Business Focus: Videoconferencing
Video is an increasingly practical way to keep remote employees in the loop. Dave Mitchell explores how modern systems make it easy – and affordable
The best devices to keep employees in the loop.
Ask a big business how they operate effectively, and they’ll tell you that communication and collaboration are key to success. Videoconferencing technology – VC for short – streamlines both, and it’s becoming an essential part of today’s rapidly evolving virtual workplace. As well as increasing productivity and improving customer services, VC can accelerate your decision-making processes, and help isolated remote workers stay connected to their office-based colleagues.
The best part is that a commitment to VC pays for itself. Huge savings in travel costs, and in time wasted while employees are in transit, mean you could recoup the cost in months. With fewer tedious road trips or expensive flights to customer sites, you can reduce your carbon footprint as well.
There’s a huge range of free and low-cost VC web apps available, but it’s worth investing a little in the hardware. Prices for conference-room solutions are now low enough to make them a reality for SMBs. These act as a central hub for meetings, bringing together physical and virtual presences and allowing them to share ideas, data and presentations.
This month, we test and review four VC solutions that allow SMBs to set up a professional conference room environment and share it with all their staff. There’s no dodgy webcam video here: all include Full HD cameras, and offer a range of sophisticated audio features, along with support for most popular web-based VC apps.
Room service
VC room solutions come in all shapes and sizes. The cheapest models simply provide the video and audio hardware components, and they may not have their own “brains”. Two of the products on review this month need to be hooked up to a computer, which hosts the conferencing software (such as Skype for Business or Cisco WebEx).
Don’t underestimate such systems: providing the app supports it, there’s a lot of versatility here. You can invite multiple remote users to virtual meetings and share your video and
audio feed with them, as well as content and presentations.
Many VC systems are designed to be permanent installations, due to the size and weight of the cameras and speakerphone base units. But some products are portable, allowing you to boost your sales pitch by taking your VC kit with you, to set up ad-hoc conferences and connect potential clients directly to your sales and support staff.
Want your VC room to have an impressive HD display? No problem. Two of the products in this buyer’s guide have HDMI outputs, so the video feed can be piped straight to an HD monitor or TV of your choice.
Pump up the volume
Don’t forget the importance of audio. The last thing you want is participants straining to hear what’s being said. Laptop speakers may be fine for one-on-one meetings, but they won’t cut it in a meeting room with people spread out round a large table.
Professional video conference room products typically come with speakerphone bases, incorporating multiple directional microphones and big speakers to pump the sound out. Keep an eye out for easy-access volume controls, too: if the sound is too soft or loud, you don’t want to be fiddling with an app to adjust it. An accessible “mute” button could be helpful too, in case of interruption.
All four products on test this month were able to pick up speech from 20ft away, but even that may not be enough if you’re organising a big conference, spread out down a long table. If this is a concern, look for a system that supports satellite mic/ speaker units that can be plugged into the main speakerphone to extend the range. Other features to consider are support for Bluetooth and NFC, which allows users to connect their mobiles to the speakerphone and make hands-free calls.
Finally, consider background noise such as traffic, slamming doors, footsteps in the corridor or staff in adjacent offices. Many systems come with noise-reduction features: Polycom’s Trio 8800, for example, employs “NoiseBlock” technology, which both automatically identifies and cuts out unwanted sounds from the background.
Bandwidth blues
You’ll want plenty of bandwidth for streaming HD video. It pays to get this right: if the VC experience is poor, users won’t use it, and the investment will have been wasted.
For a single 1080p stream at 30fps, we recommend a connection of at least 1Mbits/sec; ideally, aim for 4 to 6Mbits/sec to ensure sharp, consistent quality. To keep things stable, use a wired network connection for the conference room system, rather than connecting over wireless. Don’t forget that bandwidth is an issue for all participants in a video call. As part of our testing, we tried to join a Lifesize meeting over a weak wireless connection, served up from an AP on the next floor. The 1080p video stream was simply too much for it: the quality was appalling, and our connection was dropped within ten seconds.
Be prepared
VC is a great business aid, but getting it wrong can make you look unprofessional. If you’re setting up a conference, arrive early and make sure everything is connected, working and accessible – especially if it’s a client or customer meeting. Be careful with camera placement, so your participants only see what you want them to.
Moreover, don’t sit in front of a sunlit window: none of the cameras on review could cope with the extreme dynamic range, leaving us in silhouette. You should also choose your clothes carefully, as bright colours and groovy patterns are just plain distracting.
A final consideration: when your VC room becomes a success, you may find that everyone wants to use it, so make sure you implement a booking system to avoid clashes and interruptions.
Don’t be daunted, though: a video conference is easier to set up than a business trip, and the hardware is within reach of any SMB. Turn the page to see which one fits your virtual workplace best.
“Videoconferencing is a great business aid, but get it wrong and it can make both you and your company look unprofessional”