Author: Ubiq

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Top 10 Business Communication Trends You Must Follow

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Nowhere is technological advancement more evident than in communications. It didn’t take more than a few years for the entire communications arena to change thanks to technological advancements such as mobile technology, Wi-Fi, and the cloud. To stay competitive, businesses need to embrace change and evolve alongside it. Here are the top 10 business communication trends that companies need to keep up with in order to be future-ready.

1. Continued Shift Towards Mobile

Today, most server-based applications are being reconfigured to enable them to run on smartphones and tablets. Smartphones offer benefits such as portability, convenience, and ease of use when incorporated into the business world. Considering the fact that more employees today use tablets compared to PCs or laptops, mobile-based applications are the way to go.

2. Growth of Cloud Communication Services

Cloud technology has enabled businesses to integrate their workforce, compete more effectively, and improve customer satisfaction. Businesses looking for cost-effective solutions are rapidly adopting hosted VoIP.

3. Unified Communications

The integration of real-time and near-real-time communication systems is a trend that can’t be avoided. Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) capabilities include video solutions, integrated audio and web conferencing, and telephony and collaboration that is delivered as a part of a business application.

4. Mobile Phones Replacing Office Phones

For many businesses, smartphones have become a good alternative to traditional desk phones. Smartphones offer benefits such as storage capabilities, accessibility of applications, and on-the-go use. The popularity of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) strategy is expected to grow as employees become more mobile and less dependent on desktop devices.

5. Cloud-Based IT Networks

These IT networks allow users to access applications and files from any location or device. They eliminate the need to invest in networking technology and deliver network capability globally via a secure application. This makes it extremely easy for businesses to enable communication between remote locations and facilitates central control of remote networks.

6. Video Conferencing

This technology has been around since the 80s and has traditionally been used in meeting rooms. Today, however, this traditional use case has been replaced with video-enabled tablets or smartphones. Web-based video conferencing makes it easier for virtual teams to connect and collaborate. Additional collaboration capabilities such as text chat, screen sharing, and document sharing makes it more effective.

7. Seamless Technology Integration

Today, the ability to move data and conversations from one platform to another has assumed great importance. This trend is evident in many BYOD initiatives as well in which employers encourage employees to make their personal devices such as laptops and tablets their work and life companions. The idea is to enhance communication.

8. Chat Services

Chat services have been around for a while now, but lately they are getting a revamp, and they now have additional capabilities such as video and even video conferencing. Chat services are now integrated into existing services to enable employees and remote teams to communicate. Many businesses now invest in social intranet software that integrates chat with other business communication tools.

9. WebRTC

Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) enables real-time communication between browsers and mobile applications without requiring any plug-ins or apps. IT enables text, audio, video chat, and file sharing.

10. Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to drive a huge amount of new interconnections between various existing and new solutions and systems. It will include ‘things’ such as health monitors, smart sensors, wearable devices, home automation systems, and many other things.
While trend change over time, but these trends are for the future and here to stay. Businesses should strive to keep up with these trends to achieve better efficiency and success.
ADDITIONAL READING
6 Reasons System Admin Spend More Time in the Conference Room Than the IT Office
Conference Room Design: A Guide For the Perplexed
7 Must-Have Video Inputs For Your Conference Table Connectivity Box

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Why Modern Conference Rooms Shouldn't Have a Shared PC Anymore?

