Running head: IMPACT OF VIDEO TELECONFERENCE

Impact of Video Teleconference on Company Effectiveness
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Executive Summary
With current business demands being driven by initiatives to be more efficient during challenging economic times, pressure is weighing heavy on today’s business leaders to be innovative to remain competitive. Talented leaders are being asked to evaluate their business models and identify improvements to contribute to the greater efficiency of their respective organizations. But how can these leaders change the established culture of interacting with colleagues in expensive, timely, and in today’s technologically advanced world, not as often needed face-to-face collaborative engagements? With the reality of globalized business and all of the opportunities it presents, new approaches to maximizing efficiencies must be examined in order to position an organization to capitalize on the many benefits of globalization.
This research paper introduces the positive impact Video Teleconference (VTC) technology has on the efficiency of a company. The paper explores cost saving benefits of investing in what can be very inexpensive technology to be used for collaborative meetings, as compared to costly and time consuming face-to-face meetings. Additionally, this paper captures the convenience of VTC technology as it provides a general introduction to VTC technology’s compatibility with mobile platforms, which is increasing in today’s robust business environment. While face-to-face meetings still hold value for specific situations, this paper highlights the benefits associated with VTC technologies with respect to harnessing the power of the global business stage and the diverse perspectives that embody it. By implementing VTC technology, business leaders can greatly improve their company’s efficiencies and positively impact their profit margin.
Impact of Video Teleconference on Company Effectiveness With increased pressure to meet profit margins in a down economy, resourceful business leaders are turning to new technologies to streamline production; one of these technologies is the effective implementation of Video Teleconferencing, more commonly referred to as VTC. VTC has revolutionized the communication between colleagues positioned in disparate locations. These locations can be as close as Washington D.C. to Baltimore or as far as Los Angeles to London and everywhere in between. An organization’s implementation of VTC technology for collaboration, almost completely negates the necessity for costly travel and time away from production, both of which negatively impact the effectiveness of a company. Of course there is still a need for face-to-face interaction however; it has become more common place to leverage Information Technology (IT) to increase effectiveness. VTC as a resource is not only applicable to business engagements, but also modern science and the organizations and research entities that support the science industry. As noted in the following quote, “Any technology that promises to allow scientists to communicate without the need for travel is of immense interest to the business of science. Time away from the laboratory is a significant factor for both academic and industrial scientists” (Welch, Ray, Melendez, Fare, Leach, 2013, p. 148). The same concepts can be identified and translated to business. Time away from the office, rather than the laboratory as postulated in the quote, is a significant impact on the success of a company. The fundamental goal of any business is to increase revenue and decrease expenses. This brings me to the topic of discussion for this research paper as it examines the impact of VTC technology on company effectiveness.
Video Teleconference and Global Virtualization With increased availability to high-speed, broadband Internet access and improvements in technology reliability, companies are no longer constrained by location. A new era of collaboration is taking shape in today’s global business environment in the form of virtual meetings. The concept of virtual team work by way of VTC, has established itself has a proven component to increase the effectiveness of a company. As stated by Sudoc, Bizoi, & Filip (2009), “The use of collaboration technologies and other techniques reduce travel and facility costs, lower project schedules, and improve decision-making time and communication” (p. 8). Before the networked world as we know it existed, face-to-face meetings were the benchmark for bringing new ideas and strategies for group discussion. The amount of time required to prepare for the meeting is substantially reduced with VTC capabilities. It’s no secret the global economy has changed and continues to change. The pace of business is as fast as it has ever been however, business leaders are asked to do more with less and decrease the time spent in time consuming face-to-face meetings (Boule, 2008, p. 7). A case study conducted by Avaya Incorporated, an industry leading provider for advanced business communication and collaboration on a global scale, found in a two month period with over 85,000 