There is a very good chance that the world is about to experience a mini-revolution in the video technology marketplace –an advancement in transforming an already amazing collaboration tool into something far more beneficial to businesses, says Nicolette Kruger, country manager for NFS Technology, the specialist software company that supplies software for the hospitality industry, including for the conference and video conferencing markets.
“Video conferencing – or collaboration – is not just about a piece of equipment anymore – or about two rooms of executives coming together for a business meeting. It is now fundamentally changing the lives of people in the workplace – and the businesses themselves.
“Additionally, the use of video conferencing is not just growing as a massive productivity tool in boardrooms- it is being used beyond this.
“The growth in the use of video beyond the boardroom,” says Kruger, “has been pretty incredible. Health care providers, for instance, are using mobile video technology to deliver medical services to patients in some of the remotest parts of New Zealand, while research teams at a pharmaceutical manufacturer in India are speeding up development and approvals thanks to increased collaboration between laboratories.”
Kruger says the applications will continue to increase and the use of video conferencing, including mobile video conferencing, will become one of the tools “we just take for granted”.
“It will be part of the fabric of our business world, straddling many industries and many applications,” she says .
A recent Polycom global survey suggests that, by 2016, video conferencing could well be the world’s preferred business communications tool, nudging out e-mail and voice calls. What is also expected to help this possible trend is the growth of mobile workforce strategies and the uptake of leading-edge technology such as BYOD (bring your own device) and cloud based strategies and applications.
“Video conferencing is definitely on the way up. This year will see its continued growth as a day-to-day business tool. We are also seeing it happening amongst our client base,” says Kruger.