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Today, most employees bring their own laptops to work, eliminating the need for a shared conference room PC. However, many companies still like it the old way and insist on having a shared PC in their meeting room even if it is more of a headache than of a help.
In fact, one of the major challenges for the IT professionals tasked with supporting conference room technology is maintaining shared PCs. Here are some reasons why companies no longer need a shared PC in their meeting rooms:
BYOD
The latest survey by Tech Pro Research shows that the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement is booming, and over 74 percent of organizations are either already using or planning to allow employees to bring their own devices to work. This rising BYOD trend has resulted in immense benefits to both employees and organizations. It obviously improves opportunities for collaborations and makes meetings more efficient and straightforward.
BYOD also brings significant benefits to conference rooms. Sharing content across tablets and smartphones makes these devices useful for various meeting scenarios ranging from training to sales presentations to planning sessions.
Failure of PC as a Connectivity Hub
There are several effective methods for accessing content during a meeting such as connecting to a tabletop AV content, connecting directly to a display or projector, accessing files from USB storage device connected via DVI or HDMI cable portable storage, etc.
However, many of these methods frequently fail because they rely on the shared PC as a connectivity hub. Whether accessing files on the corporate LAN, connecting a USB drive, or accessing the web, the shared conference room PC has serious shortcomings, including constant software updates, long boot times, and complex login procedures. As a result of this, shared meeting room PCs or laptops can be nightmares for the IT support staff.
Compatibility Issues
By relying on a single shared PC or laptop to run a presentation, you open yourself up to the following scenarios: Not having the latest version of a software that supports a particular file, having to update to new software minutes before a presentation, and dealing with users who want to share documents that only run on apps compatible with Macs.
Quite often we see conference room users run around and stress out trying to figure out a way to get the presentation to run, especially if it contains some sophisticated attachments.
Requires Extensive Maintenance
The shared conference room PC often keeps the IT team on its toes. Making sure the laptop is in proper working order, that the cables are connected to the display, software is updated, and various other tasks eat up a lot of IT team’s time.
Eliminating the shared conference room PC and investing in a wireless presentation system can help businesses save on a lot of time, energy, maintenance expenses, and above all, make meetings much more productive and effective.
ADDITIONAL READING
Wireless Conference Rooms vs. Cabled Conference Rooms: Which Has the Better ROI? 
Top 10 Conference Room Cable Management Fails of 2016
5 Must-Have AV Products For Your Conference Room

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Top 5 reasons why you NEED meeting room analytics

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As professionals, we spend about 62 hours of our lives attending meetings each month. One might conclude that meetings must be effective and enjoyable in order for us to dedicate so much of our time to them. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that this isn’t the case. We actually waste about 31 hours a month in unproductive meetings. We could be spending that valuable time with our families, practicing a hobby, or earning more money.
And it doesn’t just affect us as individuals, it affects our businesses too. Unproductive meetings are costing our businesses time and money. In fact, an overabundance of crappy meetings are the number one cause of death to startups.
With that information said, one will likely conclude that this needs to change. But the question that lingers is, “How?”
Until recent times, we lacked the information to determine how to create better, more efficient meetings. The “Big Data Revolution” is completely changing this by giving us enough data, and enough information to answer all the questions we can come up with. More and more companies are beginning to realize that data analytics can be used in the meeting room, to cut out inefficiencies and make meetings more engaging and productive. Meeting analytics enable businesses to maximize the value of their resources, save time and money, and improve the credibility of a company.
Here are the top 5 reasons why meeting room analytics are so important:
1.Coordinating Logistics
From start to finish, planning and executing a meeting takes time. Even scheduling a meeting can take a million years. It’s difficult and timely to coordinate all the logistics: from coordinating attendee’s schedules’, finding an available room, with the right number of chairs and with all the tech and resources you need for the meeting.
You may find a time that works schedule wise, so you book the room, but find that this meeting is consistently running late. Do you know why? Could it be because people are having to rush over from another meeting, on the other side of a building? Or is it something else?
Meeting analytics help us quickly and easily coordinate the logistics of a meeting; but more importantly, they are scheduled to run more efficiently.
2. Identifying Inefficiencies
Meeting room analytics tell you what’s working, and what’s not. They give you accurate and real-time feedback on the meeting environment, logistics and attendees. They can help you answer questions and identify problems you may never have even thought of.
Are your meetings running ten minutes late because people are rushing over from another meeting? Or is it due to hard-to-use technology? Could it instead be because the presenters are constantly having to reconfigure device settings?
Using meeting analytics, you can answer these questions, so you can save those ten minutes every single week.
3. Get the Most Out of Your Space
Leasing space is not cheap; it is a major fixed cost for most companies. So, you want to make sure you are getting the most out of the space you have; but you also want to make sure you aren’t wasting money on unused space.
Meeting room analytics help businesses identify the most efficient use of space. Are some conference rooms being used more than others? Do you know why? What is it about that room that people like? Do you have enough conference rooms? Do you have too many?
For example, if you have trouble finding available conference rooms, you might come to the conclusion that you need to expand. However, it could be that the meetings are just not coordinated and timed properly. This insight could save you thousands a month.
4. Increase Productivity
As noted, meetings are notoriously unproductive…but do you know why? Is it because there are too many people in the room? Are people getting off-topic? Are you having the meeting too early or late in the day? Do the attendees have enough data and information to know what’s going on and to make a good decision? Would the meeting be more productive if it was held a week later? Or are people just bored?
Using analytics, you can identify which of these scenarios is causing an unproductive and inefficient meeting.
5. Identify Problems. Identify Solutions.
Now let’s assume you have discovered that your meetings are unproductive because people are bored. Well, now what? How do you solve this problem? How can you engage attendees? Luckily, analytics don’t just burden you with identified problems, but now, they can even help you identify solutions to those very problems.
Mobile event or meeting apps can combine the data they track with unstructured, external data (such as social media), to identify what people are talking about, and what interests them. The consolidated data will help you identify what topics and types of content audience members enjoy and engage with, and what they don’t. They can identify hot and trending topics to keep people interested, and even identify key connectors that you should have attend the meeting.
Then, or course, once the meeting begins, analytics tools will tell you in real-time if your adjustments are working. Meeting room sensors are able to track audience engagement, and provide users with that information in real time; and in the very near future, they will be affordable and accessible enough for just about any business. Learn more about the future of meeting room analytics here.

