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State of Video Conferencing report from Owl Labs (makers of the Meeting Owl)
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In case you haven't seen it, Owl Labs, the maker of the Meeting Owl, recently published the State of Video Conferencing 2018. For us, it confirms what we already know about the video conferencing market, companies of every size and in every industry, are using it every day.
The following are a few facts we've taken from the research.
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89% of companies still use multiple video conferencing platforms. On average, a company switches between 2-3 different conferencing solutions.Our take: Anyone who manages end user technology will tell you, when you have more than one "standard" solution, support requirements go up. It's not just a matter of helping users get started, or answering questions when something goes wrong, it increases support across the board - from technology to accounting. We always advise our customers to "pick one" solution. It's just easier for everyone - users and support. Another takeaway, many organizations are using different platforms for specific "functions". Case in point, Slack is not a video conferencing platform per se, but has the ability to provide it as a function. It also has the ability to integrate with your preferred video conferencing platform such as Zoom. Understandably, purpose built platforms require integration to work together when creating a full "solution" - the importance is evaluating the full cost based upon both the risks and the rewards. Done properly, it put you in a better position long term, before the hard work of integration. |
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93% of people agree that video conferencing is effective at improving the connectedness of remote employeesOur take: We see it with all our customers, having the ability to quickly and easily meet online is a powerful business benefit. Your teams are a great example, but that benefit extends to customers and vendors also. We use video conferencing everyday, in one-to-one meetings or conference room to conference room. We use it during sales calls, to do customer support, and working with our vendors. For us at VCGear, it's become part of our daily lives. This study talks about connecting your employees, but it can also be used to connect your entire business. One of the hidden benefits of video conferencing as indicated at #5 in the chart, is improvements to the sales process. Depending on the products or services you sell, along with how long the sales process takes, it can be a cost effective way to meet with your prospects. It also makes it easier to match schedules with key players, rather than coordinating travel. |
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7% of the time, a team's #1 challenge with video conferencing is finding and booking conference rooms.Our take: Video Conferencing, especially when you begin to enable your conference rooms and meeting spaces, becomes the preferred way to meet. We want to see people when we meet, and as few as five years ago, the best way to do that was a physical meeting. Today, the cost to enable a conference room with video conferencing is ridiculously low, in fact the majority of our Zoom Rooms kits (available from Video Conference Gear) are less than $5,000. You've probably spent more on the table, chairs and whiteboard. There is really no reason not to put a plan in place to ensure all your conference rooms are video enabled. |
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64% of companies with 500 or more employees use Skype for Business. 72% of companies with 500 or fewer use Zoom.Our take: Right now, there are two clear leaders within the Video Conferencing market - Zoom and Microsoft. And from a "number of employees" standpoint, the market snapshot points to Zoom leading with smaller companies, and Microsoft leading with larger companies. That shouldn't surprise anyone within the technology industry - Microsoft has a commanding presence within large organizations, and specifically within "office productivity" software. But that doesn't mean Zoom isn't a major provider to large companies and we see a growing number of large organizations coming to us and asking questions. Both platforms providing great video conferencing, and Microsoft continues to release enhancements (Microsoft Teams is a great example), to unleash the power of video conferencing. Whichever platform you choose, the benefits speak for themselves. |
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45% of companies choose Zoom or Skype for Business over all other options.Our take: As stated above, there are two clear leaders in video conferencing. There are also other choices, too. Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Cisco Webex, Bluejeans, Amazon Chime, RingCentral - all those companies provide solutions today. The key thing to remember is choosing the platform right for you, and how your organization works. Every platform and video conferencing provider has it's high and low points. It's your job to match what's important to you with them. For the most part, the only wrong choice is not doing something. |
We didn't create this research and all data (including the graphics and results) is directly from the Owl Labs report. What we can do is confirm many of the findings, based upon conversations we have on a daily basis with our customers. We are big believers in video conferencing and advise our customers to expand their video conferencing presence - put it in every meeting room, create video enabled open huddle work spaces, and develop a distance learning programs (it's not just for schools and universities).
There are lots of innovative ways to get your company communicating better - and we'll be exploring some of those in upcoming blog posts and videos. In the meantime, begin to think about all the ways video can improve your company's communication and collaboration.
As a final note, if you haven't see the MeetingOwl, check out the following from VideoConferenceGear.com
| Meeting Owl from OwlLabs |
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Zoom Rooms featuring the Meeting Owl |
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