Video conferencing is well established in the conference room; however the new “killer app” is mobile video conferencing. Do you really need mobile video conferencing? Think about the communication access in your conference room right now. Chances are you have a speaker phone, internet access and maybe video conferencing. Right now anybody can connect to your conference room speaker phone from anywhere including a cell phone. There are times when an important person needs to connect via cell to the conference room offering input or a final decision on a critical issue. This is seamless access via a cell phone to the conference room. You should have the same access via video conference – Especially when there is critical decision to me made with the help of an outside participant.
Mobile videoconferencing is hot right now – FaceTime; Skype; ClearSea and others are certainly making mobile video conferencing more popular than ever. The problem with apps like FaceTime and Skype is that they operate through proprietary protocols. Also, it’s cumbersome to connect to the standards based video conferencing systems you may have in your conference room. The challenge with mobile videoconferencing in the enterprise is seamless access from a laptop; iPad; iPhone; Droid; PC or MAC. Small and medium sized businesses really need a standards based solution that connects to any device. The good news is some manufactures already offer seamless access on standards based video conferencing through a free app on any device, including PC or MAC computers.
The race is on in regard to mobile video conferencing. There will be winners and losers. The winners in the business world will have a standards based free application model that connects to any legacy system anywhere in the world. The losers will have proprietary protocols that only connect within their own communication silo. This would be like a Verizon cell phone not able to connect to T-Mobile or AT&T cell phones.
The power of mobile video conferencing is incredible and will have a tremendous impact on productivity. Critical decisions will be made faster; trouble shooting in the field will be much more efficient; and field sales support will accelerate. All this goes directly to the bottom line with increased revenue.
If you have any ideas about mobile video conferencing applications call us. We will certainly listen. 330.677.5566.
J.W. Hornyak Videoconferencing & Telecommunications
Instant Access