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6 Things that are keeping your IT team away from their work

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If you have ever had the pleasure to work on an IT team, you would have realized how overworked they are, how much time they have to spend doing tasks that are not really important or can be done by others if they have better training and understanding of system. There are several tasks that keep the IT team away from their work. Here are some of them:
1. Preventable incidents
Merely by educating the users better, a lot of time spent on dealing with preventable incidents can be saved. If only we could count the number of requests that an IT team receives on an average, we would know that a large percentage of them would never arise if the users were a little more aware of what they were doing. It makes sense for businesses to invest in user education and training rather than wasting valuable IT work hours each day in dealing with a bulk of requests that can be easily prevented.
2. Struggling with outdated equipment and software
Whenever there is a meeting or conference in the workplace, a member from the IT team is always summoned to make sure the laptop that the client/contractor has brought in to deliver the presentation connects with the projector, or that the virtual conferencing system works properly. With better and modern technology that supports BYOD, these tasks can be eliminated.
3. Manual tasks
In most organizations, one of the biggest challenges IT teams have to face is that a large quantity of tasks such as updates, software installations, enhancements etc. have to be done manually. This eats into a lot of valuable time for the IT people. By implementing solutions that assimilate these tasks, we can spare IT teams a lot of trouble and time.
4. Fire-fighting
Most IT people spend a large part of their day firefighting. Oftentimes, urgent issues such as a particular equipment not working, takes precedence over what is actually important. Although these sudden, unexpected events cannot be completely prevented, but there needs to a stronger focus on reducing the occurrence of such incidents.
5. Tasks that are out of their scope of duty
Given the talent and curiosity that IT teams possess, they frequently end up resolving issues that fall out of their scope of duty. This keeps them away from tasks that they should actually be performing.
6. Discretionary activities
In a research published in Harvard Business Review, PA Consulting Group productivity expert Jordan Cohen and London Business School professor Julian Birkinshaw indicate, “Our research indicates that knowledge workers spend a great deal of their time—an average of 41%—on discretionary activities that offer little personal satisfaction and could be handled competently by others. So why do they keep doing them? Because ridding oneself of work is easier said than done.” According to this study, we tend to cling to tasks that make us feel busy and important, and for obvious reasons, the bosses pile on as many responsibilities as the workers are willing to accept. This happens with IT people as well. They end up having a lot more on their plate, and many of them are tasks that keep them away from their actual work.
This list is far from exhaustive. There are many other tasks that keep IT teams away from their work, and in order to make teams more productive, there needs be a larger focus on streamlining work processes better, training users, and investing in latest technology.

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Meetings of the Future

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Our future of meetings looks bright. Based on research from a variety of sources, experts and professionals, we can expect meetings in 10 years to look like something from Star Trek, to be as personalized as our Starbucks order, to be as comfortable as our couch, and to be as engaging as Candy Crush.
In a world that is more social, more innovative and more collaborative than ever, we are due for a disruption in our meetings. Although the world of meetings has been constantly evolving over the last ten years to keep up with our expectations, our expectations continue to grow exponentially. Changes in both technology and social/human behavior will drive the changes we predict to see in the future of meetings. The two cannot be separated, as technology drives human behavior and human behavior simultaneously drives technology.

