Truck company creates a video conferencing studio

With video conferencing being adopted by companies all over the world, it is only normal that more and more news stories are being told in the media about how web conferencing technologies are changing the business landscape.

There have been many lately, such has how the Christian Union has adopted the technology to provide counseling to the students in the Ivy League universities, or how telemedicine is revolutionizing health care, with doctors using video conferencing to provide consultation to patients at home and in rural areas.

Last week, the Central Wisconsin Business website has published an article on how video conferencing has enabled V&H Inc. Trucks, a truck supplier based in Marshfield, to increase productivity and save time and money on travels.

The truck company, which has offices in Wisconsin, Kansas and North Carolina, used to fly employees across the country to attend training seminars but now those days are over. The company, which has recently deployed a web conferencing system, has found in the new technology a valuable tool, allowing them to launch video conferences and webcasts connecting employees and offering extra services to their clients.

The company created its own studio dedicated to video conferencing and webcasting. It has purchased two high-definition cameras, four mixing boards, a green screen, a teleprompter and several servers. Though purchasing and deploying the studio wasn’t cheap the company is already monetizing it by allowing customers to rent and use the equipment.

“We can help them communicate with their customers and employee. No more travel time, no more airport hassle. We see it as a money saver,” stated Cindy Gudgen, V&H Inc. Trucks system administrator, to the Central Wisconsin Business.

The studio is already starting to impress customers which think of it as a great opportunity to deploy webinars and train employees without having to lose time and money on travelling and accommodations.

But companies don’t need to spend thousands of dollars and deploy a web conferencing studio to take advantage of everything that video conferencing has to offer. Today there solutions in the market which deliver video conferencing, webcast and remote access tools in one appliance at very good prices, such as RHUB 6-in-1 web conferencing and remote support appliance. Companies can adopt web conferencing without sacrificing their budgets.

What is the cost of free video conferencing?

When one looks at the video conferencing market it is quite easy to get lost in the dozens of solutions available, most of them having different requirements and offering different services at different costs.

Most of the time one tends to go with a solution that one is already familiar with or a solution that one has often heard talking about. In the video conferencing market these are MSN Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Skype.

These are popular because they are inexpensive, most being free, and are used frequently by small and medium businesses as the video conferencing system of their choice. Skype alone has more than 663 million users and 37% of them are estimated to be businesses.

But what many businesses don’t seem to know is that, while these solutions are fine if one wishes to talk to a friend, they are not the solutions businesses need and deserve.

While they apparently provide a service at no cost whatsoever, there are hidden costs that businesses usually discover at their own expense. These costs often hurt companies in other ways than in their wallet and they should be aware of them.

The low quality of such video conferencing calls using such solutions often translates in unreliable connectivity, which often leads to frustration and interrupted conversations. When not getting interrupted, such calls usually suffer from delays and frequent interruptions.

The video quality delivered by these solutions is also quite weak. If one wishes to use video conferencing in his or hers daily business operations instead of audio conferencing then video is supposed to play a very important role. If video hasn’t quality then why use video conferencing at all?

Businesses using such video conferencing products should look for better solutions in the market. They often fail to really provide what they’re suppose to and result in lost clients and partners, lost time and affect the credibility of the company using them.

The purpose of video conferencing is to enhance communications between distant parties. If the video conference solution fails to fill this role then it shouldn’t be used.

There are many other solutions available in the market today and some of them quite inexpensive while also providing the quality businesses need and deserve.  Among them is RHUB’s 6-in-1 TurboMeeting appliance, which delivers high quality video, web and audio conferencing services as well as desktop remote support solutions.

Companies should know that nothing is free and that everything has its costs.

More people are remote working at home

Today, more than ever, companies are looking for solutions to reduce their expenses while at the same time they are struggling to maintain and increase their productivity. New technologies have given companies alternate solutions to common practices and they are slowly but steadily implementing them in their daily business operations.

Remote work is one of such solutions. It is great because it allows companies to keep their workers at home and still working, though at the same time it raises new challenges to the companies and businesses that are struggling to implement it. Most of all remote working challenges the common perception of workplace and forces us to look beyond it.

According to a new Accountemps survey remote working is increasingly being used in companies all over the United States. Over telephone interviews with 1,400 CFOs across the country, the research has found out that 33% of the interviewed CFOs have stated that remote work arrangements within their companies increased over the last three years, with 11% stating that it has increased greatly and 22% saying that it increased somewhat. Only 4% stated that remote work has decreased in their companies.

“The prevalence of mobile technologies and wireless communication makes it easier for companies to support flexible work arrangements for their employees,” stated Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps.

“Although not all positions are suited to remote work arrangements, for those that are, this option can help give professionals more control over their schedules and aid in recruitment and retention efforts,” he added.

Remote work benefits include the increasing of employee satisfaction because it allows them to work from their home environment, avoiding the stress associated with commuting, and companies cut expenses on their office spaces, from office equipment  to the office itself. But while remote work brings obvious advantages to companies and employees alike, there also some problems that might arise if it’s not implemented correctly, like the loss of moral and productivity if the employees are not properly supervised.