participants in more than 35,000 video conference meetings held on one of their large-scale platforms, an easily identified benefit of video conferencing was the ability to establish personal connections with prospective clients (Davis, 2012, pp. 7-8). Avaya explicitly stated “that the use of visual communications with customers will help the company grow its top line revenues” (p. 8), further supporting the notion that VTC technology positively impacts a company’s efficiency. Additionally, to remain competitive on a global market, diverse perspectives play a vital role in innovation, a common theme for companies with a technical niche in the business arena. As mobile devices compliment traditional desktop infrastructures within an organization, VTC allows for convenience; convenience in terms of being unleashed from the legacy business approach of being tethered to a cubicle or conference room setting to participate in meetings. Instead, VTC technologies are now compatible with a plethora of mobile devices, whether it’s a smart phone or tablet, both of which are common tools for the modern business professional. From a senior management perspective, employing technology can project the perception of market awareness and the ability to remain flexible and perhaps most importantly, up to date with capitalizing on process improvement. Lisa Silverman (1997) noted in her article Teleconferencing: The Newest Keys to Influencing the Influential, large and small-cap businesses are implementing VTC based technology to solidify their standing with influential stakeholders (p. 1). According to Wijngaarden, Erman, Matthews, Sharp, and Sutter (2010), “the impact of communication and body language on the perception of a speaker suggests that the relative importance of verbal expression, vocal impression, and facial expression accounts for 7 percent, 38 percent, and 55 percent, respectively” (p. 2). For management still gravitating towards traditional face-to-face meetings due to possible reservations of the effectiveness of VTC with respect to staff staying engaged, body language and the tone of voice are major components in information sharing; VTC captures these communication elements therefore, addressing the possible concern of ensuring a productive meeting was facilitated (p. 2). Another impact VTC have on company efficiency is the inexpensive set up. A simple implementation of the technology can include a basic web cam, which are now built into most mobile devices, and a high-speed Internet connection. From virtually anywhere that a business professional has access to a good Internet connection, the agenda of a face-to-face meeting can be accomplished without having to work through the often times laborious scheduling conflicts of participants. The relatively economical cost can also be particularly enticing for small to mid-sized companies on frugal technology budgets.
Conclusion
In conclusion, today’s business environment is borderless and operates on a global scale. Emerging business leaders are seeking new strategies to remain relevant in competitive markets and as technology has changed the landscape of modern business, the demand to run parallel and adapt to new technological developments is crucial to the success of any company. Remaining dynamic and identifying opportunities are paramount to the efficiency of any company, regardless of size. In order to capture how VTC technology can improve a company’s efficiency, an organization must evaluate the cost associated with timely, in person traditional face-to-face meetings, and decide if the cost for the many aspects of those meetings can be eliminated by embracing VTC for collaboration.
With the onslaught of mobile technology, the barriers surrounding legacy business communications are almost completely removed from today’s high paced work environments. VTC technologies have too, remained dynamic and they have adapted to accommodate mobile platforms. The ultimate goal of any business is to increase revenue. Leveraging VTC technologies simply compliment other initiatives to improve efficiencies to achieve this goal.
References
Boule, M. (2008). Changing the Way We Work. Library Technology Reports, 44(1), 6. Retrieved from http://alatechsource.org/
Davis, A.W. (2012). The Viability of Large-Scale Personal Video Conferencing Deployments. Retrieved from http://www.radvision.com/NR/rdonlyres/C7BFA213-5B14-4289-9C07-EABE1AFC065D/0/v8Wainhouse_WP_on_Avaya_Scopia_Deployment.pdf
Silverman, L. R. (1997). Teleconferencing: The Newest Keys to Influencing the Influential. Public Relations Quarterly, 42(3), 30-32. Retrieved from http://prsa.org/
Suduc, A., Bizoi, M., Filip, F. (2009). Exploring Multimedia Web Conferencing. Informatica Economica, 13(3), 5-17. Retrieved from http://revistaie.ase.ro/
Welch, C., Ray, S., Melendez, J., Fare, T., & Leach, M. (n.d). Virtual conferences becoming a reality. Nature Chemistry, 2(3), 148-152. doi:10.1038/nchem.556
Wijngaarden van Lind de, A.J., Erman, B., Matthews, E.P., Sharp, R., & Sutter, E. (2010). Multi-stream video conferencing over a peer-to-peer network. Bell Labs Technical Journal, 15(2), 229-243. doi:10.1002/bltj.20451