In order for teams and clients to collaborate effectively, face-to-face interaction has always been absolutely essential. However, the rise of technology has seen radical changes in the modern workplace, with businesses now widening their recruitment nets and bringing in team members from all over the world.
Instead of being based in one place, the digital age provides employees with the flexibility to work from just about anywhere. Somewhat inevitably, the sheer distance between these remote workers significantly reduces the number of physical meetings involved, with many teams attempting to connect through audio conferencing, email and instant messaging solutions. Although they provide a certain level of convenience, these collaborative tools lack the face-to-face interaction which is so important for effective communication.
Online video meetings offer an alternative solution, providing a simple method for remote teams to connect while also humanizing the conversation with valuable face time. Perhaps more importantly, video conferencing can improve the productivity of these workers and keep projects moving forward quickly.
Reducing Travel Time
Despite being a crucial part of effective collaboration, face-to-face meetings can often involve large amounts of travel time and expensive costs. When team members are scattered over long distances, these transport and accommodation costs can quickly become incredibly damaging, while the time spent travelling could otherwise have been spent more productively.
Even when teams are based in the same building, working around tight schedules and booking an adequate meeting space can turn into an infuriatingly time-consuming task. Fortunately, video meetings remove these issues entirely, providing a virtual meeting space which allows attendees to join through the simple click of a button.
Rather than wasting an entire day travelling, teams can now quickly and conveniently hop into a meeting with their colleagues and then continue to spend the rest of their day much more productively. In short, video meetings can save your organisation substantial amounts of time and money: two things you probably don’t have to spare.
Activity-Based Meeting Experience
In the modern workplace, meetings need to be collaborative and creative environments which inspire teams to work together. Unfortunately, studies show that 67% of meetings are considered to be a waste of time, with 66% of UK workers regularly making excuses to avoid them entirely.
Since so much of our time is spent in meetings, businesses need to improve the effectiveness of these sessions and reduce wasted time. Teams now prefer much more interactive meetings which get them truly involved with the discussion; taking part in collaborative activities instead of struggling to pay attention to a speaker’s monologue.
By allowing attendees to share and edit files in real-time, video meetings provide teams with a platform to collaborate and reach faster decisions. Whether they’re based in the same building or opposite sides of the world, video conferencing helps teams to brainstorm ideas and share information, creating activity-based meetings which drive collaboration and boost productivity.
A More Flexible Workspace
As previously mentioned, team members are no longer based in one place. Remote and flexible working practises have grown rapidly in recent years, with over half of the UK workforce expected to work remotely by the end of 2020. To keep up with these evolving trends, businesses need to provide a flexible workspace which improves work-life balance. After all, when employees are happier in their work, they typically work harder and become much more productive.
Video meetings are ideal for keeping remote teams connected, offering the flexibility required for them to work together from the places that best suit them. Workers can now collaborate across multiple devices and platforms, while the lack of unproductive travel times ensures these teams can work together quickly and more frequently.
Clear and Convenient Communication
Since more than half of message interpretation comes from body language and facial expression, face-to-face interaction helps to avoid miscommunication and misunderstandings. Message intonation is often hard to gauge through email, instant messaging and other text-based communication channels, while even audio conferencing solutions can cause information to be misinterpreted.
Through innovative video solutions, however, your meetings will enjoy a level of clarity which is usually only achievable by meeting in person. Due to modern HD video displays and high-quality audio, video meetings will often make attendees feel as though they’re all in the same room together, ensuring communications always remain clear and meetings can progress productively.
