Telecommuters Stay Connected With Video Conferencing

By Nina Parker

It is widely reported that the legions of telecommuters are growing each and every year. As low-cost office space becomes an increasingly scarce commodity, and companies continue to pursue new ways to drive costs down, many of us find ourselves working from a home office. Some of the benefits of telecommuting are obvious—reduced office costs for your employer, and improved quality of life for you. Some of the benefits are not so obvious—such as reductions in roadway congestion, greenhouse emissions, and dependency on foreign energy sources. However, working at home can also have disadvantages. We may feel out of touch, or that our inability to fully participate in group meetings compromises our effectiveness and prospects for advancement.

Fortunately, the negative aspects of working from home can be overcome via the adoption of video conferencing. The recent proliferation of high-speed broadband networks coupled with substantial reductions in the cost of the requisite technology have resulted in the ability to conduct excellent quality video calls from home.

The difference video conferencing can make

Whether you are a rank-and-file employee, manager, or company executive, a large part of what you do every day is communicate. The effectiveness of that communication is what drives the business and defines you and your career. Working at home with a video conferencing system allows you to participate and communicate in one-on-one and group meetings as effectively as if you were on site.

For example, IVCi senior vice president of sales and marketing, Charlie Macli telecommutes from his Westchester home office on Fridays. He finds this convenient as traffic on Fridays is especially problematic and IVCi's headquarters is located more than 60 miles away in Hauppauge, New York. With the recent availability of ultra-high-speed internet access in his neighborhood, Mr. Macli is able to conduct high-quality video meetings from his home.

With more than three hours of commute time saved each Friday, Charlie is able to get more work done and still start his weekends earlier than if he had opted to drive to and from the office. "Owing to the technology, my ability to communicate is uncompromised. I can meet with colleagues, employees, partners, and customers—all from my home office. Meetings can be scheduled or impromptu. Colleagues call me from their office video conferencing systems to participate in strategy and policy discussions that often occur on the spur of the moment. When my work day is over, I have more time for personal interests, and spend more quality time with my family."

W H I T E   P A P E R

HD in Healthcare

The medical profession needs the highest quality voice, video, data sharing and transmission to deliver the clear pictures and sound required to accurately treat patients at a distance and better educate their staff. Reliability, quality, and security are critical factors to allow medical professionals using video conferencing to perform their daily jobs.

Click here for the white paper >>

M U L T I M E D I A

Polycom People On Content

People+Content is the ability for a video conference participant to introduce content from a laptop, PC or Macintosh into the call so that all participants can see the Content and the speaker at the same time.

Click here for the video >>