How Video Conferencing Can Benefit B2B model

Gone are the days when arranging a B2B meeting was as easy as corralling the appropriate people in your building and taking over a meeting room. With companies occupying multiple sites, and business deals taking place over multiple time zones, it’s not easy to get everybody together and talk. Since the introduction of online technology, there’s never been so many options for hosting your conferences.

However, with such a plethora of choices, which is best for your B2B plan? Blue Jeans feel that the modern conference room’s most effective choice is video centric conferencing. With so many benefits, why would you choose anything else?

Concentration increases

Research has shown that 76 percent of video conference users feel that attendees don’t pay as much attention to a meeting when they’re attending a web conference. After all, the temptation is high to check emails, chat to colleagues, or otherwise slack off if no one can actually see you. As video conferencing is face to face, attendees pay much more attention and stay more focused on what’s happening within the meeting.

Conferencing is more personable

Clear One have noted that video conferencing allows attendees to see each other in real time, watching facial expressions and other non verbal cues in order to understand each other fully. When communication is often 93 percent non verbal (as stated by Bomb Bomb), video conferencing can mean that no one is missing out on the vast majority of the conversation.

Better for sensitive issues

Web conferencing can seem like a good idea for handling sensitive HR issues, but in the long run it can be a hindrance. As seen above, most of the conversation is lost without non verbal cues, which can often be a problem when handling tricky topics. Speaking face to face, no matter where you are in relation to the other person, can make these conversations much easier all around.

Know exactly who you’re talking to

Sixty-two percent of video conference users say they feel unsure who’s dropping in and out of web conferences during a B2B client call. If they don’t know who’s listening in, they can feel unsure of what they can and cannot say, ruining the productivity of the meeting. Video conferencing eliminates all doubt, making connecting to others in the meeting much more simple.

Keeps everybody in the loop

Video conferencing can ensure that everybody in your company is kept informed of what’s going on. When a business is spread over several sites, or even several continents, that can be invaluable for keeping employees happy and abreast of what’s happening in the workplace. Since happier employees are 12 percent more productive (as noted by Entrepreneur), video conferencing can be a vital component of a successful business.

More effective communication between multiple sites

Communication between different branches of the same company is vital. Poor communication can lead to taxation problems, poor cash flow or duplication of work, according to NI Business Info. Video conferencing can bring multiple branches together instantly to iron out problems and plan for the future, meaning everybody is on the same page.

Reduces travel time

One of the most pressing problems any executive deals with is time. When there’s so many things to be done and so many people to speak to, how can you fit everything into your day? Attending meetings can be nigh on impossible if you’re constantly having to travel to different sites to attend them. Video conferencing drastically reduces travel time, letting you attend the meeting and then carry on with your day in an instant.

Makes companies more productive

Picture Phone list several ways that video conferencing can increase productivity. It can speed up decision making, keeps meetings brief and to the point, and can be used to cut down interview time for new employees. A surprising amount of time can be saved by simply meeting in a video meeting rather than face to face. When less time is spent putting together meetings, more time can be spent on other activities, improving your business.

Video conferencing is the future

Forty-six percent of people polled feel that web conferencing is an outdated concept. With so many things that can go wrong, or make the process more complicated, many feel that it’s just not worth the time and effort to use. Video conferencing, on the other hand, is the future of meetings. Quick, reliable, and personable, it’s just as good as conferencing with the other people in the room with you.

In conclusion

In a world where business is routinely conducted on a global scale, traditional forms of communication often just cannot cut it anymore. Video conferencing is an option that brings people together quickly and efficiently, and lets them communicate clearly without any fuss or extensive technology know how. Try it out in your own company, and see just what a difference it can make to your day to day working life.

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Small Biz, High Tech: 4 IT Hacks for Small Businesses

Running a small business is a constant dance between producing a product or service for people at a cost that compares to or beats your competition. One of the costs is information technology or IT. A small business that can find inexpensive and powerful options in this area can create an advantage for their business in their marketplace. Here are 4 IT hacks that can help your small business be more profitable.

IT Hacks: Organize Better Meetings

Increasing a client base can be a challenge for a small business. Meeting with potential clients face-to-face is limited by geography. With technology today, there are simple ways that a business can organize a meeting on teleconference that will allow for face-to-face interaction. There are individual video conferencing tools like Skype that allow for individuals to connect face-to-face across the world. There are also online meeting programs that allow presentations and ideas to be shared over an unlimited number of locations. Low cost products like Go To Meeting or Any Meeting are two meeting software suites that allow for powerful presentations.

