Remote Solutions: Future Face of Teamwork

In an article on Venture Beat, Simple Signal chief executive, Dave Gilbert says, “If you want to attract the best and brightest, you have to enable [telecommuting] and make it work for you — you can’t tell them they’ve got to park their car in the parking lot.” He adds: “For us, work is not a place.”

According to the Telework Research Network article on “4 Ways Video Conferencing Can Benefit Small Businesses,” 80 percent of Americans like the idea of being able to telecommute. In some cases, if given the chance to pick between getting a raise and being able to work from home several times a week, a good portion would pick the telecommute option.

Video conferencing advantages

In an article on the Powwownow site, the author discusses four main advantages that video conferencing brings to the table. Cost-savings, the ability to bring together geographically dispersed teams, an easy way to communicate and more work life balance for users.

In a time when smartphone use is already outpacing desktop usage, there’s no doubt that the flexibility and on the go mobility offered by conferencing systems such as Blue Jeans are due, in part, to the quality of video technology that exists today. From cameras to smartphones capable of video play and recording that go up to 1080 pixels, remote solutions can be the face of corporate America’s next generation of teams. Here’s a breakdown of some of those benefits—and more— that make that scenario possible:

• Reason 1: With high definition video technology, users can go to meetings anywhere, anytime. Remote work means users can be flexible in terms of their location. They can work and be anywhere in the world: in the kitchen, a restaurant or out in transit and still be able to keep in touch, to participate in video calls with the rest of the team.
• Reason 2: Remote work means more, in terms of time saved. Many employees want to strike a balance in their personal and professional lives. They want more time for themselves, for their families. With video conferencing solutions helping to streamline processes—with shorter production times—employees get to have more time on their hands. More time means they’re happier, with high job satisfaction levels.
• Reason 3: Video conferencing offers huge, huge cost-savings for companies. In the case of remote employees, they can save on office space and bills and still achieve high productivity goals. And because teams can host meetings through conferencing system features such as room to remote, companies no longer have to shell out a lot for travel expenses just to ensure teams from different branches of the company get the chance to meet. With video conferencing, teams can meet face to face, via video, and start working together, regardless of how many of the staff work on remote. Travel-related costs, too, take a cut as hotel charges, meals, rental fees for venues, are reduced. All these add up to quite a lot of savings for companies. Companies can set just enough for their travel funds for high-priority negotiations for face to face meetings if and when necessary.
• Reasons 4: In addition, web conferencing solutions also make it possible for companies to hire and retain local as well as global talents. Given that locations are flexible, HR teams can hire from anywhere in the world.
• Reason 5: Given the resolution of video technology that’s available these days, interviews done via video are often treated in much the same way as in-person meetings. And with features like recording and playback enabling HR personnel to document every interview, every job application they process, more and more are adapting the technology. HR staff no longer need to rely on their notes during a meeting or interview when they make hiring decisions. They can simply record the interview and watch it again later. Pause, watch, replay—HR managers can review the interview and based on cues—a nervous hand habit, a confident smile—decide on whether to proceed to the contract signing stage or keep looking for a more qualified candidate. 

Future for companies and teams

Web based video conferencing solutions today have also made it possible for companies to do away with the constant upgrades that old conferencing systems dependent on hardware used to have. As markets offer increasingly simple to use, easy to understand video conferencing solutions like Blue Jeans, it can be a matter of choosing what kind of video system companies would like instead of asking if they want their communication infrastructure with video.

Given all these advantages, it’s easy to see how and why video conferencing could mean the future for companies and teams. The developing trend for low cost conferencing solutions could pave the way for companies to realign future communication systems to adapt video technology—and remote solutions along with it—much, much sooner than later.