Tommy Edlund, 2018-11-20
Has Video Killed The Audio Conference?
Our Sales Director in North America, Fredrik Hörnkvist, participated in an interesting webinar hosted by Channel Partners: “Has Video Killed The Audio Conference?”. Head speaker was Michael Finneran, Principal at advisory firm dBrn Associates.
Listen to the webinar here.
Michael Finneran has worked in the networking field for over 30-years and started the webinar with a story about how he worked at AT&T and offered "Picturephone Meeting Service" for rent. It was video-equipped rooms in AT&T-buildings around the US. The prize was high and the video quality was “psychedelic”, as Michael Finnigan puts it. It didn’t become a hit.
BYOM and good audio
Fast forward today and now we all carry a picturephone in our pocket. And Finneran means that peoples understanding of tech largely comes from our smartphones. And with smartphones, we are used to just hit the video button. Therefore we see a growing trend of bringing your own meeting (BYOM), a trend we have written about here. But the importance of quality comes with our professional life. “We don't like home movies at the cinema”, as Michael Finnegan puts it. And he points out that the most important thing in any meeting is good audio quality.
Video is important
Finneran also refers to an interesting No Jitter Research that shows that 82% use video communications and as many as 84% rated it as "Important" or "Highly Important". The survey also shows that 51% of the respondents still use video in more formal conference rooms and only 7% in huddle rooms. A number we see researchers say will rise drastically over the next years, we have written about it here.
When it comes to what is most important in video meeting equipment Michael Finneran lists:
- good picture
- but good audio is even more important
- easy to use
- works with all services
- price.
And Michael Finneran advice buyers of video meeting equipment to:
- Accept the reality that video is a requirement.
- Realize you can't dictate the platform choice 100% of the time.
- Focus on user experience and delivering a seamless experience.
- Shop for endpoints that are flexible and easy to use.
If you want to listen to the webinar you will find it here and here you can read more about our video launch.
