When it comes to video conferencing, thinking generally falls into one of two camps: those who consider it a time-saving alternative for in-person meetings, and those who dismiss it as an expensive gimmick complete with blurry images and time lags.
In SA, the latter view seems to be the overriding one, for reasons both technical and organisational. Globally, however, companies are using video conferencing, telepresence and unified communications to boost productivity, reduce costs, and deliver environmental benefits.
Telecoms firm Verizon, for example, reported that in only six months, fewer than 200 employees saved over 68 000 litres of petrol by using technologies that enable them to work from home.
The company conducted a study of US employees and found teleworking saved them 445 days of commuting time during the six-month period. By March this year, they avoided driving almost 100 000km.
Cisco revealed similar findings in its report on Teleworking Week, which took place in the US in February. Nearly 40 000 employees teleworked during the week, making use of voice, video, and data applications. They gained around two hours back in their day, saved approximately $2.7 million in commuting costs, and avoided driving over five million kilometres - saving almost 2 000 tons of pollutants from the air.
In the local sphere, however, teleworking tools such as video conferencing are only beginning to make an appearance, and the environmental aspects rarely feature as a motivator.
As Bennie Langenhoven, managing executive at Tellumat Communications Solutions, notes: “It's a nice thing to punt, but it's far from a driver.“
For local companies, he says, the real considerations are bottom line savings such as improved efficiency and functionality, as well as the demands of a roaming workforce.
While the focus hasn't been on video as such, Langenhoven says he has seen an increased uptake of unified communications (UC).
UC comprises collaboration tools used to interact with other people and various sources of information. It includes initiating calls from one's desktop, voicemail to e-mail, peer-to-peer video conferencing, internal IM systems, and the like.
Another aspect is presence management, which makes collaboration tools available to users wherever they are. It allows them to manage communications from their mobile device, home laptop, or in an airport or hotel while travelling.
“It gives you the ability to, when you leave the office, push a few buttons on your smartphone and have access to all your work calls and e-mail,” says Langenhoven.
Jiaqi Sun, ICT research analyst at Frost & Sullivan, says cost-effective deployment of business communication solutions is the main motivation for enterprises adopting UC.
“The unification of used-to-be separate applications into one single UC&C [unified communications and collaboration] solution helps enterprises reduce capex and opex required for enterprise IT systems.”
“It's a nice thing to punt, but it's far from a driver.”
Bennie Langenhoven, managing executive, Tellumat
Frost & Sullivan reported earlier this month that due to less travel, and in consequence fewer regular in-person meetings, companies are looking for tools that enable them to manage business relations while saving time and money.
Video conferencing offers a key solution, says the firm. “Enterprises can avoid common travelling and accommodation expenses, as well as lost productivity time. Moreover, video conferencing can accelerate the decision-making process and enhance teamwork among an ever-more dispersed workforce.”
It adds, however, that the uptake of video conferencing is largely dependent on the human element. “The effort needed in changing established work behaviours and substituting live interaction with video communications remains a major restraint for adoption.”
Bryan Thompson, business development manager at Cisco SA, says it comes down to the management mindset. “A lot of the time, managers want to see staff in front of them, or they assume they aren't working.”
He adds that staff members are often nervous about using video conferencing technologies, and aren't sure how they'll come across during virtual meetings.
Yet, employees are clearly keen to have more flexible work lives. A small study on teleworking in SA by researchers in the University of Johannesburg's Department of Business Management found that over half the participants (57%) would prefer to work from home more than they currently do.
Most cited less distraction and greater productivity; greater work flexibility and increased job satisfaction; and increased morale and organisational loyalty as the main reasons.
Changing landscape
In many mature markets, legislation and industry policies have provided a push for companies to look to video conferencing as a way to mitigate not only financial strain but environmental impacts.
“We've seen very strong and persistent growth in the deployment of conferencing solutions, especially video conferencing and what we call 'immersive video conferencing solutions', such as telepresence, among the multinational companies,” says Todd Schoeman, head of portfolio and marketing at BT Middle East and Africa.
“With the ease of use of moderns solutions, setting up a video conference or a telepresence call is no more complicated than setting up an Outlook invitation for a meeting, or dialling someone's telephone number. Ease of use of modern solutions - complex as they might look - is definitely one factor.”
Another reason, he adds, is that there is no need for expensive infrastructure. “Today's solutions can be deployed over telephone lines with broadband speeds that many customers use at home. While many sophisticated systems demand a large initial investment, these can quickly be recuperated once the technology is put to use.”
The Carbon Disclosure Project report, conducted by analyst firm Verdantix, used case study evidence on telepresence costs and benefits to assess the financial paybacks and carbon reduction for a $1 billion-plus revenue firm (representing the typical market for telepresence).
