Technology changes so fast that making predictions about it can be a fool’s errand, but it’s important to think about where we are at and where we might be going. And in the world of video conferencing and collaboration solutions, one can see a few pretty clear paths into an otherwise uncertain future. If we were betting people, we would definitely put our money on the four following possibilities.
Virtual Reality
We tend to think about virtual reality headsets as the province of serious gamers and advanced NASA training, but there might come a time (and sooner than you might think) when virtual office spaces revolutionize our notions of the workplace. Cisco, for example, has already taken its Spark platform into the world of virtual reality. Although still in its infancy, Cisco Spark VR promises to upend our expectations about how and where we work by giving users the ability to leap into virtual offices and share and present content as you would in “real life.”
Huddle Room Power
Virtual reality might change the way we engage with each other via video, but we will still have these pesky bodies, and no matter how deep we descend into the virtual realm, those bodies will still need actual rooms in which to work. As technology transforms more and more of the workforce into a roaming band that works from home as often as it works at the office, the need for huddle rooms will increase. These malleable rooms can be used as private work spaces for employees visiting the office; as ad hoc brainstorming caves; as conference rooms for small groups; as quiet places to just sit and think. And as huddle rooms become more and more central to the work that’s done at the office, employees will come to expect these rooms to be outfitted with all of the things that make 21st century work possible. So start thinking about how to turn your huddle rooms into fully functional hubs of collaboration and project management.
Video Conferencing As A Service
As the workforce goes mobile, the demand for costly hardware infrastructure will wane. A workforce on the move needs collaboration solutions they can access on their own devices. Therefore, we will see video-conferencing-as-a-service models become the standard, and solutions like Prime Call Cloud UC require the bare minimum from its users--all they need to do is download an app and they’re good to go, wherever they are.
Customer Contact
As web-based video conferencing tools become more prevalent, so to will the opportunities to interact with members of the public. Soon, customers will expect the companies they do business with to add video options to the standard call center experience. Be ready for this. It is coming. It might sound like a scary prospect, but remember: there is nothing like a positive face-to-face interaction to solidify a relationship with a customer.
The future might not be here yet, but the present has plenty of incredible video conferencing and collaboration solutions. Take a look at what Solutionz has to offer and contact us if you have any questions about our products and services. We will have one of our experts get back to you shortly. If you know what you’re looking for, use our Advanced Search tool to find it.
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