Video conferencing will be big this year. That statement, or something like it has been the mantra by pundits and vendors for several years now. Is it wishful thinking; will video conferencing actually become mainstream this year or is there something else to it?
Video gets cheaper and easier to use every year. The entry to being able to have a video chat is now just the cost of your device, be it a laptop, tablet or smartphone. There are several free products out there and some have very good quality. That's a point in its favor yet not everyone is using it.
Video is still only in the culture of some businesses. There's still a stigma that video conferencing is expensive and difficult. This will probably not change regardless of how many tiny fists shake in opposition. Vendors attempting to sell overly complex and expensive solutions where inappropriate aren’t helping either. I covered that three years ago in a blog here: http://hellarddesign.blogspot.com/2013/01/bad-video-conferencing-demo.html
Each year not only are pundits saying VC will be hot, they also say that's it's going to be ubiquitous and interoperable. If anything, we're getting less interoperable with lower end solutions being islands among themselves.
Video conferencing's perfect storm has arrived. In 2008.
Video deemed "hot" in 2009
Video conferencing to go mainstream in 2010
From 2011: “TV video calling is a game changer”
75% of companies to use VC by 2013, as an article in 2011 states.
The tyranny of complex hardware is over from 2011
Double digit growth in 2012
A hot new trend in 2013
It's a rage among businesses in 2014
Tipped to be a game changer in 2015
And not to be left out is 2016
http://www.cxotoday.com/story/video-conferencing-to-get-smarter-faster-in-2016/
http://www.cxotoday.com/story/video-conferencing-to-get-smarter-faster-in-2016/
To wrap up, I think articles stating how video conferencing is going to be huge are simply rehashed talking points of pundits and vendors. It will likely never be ubiquitous even though most people have the tools right in front of them, more than ever before. The above links are just a few samples I pulled from simply searching Google, but it proves my point. We in the industry all want everyone to use video conferencing and for it to be huge, hot and a game changer but articles stating that “this is the year” are just folly.
What do you think? Is this the year everyone uses video conferencing? We know what I think, now it's time to hear from everyone else.
Bryan
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