Accountemps advises employers to keep their employees close with regular calls and meetings, and to make them feel connected to the work group by including them in team activities and by recognizing their efforts. It also advises employees to keep in close contact with their employers by providing status updates and engage in interaction with their managers and colleagues. 

“Businesses that are considering remote work arrangements should set clear policies and establish specific productivity goals,” concluded Max Messmer.

Equally important is for employers to provide their workers with the best remote working solutions available so that employees may continue to be productive in a home environment.

RHUB’s TurboMeeting appliance enables high quality and highly secure remote support and access while at the same provides companies with video conferencing and web meeting tools to keep their employees close even when working away.

Remote working: work beyond the workplace

Past are the years when remote working was seen as an eccentricity, a trend that would soon fade because nothing can replace the workplace offices which are the heart and the brain of any enterprise, small or large. The years have proved the doomsayers wrong and now, more than ever, remote working (or teleworking) is flourishing, as it shows Microsoft’s Work Without Walls report.

“Telework is no longer a company perk for employees but a business imperative,” stated Ron Markezich, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s U.S. Enterprise and Partner Group.

“Ten years ago, it was seen more as an employee benefit. Today, businesses around the world are seeing telework as a necessity,” he added.

The report shows that 57% of the information workers surveyed in the U.S. have stated that their company has a formal policy which allows them to work remotely. Sector wise, financial services lead with 64%, followed by manufacturing with 58% and professional services with 55%. Area wise the percentage is bigger in Dallas and Seattle with 64%, opposed to the 50% recorded in Los Angeles and Detroit.

Still, information workers said they’re only working remotely half the time they would prefer. On average, an information is working remotely around four days a month though they would like to work remotely nine days. City wise, Atlanta is leading with employees in the area working remotely, on average, 4.7 days a month, followed by Phoenix with 4.5 days. On the other end of the spectrum is Detroit with only 2.6 days.

According to Ron Markezich, the disparity between how much remote work employees would like to do and the remote work they’re actually allowed to have is still a cultural issue, as employers are still bound to the workplace model.

“So much of business was built around the workplace,” he stated. “But over the past few years technology has made it so people can be more productive spending part of their time working remotely.”

However, the workplace model is slowly being replaced by remote working as its benefits are being realized by businesses all over the country. Remote work improves productivity and lowers costs, it allows employers to access a larger talent pool, increasing diversity. Employees have an easier time balancing their work-life balance and allows them to avoid commuting.

When asked what are the main problems with remote working with other employees, the respondents stated the inability of speaking face-to-face and the lack of a quick response, problems that are easily solved with a remote conferencing solution.

The ideal solution then seems to be one that allows remote work and web conferencing at the same time. Remote working technology developers and vendors should focus on the all package in order to provide a full remote working experience, much like RHUB’s appliances.

RHUB’s appliances allow for remote work to be done while at the same time supports video, web and audio conferencing, allowing remote workers to be in contact at all times, as if they were in the same workroom.

Video conferencing helps real-time emergency situations

Video conferencing has been growing substantially in these last couple of years and has been used for all kinds of purposes, from remote medical consultations to corporate meetings and church prayers. Now video conferencing is making its way into emergency coordination with Houston TranStar’s deployment of a video and web conferencing system and its incorporation into their operations. 

Houston TranStar is a partnership comprised of four governmental agencies (Texas Department of Transportation, Harris County, The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County and the City of Houston) that provides transportation and emergency management services to the Houston region since 1996.

The Agency, while most days provides real-time traffic information to drivers in the area and sends vehicles to clean road debris, sometimes has to deal with weather emergencies, like the ice storm that struck the city earlier this year.

With communication being the key behind an effective coordination in a real-time emergency situation, video conferencing provides a way to better access the emergency conditions and communicate with the teams at the site.

“We’re able to develop a plan of action quickly if someone is able to see exactly what’s taking place on the road and make a better assessment for what people and equipment we need,” stated Bobby Richards, senior network administrator at Houston TranStar, to the SearchUnifiedCommunications.com website.

Richards also provides an example on how the video conferencing system was used to access the conditions during the works of the emergency teams during the ice storm. “One of the city directors was able to be in a [video] conference room and could see a lot of our guys out on the roadway and say, 'We have a lot of ice out on this overpass. Throw some additional salt on it,'” Richards said.

To deal with emergencies like this, TranStar has deployed eight video conferencing and web conferencing systems which allows technicians in the field to communicate with the officials stationed at the agency’s headquarters, an initiative with obvious benefits and that might extend to other agencies across the country.

In order to choose a video conferencing solution, governmental agencies will not only had to look for performance but also for security as sensitive information might easily leak into the wrong hands. While the hacking threat is real there are some video conferencing solutions in the market that offer the best security without sacrificing performance, like RHUB 6-in-1 TurboMeeting appliance.   

RHUB videoconference appliance uses a proprietary encryption system, as well as the customary SSL, increasing security and reinforcing the remote connection. RHUB’s TurboMeeting is also very easy to deploy and to use, requiring almost no maintenance at all.