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| Are video conferencing rooms the future of employee communication? Posted: 25 Jul 2014 12:53 AM PDT With the increasing use of video technology in today’s business market, more companies may be moving toward the dedicated video conference room. There are a variety of options for these rooms, and the benefits are good news for companies as they improve telepresence, increase efficiency, and reduce long-term cost for the business. With all of the advantages of this technology, video conference rooms may well be the future of employee communication in the modern work field.
Improved Telepresence One of the major benefits of having a video conference room is the ability to improve telepresence for communications. Telepresence simulates the experience and perception of being actively involved in an event, regardless of how far away you actually are. Teamwork between employees has been shown to have many positive impacts on the workplace, including increased job satisfaction and decreasing the number of days employees are absent from work. With workers increasingly living and working away from the office, teamwork opportunities are somewhat limited in normal circumstance, but the addition of a video conference room can be a game changer. By effectively mimicking the act of participation, creating telepresence can have the subsequent benefits of collaboration and teamwork without everyone needing to travel to a central location. Involving workers in a group setting and allowing them to work together toward a goal, under the best conditions to feel like they are actually present and participating in the decision-making and collaboration, makes telepresence a good alternative when physical proximity is not possible.
Increased Efficiency Maintaining workplace efficiency is important, and communication plays a key role in getting things done. With many workers either in remote settings or with offices spread across the country or even internationally, face time with coworkers becomes a rare commodity. Actual face-to-face meetings become more difficult to schedule because of travel time and costs. Teleconference rooms recreate the sense of being in the same room together with coworkers and other collaborators in a way that a phone call cannot, pushing employees to be more efficient with their time, make faster decisions, and generally behave more as if they are in a traditional face to face meeting. Phone conferences can leave people easily distracted or even fully disconnected as it is all too easy to mute your end of the line and attempt to multi-task, which can actually decrease your productivity and increase your stress levels. Video conferencing tools like the Blue Jeans Network, on the other hand, allow people to focus on the task at hand, and giving the meetings a professional, streamlined setting allows them to be actively engaged in a meeting and not distracted by other technologies. This in turn can lead to faster decisions being made, a better use of executives’ time, and higher levels of engagement at work. Scheduling can also happen in a shorter amount of time, and from a variety of locations without waiting for everyone to travel to the office.
Long-term Savings for Businesses While the up-front cost of investing in a dedicated video conference room may seem large, consider the long-term savings for businesses with these features already built into their communication structure. A study published in 2013 showed that airline costs alone nearly doubled between 2011 and 2012 for businesses, not to mention increased costs for fuel, which in turn increases the costs of rental cars and other transportation, the cost of food, and a myriad of other things that must also be transported. Video conference rooms that can connect across a wide range of platforms to bring workers and outside experts together in a collaborative setting without paying for travel expenses can be an advantage to a business’s budget. Not only that, but with people living farther away from their workplaces, commute times (and costs) are also rising, leading to more companies allowing their employees to work remotely at least part of the time. A video conference room can connect these telecommuters to the main office without the added cost and time otherwise spent on the road to and from the building. Decreased commute time also decreases stress and improves productivity, which leads to higher workplace efficiency and additional added savings.
The Future of Employee Communication As the business world moves into an ever more technologically based future, finding ways to incorporate the benefits of teamwork and collaboration while increasing efficiency while saving money are all things to consider. Having a dedicated video conference room connected with a service like Blue Jeans Network can make the difference in having an engaged, productive, efficient workforce, and give you an edge in the marketplace. Allowing employees to remain connected despite distance and save money on corporate travel all point toward the rise of the video conference room as the future of employee communication.
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