How to Boost Productivity with Desktop Video Conferencing
Desktop video conferencing bridges physical distances, bringing colleagues, partners, suppliers, and customers together in a collaborative face-to-face environment. Eliminating travel expenses and commuting times is but one of many ways video conferencing can give your productivity a boost. Below are a few more tips for improving productivity with video conferencing.
- Create a Culture of Conferencing — Lead by example. The more you use desktop video to communicate with your team, the more comfortable everyone else will become with the technology.
- Make Video Conferencing Accessible — Tools are only helpful if they’re actually used, so it’s important to make sure your desktop video solution is easy to use. Fortunately, installing elaborate equipment or booking time at a facility equipped with the appropriate equipment and technologies is no longer necessary. Today, most computers, tablets, and smartphones are appropriately equipped. Choosing a desktop video plan that allows attendees to join via a standard web browser makes your video conferences extremely accessible for everyone involved.
- Empower Users — Through a blend of training and frequent use, your employees will have a better understanding of when to use video conferencing over other communication methods or face-to-face meetings along with the benefits of doing so. Show users how they can make use of personal share space and collaborative notes, helping them to be more productive before, during, and after video conferences.
- Highlight Different Use Cases — It’s possible to host or join video conferences from the office, home, a coffee shop, library, or even while on a train or airplane. You can use video conferences to interview job candidates, get an expert opinion, demonstrate products, pitch an investment or idea, explain the latest health insurance coverage options and deadlines, troubleshoot issues, and much, much, more. Share some of the different ways you’ve used, or plan to use, video conferencing with your team to help your newer users grasp just how versatile this tool is.
- Engage Employees — With a more mobile workforce, getting face time and buy-in from a dispersed workforce isn’t easy. Video conferences can help build stronger relationships while the face-to-face nature of this communications method can ensure that facial cues and other non-verbal signals are exchanged. For example, imagine assigning a project to an employee via email versus via a short video conference. With a video conference, you can better explain the importance of the project as well as pick up on any potential objections or questions your employee may have based on facial expression. At the same time, the entire discussion becomes much more personal and the employee will have had the opportunity to get all of her questions answered.
Once a culture of conferencing has taken hold throughout your organization, you should start to notice an improvement in productivity, communications, and interpersonal relationships.
Rather than scheduling meetings or traveling across town (or even to another country) to meet with others, your employees will be able to meet face-to-face at the moment to collaborate, plan, solve problems, brainstorm, or exchange knowledge. Remote workers are more likely to be readily available for collaboration when video conferencing is an option while other employees could benefit from telecommuting occasionally.
In addition to productivity gains, you may notice an improvement in employee satisfaction levels as a result.
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