Keep Your Office Running Smoothly

Organization is the key to success in any business. Fortunately today there are software suits that can help manage your schedules. For example AdvancedMD is a medical software suite that allows a small office to organize the scheduling of patients, their records, issue bills, manage patient care and measure the performance of your business. The best part is that once this type of system is set up, it runs with very little maintenance. A small office staff can all access the vital information and provide adequate care for all patients. There are similar management software products for almost any type of office as well.

Take Control of Your Web Properties

Managing and developing your own websites may seem like a daunting task but with the technology available today it shouldn’t be. Developing a functional and well-designed site can be done through the use of WordPress with a minimum of training. Having this skill available opens you up to make changes to a website quickly and at a low cost. It will require paying a hosting fee, but this cost is very minimal compared to paying someone to manage your website. HostGator is a great hosting program that is safe and responsive to questions. The investment in this area can save thousands of dollars over the long term and provide your small business with a website that is more representative of your products and/or services.

Build Relationships through Email

Connecting with you customers is vital for any small business. There are many different options available to help manage your email list depending on price and types of communication you desire. Constant Contact is one of the easiest email marketing suites to use although it has some limitations in function. Get Response and Aweber are high-functioning software suits that make it easy to create and run complex chains of marketing emails. The best part about these products is that once you have it set up, it runs on autopilot. Email lists provide a great opportunity to directly contact your customer base and a business can get their product or service in front of the customers.

Running a small business is an exciting endeavor that can become very profitable. Learning to decrease the IT challenges a company faces will clearly make things run more smoothly. All four of these IT solutions can be managed in house with inexpensive and powerful software programs. Allowing a small business to perform big is the goal of these 4 IT hacks for small business.

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Boost Your Business Sales with Video Meetings

With video conferencing technologies that offer quick connections, along with systems that are simple to install and easy to use, there’s simply no reason why your business sales should suffer in this day and age. Take advantage of web based solutions like Blue Jeans to get this done. From getting quick feedback on design and changes to learning how to pull off the perfect sales meeting with video conferencing technology, Blue Jeans has you covered.

Brainstorm with Key People

To survive, a business must have continuous growth. One way to keep this going is to ensure open lines of communication among members of your top management committee. However, in view of recent economic downturns, spending too much on travel costs just to bring your people together might end up hurting, rather than helping along, your bottom line.

However, there’s no mistaking the business value of face to face interaction, an observation noted in an article published by the Tech Radar, dated May of last year. This is one reason for the rising demand for unified communication platforms in the market. Users, a great many of which are millennials entering the workforce, demand an integrated system, one that combines social media messaging, emails and instant messaging with web conferencing. It’s a dinosaur of a system, packing a lot of features and all of them useful, all of them designed to encourage collaboration and engagement.

Physically absent, mentally present

Foremost among these is the high definition video conferencing capability. Given the fine video quality possible, management teams no longer have to travel through miles just to get to a meeting. These meetings can now happen online, via video. Here, they can spend the next few hours brainstorming ideas involving marketing strategies, campaign initiatives, process updates and system modifications all without leaving the office, their state or country. With regular meetings, top management executives and managers now have more time to iron out problems in their sales-model or any other point of the sales funnel.

Rapid Feedback in Teams

Meetings provide one of the best venues for asking and giving feedback. But how do you go about making that happen when half of your team works on the east and the other half on the west? That’s another way video conferencing rides to the rescue of businesses.

An article from Mashable, published last 2011, notes how immediate feedback is one of the best advantages that users can get from video conferencing. That’s an accurate observation. Faster feedback means speedier turn-around times for plans, initiatives and product designs.

Collaboration determines solutions

In terms of improving your sales, allowing all team members to discuss the matter via video conferencing is convenient and cost-effective. Remote and offsite teams can also join in on the process. For instance, try presenting the company’s sales model to the teams. Then ask for feedback. Then keep those comments in mind when you work on the next set of changes for the plan. Repeat the process until you get it right—or until your sales improve.

Picking the technology that works best

Doing this by email and instant messaging, though possible, isn’t really that convenient. Too many people in a group could lead to cumbersome, bulky chat conversations that do nothing to generate value. Also, consider the time it takes to write than to talk about changes or explain minute modifications. