personal touch and an additional emotional dimension, therefore it will start to be seen as a means of monitoring as well as enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This will be particularly important for technical customer-support applications such as help desks, as well as for field service applications such as insurance inspections at accident scenes. Quality will be a particularly important facet here.