Work from Home Revolution: Video-conferencing is About

WORK FROM HOME REVOLUTION:

VIDEO-CONFERENCING IS ABOUT TO GET EXCITING

Healthcare, mobility, entertainment — since the coronavirus outbreak our daily lives and everyday rouঞ nes have changed tremendously. Jeff rey Cole, a research professor at the University of Southern California noted that “Without preparaࢼ on or permission, we’re parࢼ cipaࢼ ng in the greatest social science experiment of all time. In the future, we’ll talk about ‘BC,’ before corona, and after.“ Governments, citizens, and companies have pooled all their collecঞ ve resources to minimize the negaঞ ve impacts of the pandemic while simultaneously working day in and day out to stop the spread. As we’re sঞ ll learning to adapt to new habits — some physical, some digital — there are some aspects that we had to master faster than others and accept as the new normal, perhaps the biggest being telecommuঞ ng. Tom Eagle, senior research director at Gartner, the world’s leading research and advisory company, believes that the COVID-19 crisis will be a “catalyst for transformative work cultures and pracࢼ ces that will be signifi cantly characterized by remote work,” noঞ ng that video-conferencing will become an indispensable tool for workforce collaboraঞ on and communicaঞ on. Invesঞ ng in digital technologies has become a vital move for many businesses around the globe: since the lockdowns began, we have witnessed an emerging dependency on business conferencing tools, e-commerce, digital learning, VR-based training, and business apps supporting remote workers. Business Wire, a global leader in news release distribution and regulatory disclosure, pointed out that in March alone, video-conferencing apps — think Zoom, Slack, Microso[ Teams, Pexip, and others — saw a record 62 million downloads. When you think about it, the benefi ts of video-conferencing tools are mutual for both businesses and workers. According to independent market research and analyst fi rms Wainhouse and Lifesize, companies save $11,000 annually per employee by using video-conferencing so[ ware, while employees save an average of $2,000-$7,000. Video-conferencing can also reduce travel costs by up to 30 percent and has reduced the need for business travel by as much as 47 percent. We have a few more impressive numbers for you right here. According to the ResearchandMarkets, the world’s leading source for internaঞ onal market research reports and market data, the global video-conferencing market accounted for $3,85 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach $9,65 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9,9 percent during the forecast period. The good news for today’s business leaders is that there are many opঞ ons to choose from: Zoom Meeঞ ngs, GoToMeeting, Google Hangouts Meet, Cisco Webex Meeঞ ngs, CyberLink U Meeঞ ng, Lifesize, BlueJeans Meetings, Pexip, to name a few.

Speaking about the last one, Norway’s Pexip Holding had an interesting year so far, as in May 2020 the video-conferencing company made its stock market debut a[ er an iniঞ al public off ering (IPO) that was more than 12 ঞ mes oversubscribed. Pexip is now valued at $942 million — not far off unicorn status. Pexip, which is used by the US military and German government, has registered a jump in demand for its services since the start of the coronavirus crisis and is already known as a leader in the fi eld when it comes to puম ng data security and privacy first. The Oslo-based startup has been a big favorite for several organizations around the world not only because of its comprehensive security, but also its fl exibility. The Irish Court system has been using it during the lockdown, hosঞ ng hearings virtually where a‚ endees can link up via other video-conferencing services, according to Ireland’s naঞ onal broadcaster RTÉ. Giles Chamberlain, chief technology officer of Pexip, noted that Pexip is “the only company that provides Google Meet interop and one of three cerࢼfi ed companies providing Microso[ Teams interop and specializing in the standards-based interop from people like Cisco and Huawei.“ Having the two specialties in one service gives Pexip a unique advantage. Customers can either use it as a tradiঞ onal video-conferencing service or, just like the Irish Court, they can self-host Pexip’s infrastructure and take on responsibility for security themselves. Both use cases have a‚ racted the a‚ enঞ on of Vodafone, Intel, Amnesty International, and many more. “We’ve been going a[ er the large enterprises from day one, that was always the target,” Chamberlain explained. “We sell to the US military and the US Federal Government. That means we’ve been through something called Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) cerࢼfi caࢼ on, which is a very elaborate cerࢼfi caࢼ on process saying this stuff is fi t for purpose.“ Speaking about the future, many companies and businesses are beginning to realize that the post-pandemic world will be a very diff erent place. Twi‚ er has already announced that its employees will be working from home forever, while Google and Facebook noted that their employees will be working from home until 2021. Hoping to stabilize the coronavirus crisis, many other companies are expected to follow this path as well. What is more, video-conferencing is going to be a bit diff erent in the future, accompanied by new technologies. One of them, Artificial Intelligence (AI), will join our meeting rooms as a facilitator. Tech leaders are creating machine learning programs that can transcribe audio, count a‚ endees, and provide insights into a‚ endee engagement, helping to focus on the most impac ul pieces of the meeঞ ng. AI is also expected to cut out a lot of noise in the meeঞ ngs, as machine learning algorithms will be able to discern which speaker should be acঞ ve and ensure that their voice is fully heard, minimizing background disrupঞ ons. Also, with the emergence of 5G, it is very likely we will begin to see AR and VR technology entering the video-conferencing industry. Commenting on this idea, Magnus Willner, founder, and CEO at ARcall, augmented reality-based remote communicaঞ on soluঞ on, noted that “People often get bored when they are on video calls, especially with the volume of video calls which take place per day, it can become quite tedious. However, AR improves and enhances the feeling of remote presence. Using AR could ensure that the person you are cha࣌ ng with will appear in a Hologram in your very own physical space. When you put on the AR glasses and connect them to your phone, you will see your room through the glass and when your friend connects. They will show up in your very room and it is a completely diff erent experience.“ And on this note, while we’re sঞ ll trying to adapt to the new normal, workplace expert and futurist Alexandra Levit, whose goal is to prepare organizations and their employees to be competitive and marketable in the future business world, perfectly concluded the situaঞ on, noঞ ng that the new reality of working from home is one we’d have faced in the next decade or so anyways — the pandemic has simply accelerated the process. And that is a good thing, as it had forced us to face a challenge we were always going to face as hybrid work becomes the new normal.