After the relative anonymity and privacy of more discrete forms of communication – letters, email, the telephone – is the experience useful and comfortable for the individual and does video now add sufficient value to the organization to justify the cost?
QUOCIRCA INSIGHT REPORT March 2007 Visual Impact Contacts: The emerging face of business collaboration Rob Bamforth Effective communications make use of many of our senses but what we see presents a huge Quocirca Ltd amount of information - a picture is worth a thousand words - and can convey all sorts of Tel +44 7802 175796 meaning with a glance. Face to face, we can rely on visual cues, but the amount of rob.bamforth@quocirca.com information transmitted in more distant communication is limited by cost and complexity. As Clive Longbottom this cost falls, while the costs of transportation, both environmental and commercial, rise, Quocirca Ltd broader use of remote visual communications becomes increasingly viable. But, after the Tel +44 118 948 3360 relative anonymity and privacy of more discrete forms of communication - letters, email, the clive.longbottom@quocirca.com telephone - is the experience useful and comfortable for the individual and does video now add sufficient value to the organisation to justify the cost? Barnaby Meadows Tandberg Tel +44 1784 274 600 . Businesses rely on many modes of communication, with email now as important as the phone Barnaby.Meadows@tandberg.net While most still prefer to meet face to face, especially for meetings inside the organisation, many forms of remote or electronic communication are almost as important. For many organisations, email has become a vital tool, replacing not only the need to send a letter or fax, with around 95% of businesses thinking their use of email will continue to grow. . Meeting face to face can be both costly and ineffective Despite this use of other media, it is still very valuable to see the other participants to gauge emotion, establish trust and grow relationships. But, not only are travel costs becoming increasingly significant, so is the time that has to be committed to scheduling, rescheduling and participating in a meeting. This escalates with the number of attendees and the distances that have to be travelled as dispersed teams and separate organisations try to work in collaboration. . Productivity, not travel costs, is the main reason users replace journeys with video RESEARCH NOTE: While saving money by avoiding travel and environmental concerns are often mentioned as The information benefits of video conferencing, those using it are more influenced by the productivity gains it presented in this report offers and the increase in focus and attention of participants. There is also a recognisable personal was derived from 150 benefit in freeing up time, releasing a weighty number of hours for the work/life balance. interviews with senior IT influencers and . But those without video conferencing today are looking to cut future travel bills decision makers Short term travel costs, commuting and the longer term environmental issues are more important completed in late 2006 potential benefits to those currently without video conferencing solutions. Tangible and across the UK. measurable benefits appeal to those evaluating what is still seen as a substantial investment. Respondents were from . IT infrastructure capability needs to align with user demand and strategic direction a mixture of large multi- There is a strategic drive for productivity and cost reduction, coupled with user demand for nationals and medium to collaboration tools. Infrastructure investment plans are too conservative, and the mismatch is large national leading to back door deployment, which ultimately will not be in the best interests of the business. organisations, from across a broad cross . Visual technology starting to match the breadth of needs section of industry Frequent, informal and short visual communication takes advantage of low cost cameras, available sectors. In order to bandwidth and simpler set-up. Desktop video will be broadly applicable for future compare users and non- communications in certain circumstances. The high end offers a growing range of expensive, but users half of the sample high quality 'immersive' visual communications suites, where the experience can be almost as used are existing users good as "being there". of video technology. Conclusions The technology issues surrounding video have ... [download for more]
