Companies of all sizes and in every industry are quickly adopting video conferencing as a way to stay connected, increase productivity and cut costs in these difficult economic times. As prices on conferencing equipment drop and the technology becomes easier to use video conferencing is gradually becoming an efficient way for business to communicate with employees, customers and sales prospects. Below are a few benefits of adopting video conferencing as part of your everyday operations.

1. Increases Productivity

Most conferencing systems now have features that allow users to share and edit documents, PowerPoint, Visio, etc., in real-time. The ability to easily share and collaborate within various formats has added another dynamic to video communications previously not possible. Decisions are made faster, products or services are brought to market quicker, and your sales cycle can be reduced. These benefits help increase sales, improve operational efficiency and allow businesses to stay ahead of their competitors.

2. Saves Money

An additional tangible benefit of video conferencing is businesses can start saving money by reducing travel expenses. With a video link your employees can maintain relationships and conduct business globally without increasing your carbon footprint or spending money on airline fare, lodging and meals. Adopting a video conferencing program is a great way to promote your company is “going green”!

3. Keeps Employees Connected

Video communication helps retain valuable employees who have to relocate or need to work from home a few days. This definitely saves on costly retraining or recruiting fees associated with hiring a new employee. It also allows those employees who are on the road a lot to quickly keep track of new policies, developments and add insights to the day-to-day operations. Being limited by geography is a thing of the past!

4. Improve and Maintain Business Relationships

Unlike traditional conference calls, emails or texts, a live video conference allows the participants to see facial expressions and body language; meetings become a lot more personal. Most video conferencing solutions offer recordings and storage solutions which allows businesses to save and archive important online meetings. These recorded sessions can also be used as future training tools or for compliance regulations.

5. Improve Work-Life Balance

Whether long distance or just overnight travel, excessive traveling can burn out employees and put strain on their families. It’s common to have a flight delayed or even cancelled, and traffic in most metropolitan areas is just as unpredictable. Video conferencing is more reliable and ensures your meetings take place on time.

Some of the more popular video conferencing solutions are offered by Cisco WebEx, Tandberg, GoToMeeting and Polycom. Avoid the headache and stress of planning the entire day to travel to a meeting and instead, just point and click. Set up a video conference and give it a try! We think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how easy it can be.