  1. Sensors and Analytics

Small, unnoticeable sensors will be strategically placed throughout meeting rooms to measure the audience, and the room. These sensors will provide us with “engagement metrics,” giving us real-time data on the audience’s heart rate, stress levels, eye movements and more. Using this data, we can determine if the room is too hot or if the audience is engaged enough.
Because we will get this data in real time, we have the ability to make quick adjustments in just a matter of minutes, or even seconds. Which brings us to the next point.

  1. Flexibility and Personalization

In a world where we have so much content and so many resources available to us…we are developing a liking to personalized experiences. We have elaborate coffee orders, we expect to see only ads on YouTube that are relevant to our lives, and we only read blogs we are interested in. As of now, most meetings do not yet fulfill this expectation – but 10 years from now, we will master this.
We can expect to replace those programs and booklets with a platform that allows for a personalized meeting experience. There will be multiple pieces of content that express the same concept, and even in different forms, that each audience member can choose from.
Some predict that event apps will no longer exist. However, I completely disagree. Apps have become such a big component of our lives, they cannot simply disappear. Instead, they will evolve. The event apps of the future will provide a personalized experience as explained above. They will also be able to link with social media and LinkedIn, to make recommendations of who we should introduce ourselves to, what table to sit at, and inform us if there are people there that we already know.

  1. Attendance-Focused

In such an individualistic society, it may (or may not be) surprising that we are developing more and more of a desire to find a sense of community. The internet of things, is helping us achieve this today on a whole new level; apps and social media sites gather data about us that enables us to compare our data to others’ data; thus enabling us to find commonality, and to find others with similar interests and perspectives.
But it’s not just about forming online communities. More and more we are turning those online communities into real-life, face-to-face communities. There are meet-up groups and online dating apps abound.
We can only expect this trend to continue; and it will work its way into our meetings. As our desires for finding community grow and evolve, we will be more concerned about who we can meet at events and meetings, rather than the content or speakers.
And as mentioned before, we will have apps to help us connect with people. The meeting and event app or platform will use attendee data, to provide us with suggestions on where we might like to sit. It will help connect us with others interested in the same things as us, and will ultimately boost our networking, by providing a personalized networking experience.

  1. Holographic Telepresence

Immersive telepresence is used today, providing us with a heightened emotional and physical experience.
Immersive telepresence is the physical embodiment of another person (meeting attendee) that is on a screen. The attendees are the same size as a person, and it feels more as though you are in the same room as them, compared to traditional Skype-like meetings. Here is what this technology looks like today:
As we continue to innovate, this will reach a whole new, futuristic level: holographic telepresence. The holographic display of a person will make it really feel like the person is in the room with you. You’ll be able to read their facial features, and they will be able to express themselves using body language.
You may be thinking that this seems a little far-fetched, and a little too futuristic – like something from Star Trek. I thought this too at first, but I can assure you that it is real. In fact, we already have this ability. Here is a video of a holographic presentation back in 2011. Now imagine what this will be like in ten years…
 

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Top 6 Types of Organizations that Utilizes Video Conferencing

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Technology has completely revolutionized the way we communicate and collaborate. You no longer need to travel miles across oceans to meet a client or supplier, you can now simply use your video conferencing system to conduct a live meeting. It is the closest you can get to meeting someone in person. However, this does not mean videoconferencing can replace face-to-face meetings. There are various reasons why face-to-face meetings are here to stay:

  • Video conferencing lacks detail. Although you can replicate lifelike scenes with high resolution videos, it is nowhere as immersive an experience as it is when you meet face-to-face
  • Simple gestures such as a handshake or a customary physical exchange of business cards are culturally important and help start the meeting on a positive note. There is no way video conferencing can support these actions.
  • You cannot notice the micro expressions and body language as long as you are sharing the same physical space
  • When on a video conference, a part of your concentration tends to get diverted to how good or bad you are looking
  • There are technical complexities of managing video conferences with virtual teams using different devices and networks

Having said this, we cannot deny the fact that there are use cases of video conferencing. In certain types of organizations, video conferencing is used extensively for various reasons. Video conferencing makes sense when:

