Video Conferencing Forecast 2020

CommsTrader looks at the key innovations likely to shape the video conferencing market to the end of the decade

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Collaboration

Published: November 24, 2017

Ian Taylor Editor

Ian Taylor

Editor

It is crystal ball time again, this time for our Video Conferencing and Collaboration Technology Track.

Over the course of the month, we have looked at the current state of the video conferencing market and some of the main trends obvious at present. We have investigated some of the key technologies – cloud, mobile, open standards, collaboration and IP protocols allowing HD quality video and audio – which have helped bring video into the UC mainstream in recent years.

And, of course, we have covered some of the top brands leading the category and sampled some of products shaking up the market.

But what about the future of video conferencing? We look at five innovations likely to have plenty to say about how we collaborate via video in the coming years.

1 – VR and AR

Telepresence solutions, which aim to replicate the experience of a face-to-face meeting as closely as possible in a virtual environment, are already having a considerable impact on the video conferencing market.

The use of HD quality AV equipment and the latest packeting standards, along with giant screens and surround sound speaker technology to replicate natural audio coming from different directions, is all intended to make the virtual meeting experience as true to life as possible.

This will take a radical new direction as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies become more mainstream. Using the VR headsets which are becoming increasingly popular with consumers, business people could soon be stepping into completely immersive virtual meeting spaces where their ‘avatar’ can interact with colleagues as if they are face-to-face.

Then there is the possibility of AR, which adds digital layers to video streams, making the old sci-fi concept of holograms real. With the right kind of projector technology, remote participants could be beamed into a meeting room, blending seamlessly with the stream of the room they are receiving. To the people in the room, it looks more like their colleague is sat there with them than watching a 2D image of a person in a different room, aiding more natural interaction and conversation.

2 – Video for B2C Comms

Even within the space of the past five years, video has moved from something of a specialist tool into the mainstream of B2B communications. Several factors have driven this – more agile platforms allowing people to connect regardless of what device they are using, simpler and more user-friendly interfaces, and costs being driven down by cloud solutions are just some.

Over the coming years we can expect to see video playing a greater role in B2C communications. Companies are already experimenting with using video for customer service in the contact centre. This is likely to pick up pace as more companies adopt open standards platforms which will allow customers to connect to their in-house video system from whatever app or service they use.

Browser-based conferencing technology will also play a role, as businesses take advantage of WebRTC to embed video into their websites. Customers will then be able to launch a video call directly from the company’s contact or help desk pages.

3 – Mobile First and Web Collaboration

Software development is increasingly prioritising deployment on mobile devices over desktop, as apps take over from traditional programs. One of the key differences between the two is that apps tend to act as a gateway to a hosted cloud service, rather than install an entire program. They are therefore cheaper and much easier to use.

Mobile and video conferencing-as-a-service (VCaaS) can therefore be viewed as mutually beneficial. As VCaaS grows in popularity, it becomes easier and easier to download an app to your phone which provides you with access to high quality conferencing services.This will in turn drive changes in patterns of behaviour. Ease of use and convenience will drive more people to use video conferencing on mobile devices, leading to greater agility and flexibility in how people connect to virtual meetings.

A similar thing will happen with browser-based technology. Web conferencing describes the ability to access meetings directly from a web browser, without even needing to download an app. As conferencing becomes increasingly aligned with collaboration solutions, expect people to start talking about web collaboration – the option to open a browser, and within seconds start sharing video, documents, screens and whiteboards with colleagues.

Thanks to WebRTC, this can now all happen in HD quality. This adds another dimension to the choices people have as to how they connect, supporting ad hoc remote collaboration from anywhere.

4 – Multi-touch Conferencing

We mentioned above the emerging symbiotic relationship between conferencing and collaboration. This is just part of what has become an increasingly rich tapestry of options business users mow have which fall under the conferencing umbrella. They have the choice between audio and video, room-based, desktop and mobile, conferencing tools embedded in their team messaging apps, file sharing and mark-up tools embedded in their conferencing platforms.

Part of this variety has grown out of these solutions developing separately, and being offered by a wide range of different service providers. But rather than just expecting consolidation, this choice is valuable to businesses. The option to access conferencing in different ways through different platforms, to use different solutions for different teams, only increases its agility. Instead of viewing conferencing as a particular tool for a particular job, a multi-touch approach will allow businesses the freedom to apply it to different use cases, in the ways which suit their purposes best.

5 – Integrated Huddle Room Solutions

The huddle room has become closely associated with the increased adoption of video conferencing solutions by businesses of all sizes. If the traditional meeting room is associated with a certain degree of formality – schedules, agendas, minutes – huddle rooms are all about ad-hoc get-togethers, idea sharing and creativity. And if members of your team happen to work elsewhere, no problem, you just equip your huddle spaces with modern plug-and-play conferencing systems which offer easy connection from any device.

But for teams to work effectively, conferencing solutions are only part of the story. We have mentioned collaboration tools more than once already, offering the tools which help remote teams work together as well as just talk via video link. But this marriage of convenience need not be the end of the line for tying conferencing solutions to other platforms teams find useful.

Consolidation is a growing trend across UC, making communication tools available in the programs and systems people use most at work. In the coming years, huddle room technology may evolve way beyond combining video with collaboration, to seeing conferencing platforms fully embedded in CRM, ERP or project management software. That way, whenever team members need to get together for a huddle, everything is in one place, boosting speed and efficiency.

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