It found that an individual business implementing four telepresence rooms over a five-year period achieves payback in 15 months, saves 874 business trips in year one, generates a yearly ROI of 77% to 85%, and reduces CO2 emissions by 2 271 metric tons. These reductions are equivalent to the annual GHG emissions from over 400 passenger vehicles.
“Telepresence allows collaboration between numerous different end points around the globe and harnesses the power of ICT to effectively achieve the goal of moving work to people, instead of people to work,” the report states.
Frost & Sullivan's Sun notes that video conferencing and telepresence solutions have been prevalent in west European and north American countries, due to their low-cost bandwidth and the economy of scale of developing communication solutions.
“The recent economic depression forced companies to adopt telepresence to lower costs. At the same time, governments have created regulations to counter carbon emissions, which companies enforce using telepresence.”
Dr Cherif Sleiman, senior director, Africa and Levant, enterprise and technology architecture at Cisco, points to the 'fundamentals of productivity' in explaining the potential benefits of video. “People remember 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 70% of what they hear and see, so audio-visual communication is the most effective way for people to interact and learn.”
He says the company has seen incredible uptake in telepresence solutions. “In a downturn, every company wants to save. With video conferencing you can go from New York to San Jose, attend a business lunch in London, deliver a keynote in Nigeria, and still be back at home in time for dinner.”
Thompson notes that businesses considering video conferencing are usually after savings like reduced travel costs, because it's a hard number people can relate to easily, while efficiency and environmental benefits are more of a 'soft' gain.
Sun echoes Thompson's view, saying there are two main challenges facing technology vendors in SA. One is the low awareness of soft returns, such as improving operating efficiency and productivity, by enterprise decision-makers. Another is the limited availability of fibre connections to enterprises and the high cost of bandwidth.
“Sure, undersea cables will increase bandwidth capacity and bring down bandwidth cost, driving the uptake of video conferencing and telepresence applications and equipment,” states Sun.
“However, this demand concentrates on large corporate customers in the financial services and telecommunications industries in SA due to the expensive infrastructure deployment required for UC&C.”
She adds that the reduction in carbon footprint is yet to emerge as a key motivation for local businesses. Nevertheless, Sun notes there is a move by technology vendors to develop energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly UC solutions and infrastructure. This could help enterprises achieve their strategies for sustainable development in the future.
On the move
According to Langenhoven, awareness of UC is increasing and while SA is lagging behind the US and Europe, it's not the usual three- to five-year lag, but rather a couple of months to a year.
“The issue here is the affordability and availability of bandwidth, and this is changing with international connectivity coming in via undersea cables,” says Langenhoven.
“A lot of the time, managers want to see staff in front of them, or they assume they aren't working.”
Bryan Thompson, business development manager, Cisco SA
BT's Schoeman says that for Sub-Saharan Africa specifically, the traditional bandwidth cost inhibitors that limit the uptake of corporate video solutions are fast disappearing, due to the deployment of increased international capacity between the region and Europe and North America.
“These rapid price decreases in international capacity now makes previously unfavourable business cases turn positive, resulting in many companies investing in high-end video conferencing facilities to connect their local teams with colleagues and customers around the world,” he says.
Schoeman notes that conferencing solutions have established themselves as an integral part of business needs as well as the corporate drive for a better sustainability record all round.
“Our prediction - which is in line with industry analysts like Gartner and others - is that we will see further growth in teleconferencing in all shapes and forms, starting with audio conferencing and ending with immersive video solutions, including other online collaboration tools.”
According to Sleiman, it won't be long until the developing world and emerging markets begin taking on more video communications, as their rate of recovery and growth is faster than developed nations.
He sees great potential for the uptake of video communications in a phenomenon he calls 'globalisation reborn'.
“A few years ago, everyone was hyping globalisation. Then the recession hit and companies cut investments and slowed expansion, so you had an anti-globalisation movement, with people returning to their roots.
“As the world settled down again, we see stability in areas outside the US and Europe, such as the Middle East and Africa, which acts as a stepping stone to economic development. With this comes an increased amount of investment by government and the private sector to support customer demand.”
He predicts technologies like video conferencing and telepresence are likely to become more mainstream in the next three years. “As we see an increased amount of bandwidth and connectivity, it will give rise to a new middle class, bringing entrepreneurs and e-commerce into the cities.”
Sleiman anticipates many more pan-African organisations being formed, with foreign direct investment from mature economies. “We look forward to an incredibly exciting next few years as wealth is created in parts of the world we've never looked at before.”
As thinking changes around the best location for investments, so too, perhaps, will thoughts around video communications, with local companies realising the need for flexibility. As telecoms giant AT&T's CEO, Randall Stephens, reminds businesses: “Work is an activity, not a place.”
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