  • It is not possible to meet in person, but you need some face time to put across your message effectively
  • An international or dispersed group needs to meet
  • There are scheduling conflicts and a face-to-face meeting cannot be organized
  • There is no time to travel for a meeting
  • Situation demands that a group of people from varied locations come together for an urgent brainstorming session
  • You are fine tuning a presentation with a virtual team

Types of organizations where video conferencing is used:
Education

  • In educational institutions video conferencing is used in order to:
  • Bring in subject matter experts from across the world
  • Collaborate with remote classrooms
  • Broadcast administration news and policies
  • Distance learning
  • Record and archive teaching sessions for future playback
  • Virtual field trips
  • Regional staff meetings

Healthcare

  • Collaborate with medical specialists from across the world
  • Administer remote healthcare
  • Broadcast board meetings and news
  • Distance learning

Manufacturing

  • International collaboration
  • Vendor and contractor meetings
  • Remote supply chain management and remote quality control
  • Distance learning

Finance

  • International collaboration
  • Communication with corporate office
  • Financial earning and other daily updates broadcast
  • Remote customer meetings
  • Monthly/quarterly reviews

Not for profit

  • To expand Outreach without having to travel to rural or remote areas
  • Improve donor pitches to win more contributions

Legal

  • To enable testifying witnesses in court without having to actually travel to court
  • Enabling expert witnesses to testify from remote locations
  • Enabling prisoners to see and hear everything that happens in the courtroom, and reducing high-security prisoner travel

While these organizations use video conferencing to save time and money, and to overcome some other situational barriers, but it does not mean video conferencing can work equally well in all organizations. Of course, the factors of cost, time and distance are crucial, but it is important for organizations to weigh them wisely. Face-to-face meetings foster invaluable people skills, which is undeniably the most important part of business.
Remember, while video conferencing allows people to share a connection with each other, the lack of face-to-face puts limits on the amount of connection that can be shared. Without a face-to-face interaction, it is impossible to foster feelings of trust and empathy, which are essential in any successful relationship.

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How Meetings Evolved Over time – Then vs Now

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There are two characteristics of meetings that have remained static for years and years: the goal, and the fact that they are universally despised. The ultimate goal of meetings is to exchange information and make decisions. Despite technology driving change in our meetings, they remain universally despised. But, let’s take a step back and evaluate the changes that have occurred over the last 20 years; then we might truly appreciate the meetings we have today.
 
Prep Time
We tend to forget how much time technology saves us. In the case of meetings, it enables us to accomplish far more prep work in far less time. Coordinating meetings around peoples’ schedules was difficult on its own. Now all of our calendars are synced, so we can easily identify a time and location to meet.
But where the greatest savior of time lies, is within the prep work for meetings (from presentations, to research to reports). Today, we have so many resources at the tips of our fingers to conduct solid research (rather than pulling old files in the back room, checking out books, or the absolute worst – waiting for the slow internet connection to produce a result).
We now have access to mountains of data, and the tools necessary to help us interpret that data. 20 years ago, gathering the data was difficult enough, but once you had it became the real challenge. Dozens of reporters would have to work for days, and even months to produce a report. Now, this is reduced to hours or even minutes.
Be grateful that today you can pull up your reports, with charts and graphs, and easily insert them into your slideshow or presentation.
Paper to Paperless
Due to technology, the materials present in meetings have also changed. We are now in the age of the “paperless desk,” and therefore “paperless meetings.” Reports, findings and slides are no longer printed (those companies that still do, need to assess their sustainability initiatives). There’s simply no need to print them; if someone wants the presentation in front of his or her face, then he or she can easily pull it up on a personal device, whether it be a laptop, tablet or mobile phone.
Postponed to Productive
It is a common belief that meetings have always dragged on and on, while nothing gets accomplished. But to be fair, we have come a long, long way. All of these wonderful presentations and reports with visuals are easier for people to understand and get more information across in very little time. This also means that less explaining is necessary, resulting in less repetition and fewer redundancies.
One of the biggest challenges for accomplishing the goals of meetings (to exchange information and make decisions) is insufficient information. Sometimes people don’t realize that they are missing something until they are in a room, hearing from people with different perspectives. Sometimes, it is simply impossible to obtain all of the necessary and relevant information. In these cases, meetings must be postponed. This is one of the 7 deadly sins of meetings.
Today, postponed meetings are far less likely to occur. Technology enables us to gather and understand data better than ever. Resources for presenting these insights are also better than ever, and allow us to seamlessly exchange knowledge, information and insight between many different individuals and silo. Once everyone is on the same page, decisions can be reached much more quickly, which is imperative to success in today’s faster, leaner and tougher world of business.
Engaging
Attending a meeting for our parents meant walking in and picking a seat where they would be comfortable for a couple hours. They would typically have to wait while the presenter fumbled with cables, and tried pulling up the presentation, which was typically followed by the question, “Is anyone good with technology?” I supposed this is one of the reasons, the presentations were always printed out. Then they spent the rest of this time, listening to boring people talk about boring things and argue about boring decisions. Luckily, they had a printout of the presentation to doodle on.
Today, not only do we have the amazing ability to not have to fumble with cords and cables, but we have so many resources to engage all attendees. Presentations can include more than just text and photos: they can implement audio, video, moving charts and 3D images to more effectively relay information, and in a more entertaining way. We can even incorporate quizzes and questions into presentations that people can access with a URL to keep them engaged and interested.
The Future Challenges
As a result of all this technology use, we have become very stimulated beings. Our world around us is constantly stimulating: emails binging, phones buzzing, television turned on etc. Because of this, we start to “tune” some things out, and don’t pay attention to them. Therefore, it is becoming more and more difficult to hold our attention.
So, for the future success of meetings, we will have to figure out a way to keep people engaged and attentive. We are likely to see a meeting room filled with more than just tables and chairs – we will have to use interactive content to engage all of our senses. Here is a great article that predicts what future meetings will look like.

