Monday, February 4, 2008

Video Conferencing Pros and Cons

Video conferencing solutions allow participants in a meeting to see and hear each other, making for an interactive conference. Video conferencing is also used for educational training, surveillance, emergency response and security. When video conferencing is used correctly, it has a significant effect on the way people do business and the success of the business. Decisions can be made faster and deals sealed quicker. This enables you to stay in front of your competitors.

Another obvious benefit of using video conferencing is that it allows people, especially business owners, to meet with their clients from any location, This obviously saves a great deal of time and money that can be better spent for educational training, etc. Video conferencing is also used to provide customer service and for sales.

Unfortunately, with the pluses that come with video conferencing, there are some limitations. This sophisticated technology requires months to design a network and install conferencing equipment. The initial cost is very high. A conference room has to be available for the video system to be installed, and the system might be underutilized. Also, the system itself will need at least one staff person to run the technical part of any conference. This could also be an under utilization of staff time.

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