The Rise of Video Teleconferencing
Posted on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 @ 04:18 PM
In early 2009, Gartner researchers predicted that video teleconferencing would replace 2.1 million airline seats by 2012. As the economy has declined and businesses have reduced or completely cut their travel budgets.
Airline travel is becoming more and more for pleasure, not business. Those who would have jumped on a plane and headed cross-country for a business meeting, are staying put, and instead, having those meetings via videoconferencing.
In late 2009, Research Now and Global IP Solutions surveyed more than 1,200 business professionals in the United States, Japan, South Korea and China about the use of videoconferencing. The results confirmed the expected.
Forty percent of those surveyed in the U.S. said their company would be deploying a videoconferencing solution within the next six to 24 months. Eighty percent of those surveyed in China expected their business to roll out videoconferencing solutions in the next 18 months.
The survey also showed that businesspeople relying on video teleconferencing aren’t relying on the most expensive technology out there. Seventy-nine percent of those surveyed rely on free applications like Yahoo!, Gmail, AOL and Skype for their video teleconferencing needs. The remaining 21 percent use systems such as those offered by Cisco, Polycom and LifeSize
The biggest concern, however (as expressed by 61 percent of those surveyed) is reliability of video conferencing – video delay and freezing. Most of these concerns can be alleviated by the selection of a video teleconferencing solution that operates on a higher bandwidth – like from Cisco, Polycom or LifeSize.
And by the way, selecting one of these solutions over Skype, Yahoo!, Gmail or AOL doesn’t have to break your business’ bank. These companies all offer a wide range of solutions, from those that can run on the desktop, to fully integrated telepresence suites.
A study by ABI Research suggests the telepresence global market hit $568 million last year and will reach $2.7 billion by 2015. This number could be much higher, as integration with unified communications platforms and the extension of video to laptops and smartphones (take video chat capabilities of Apple’s iPhone 4 and the HTC EVO, for example) drives what continues to be one of the few markets to be unaffected by the recession.
The ROI of video teleconferencing is simple. Reduce travel costs. Reduce the fatigue of executives and employees, increase collaboration with colleagues and clients in other locations, and you will see a rise in productivity.
At Xtelesis, we offer a wide range of 
LifeSize video conferencing solutions, from LifeSize Express for video conferencing from your PC to the full telepresence experience in HD with LifeSize Conference 200.
Sources:
1. PhonesPlusMag –Video Communications
2. EWeek.com – Video Conferencing on the Rise
3. PhonesPlusMag – Video Conferencing on the Rise