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5 Reasons Why All Our Internal Meetings are In Person

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Meetings are the lifeline of organizations. All decisions – big and small – are made in meetings, and each department in an organization relies on meetings to discuss plans, set targets, and to resolve disputes. With advancements in technology, the way business people collaborate and communicate have changed completely.
Today, virtual teams and business associates across all geographical borders can communicate without having to step out of their offices, thanks to video conferencing technology. However, it is important to understand that modern technology promises convenience, but often at the cost of efficiency. So, we must think whether all the hype surrounding video conferencing is justified or not? Does it really bring people together and help save on costs and time? May be not. Let us discuss how organisations across the world are trying to use video conferencing to make communication and collaboration better, and how it might be doing just the opposite.
Why companies choose video conferencing
Most organisations use video conferencing because

  • It allows people from different geographic locations to communicate without anyone having to travel
  • Video conferencing can be organized to facilitate meetings on any device, like laptops, smartphones and even large screen projectors in a conference room.
  • They facilitate better communication than telephones for important decision that require quick, face-to-face discussions.

However, in spite of these positives, video conferencing poses some serious challenges too. Some of these challenges are serious enough to render meetings ineffective and unproductive. Here is how video conferencing can make meetings unproductive:

  1. User experience

Every year, video vendors introduce “new and improved” versions of video conferencing technology, in a bid to provide a better user experience for their customers. However, despite these changes and improvements, users find that a number of glitches make video conferencing, on the whole, ineffective. The main issues and concerns that users face are

  • Inter-operability: Most video conferencing solutions fail when it comes to operability across difference hardware systems and virtual bridges.
  • Training gaps – In an organisation, not everyone is technology savvy. Users are required to get accustomed to new and changing video conferencing technology, and they often need regular assistance from the IT department. At times, the IT departments cannot accommodate all requests for assistance, once again causing delay and reducing cost effectiveness.
  1. Quality issues

Even with the most popular video conferencing solutions, users often face quality concerns rendering video conferencing ineffective. Quality issues such as call drops, call fails, incorrect configurations, inability to make products compatible to existing firewalls, poor call quality, jittery video, latency, packet loss and low resolution may make the meeting unproductive.

  1. Device and infrastructure issues

It takes a lot of time and resources to track infrastructure issues efficiently and to troubleshoot these issues on an organization-wide basis becomes virtually impossible.  These technical snags at hardware and infrastructure level make meetings either impossible, or grossly unproductive. By the time a company pulls out reports on effective usage and adoption of the current software, it is time to change the product.

