Video Conferencing - What you need to know for your business
Doing business with entities that are not local is the new normal. The telephone, fax machine, internet, email, text and more has made it easier than ever to do business with customers anywhere in the world. Are FaceTime and Skype the best way to communicate with your customers though? In this article, we discuss the top reasons for companies to consider adding enterprise-grade video conferencing gear to your boardroom and meeting rooms.
How Is Enterprise Video Conferencing Different From Consumer Solutions?
By consumer solutions, we are referring to solutions such as Skype, FaceTime and other "free-of-charge" solutions that are being used for businesses. Unlike these solutions, which are purpose-built for the consumer, such as "grandma," "sibling in college" and "friend that lives out-of-state," enterprise solutions are purpose-built for the business and its needs. We are going to discuss some differences between the two so that you can decide for yourself which is best for your business.
Reliability & Quality
When you are a business, everything is about your first impression. When business was conducted in your lobby, meeting room or your offices, much effort went into making those spaces project a certain experience, look and feel. Since the lobby, meeting room or office is now in on the "Internet of Things" (IoT,) wouldn't you agree that the same effort should go into your virtual meetings space? Thereby, stuttering and pixelated video, and drop-outs in service is a deal breaker. Enterprise solutions make sure that your clients aren't distracted by problems with the video meeting and instead, are impressed by your product or service.
Security
Would you let anybody into your meeting room? Of course not! The same is true of your virtual meetings. People with malicious intent can compromise the software. What can you do to make sure that your meetings and your information remain confidential? Look for a solution that has put security measures in place. If you search for some current consumer/free video conferencing solutions along with the keyword "security," you will find many reports that they have a plethora of vulnerabilities. Enterprise solutions come with extensive security measures to make sure that your data and meeting remains safe.
Business Features
Practically speaking, video conferencing is nice, but in addition to the video, you are probably meeting about a document, performing a demonstration, or presenting a slide deck. Enterprise level systems are equipped with everything you need to have the highest impact and to communicate in the most intuitive way possible to win over the prospect.
Support
Support is in our opinion one of the best reasons to switch to enterprise video conferencing systems. When you use a consumer system, and something goes wrong, who do you call to fix it? That's right, NOBODY! You're sunk! Enterprise level solutions have technical support lines that you can call, speak to a real human and get the problem fixed by a professional.
Conclusion
Free is good, but not always better. Moreover, a great experience is better than a good one. When shopping for a video conferencing system, think about what the majority of your client and internal meetings require. Then build a list of "must-haves" and "nice-to-haves" and compare those lists with the potential solutions that seem like a good fit for your company. You will be happy you did in the long run, and so will your clients!
For more information on video conferencing systems for your business in the Greater Houston, Austin, Round Rock, Lakeway, Georgetown, The Woodlands, Cypress, Sugar Land, Spring, Katy, and Pearland, Texas areas, give us a call or CONTACT US by filling out this short form.