  1. Stability

Technology is not always stable. Hardware, software and wireless connections are prone to breakdowns, especially in case of video conferencing. For example, if a call or video gets disconnected, it interrupts the flow of the meeting, rendering meeting ineffective. These issues are often faced when using inexpensive or free video conferencing packages.
 

  1. Human interaction

Unlike face- to- face meetings, video conferencing relies on proper functioning of the hardware and the software. Low resolution, poor video quality, incoherent video and sound, incorrect positioning of the webcam, and bad light are some of the issues that limit human interaction making meetings unproductive. Inability to make eye contact due to limitations in webcam positioning hinder effective communication. Research shows that even video conference job interviews are bad for both companies and candidates.
This shows that video conferencing does not really live up to its promise of enabling better communication and collaboration virtually. Another main argument in favour of video conferencing is that it is cost effective, however, there are two key issues that challenge this argument. First, that it is often extremely difficult for IT teams to prove ROI of this technology, and second that does not produce a substantial ROI unless it is used widely across the organization.
In short, no form of virtual meetings can beat face-to-face interactions in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

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What’s the Best Thing about Meetings?

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Meetings are an important part of running businesses, and they come in all shapes and sizes. From unplanned chats in the office corridor to monthly sales reviews and annual conferences, meetings can take many forms.
A face-to-face discussion of organizational issues can be conducted in various ways. In this digital age, people can conveniently communicate through emails and video conference, however, this limits the ability of individuals to express their ideas only through the power of words. Alternatively, traditional, face-to-face meetings allow people to facilitate interaction and discussion in a more effective manner, and allows participants to express their views freely using both verbal and non-verbal communication.
Here are some ways in which meetings benefit individuals and businesses
A Potent Business Weapon
Considering the fact that we live in a world where competition is cut throat, business people need more personal interaction than ever before. While online communication and telephone offer a convenient and quick way to communicate, conducting a face-to-face meeting with clients creates an altogether different effect. Business meetings provide the best avenue to carry out negotiations.
Keep organizations on track
Regular meetings strengthen work relationships and bonds among employees, and keeps them on track regarding work matters. Let us take an example. Whenever a team is required to work on a new, large project, it is best to have a kick-off meetings to delegate responsibilities and tasks. Regular meetings can then be conducted to keep track of work progress. This way, whole team can stay abreast with the way project is progressing. Meetings also offer a great opportunity for the management to acknowledge and appreciate the achievements of the team through public recognition.
Relationship building through “human connection” 
Human connection via face-to-face meetings is probably the best way to become closer as a team and people, and it makes collaboration much easier. As you spend more time together, you are able to make a complete personal assessment that can help you learn more about your own personality and behavior and that of others. Discussing and sharing this assessment with the team members allows you to understand how you can better adapt your style to communicate and collaborate more effectively with others. Human connection and face-to-face interaction also minimizes team conflict.
Build Good Working Relationship
When people with diverse opinions, personalities and interests come together in a meeting, they somehow end up creating a cordial affiliation with their colleagues and the bond strengthens over time. This may be because people, despite their busy schedule at work find time to meet others and bond with them. This kind of relationship building is not possible with phone calls, emails or even virtual meetings. Facial expressions, handshakes and a positive body language can go a long way in building strong human bonds.
Boost Individual Morale
Meetings provide the perfect platform for good and open communication. A good meeting facilitator can help even the most timid team member to open up and share his thoughts, and contribute to the discussion. This boosts individual morale and helps bring some brilliant ideas to the table.
Brainstorming
Most organizations survive on ideas and creativity. When it comes to brainstorming, meetings are the perfect platform. Many minds put together can bring out better ideas and solutions and that too much faster. Mere presence of other people can make things work. It could be the visual aids from markers and flipcharts, their body language or sharing their experience, but face-to-face communication does make a brainstorming session more engaging and fruitful.
Broader buy-in and consensus
Whenever an organization or team has to make a major decision, it becomes extremely important for people to buy-in to the decision, and meetings are the perfect way to achieve it. Consensus can be best achieved face-to-face, not on a phone call or email. Decision making and consensus achieved through effective meetings has immense business value.
It is important for individuals to understand that meetings are essential to the success of the organization. While some people may find it plain and boring, but in the long run, meetings go beyond achieving goals; they help foster and strengthen good working relationships.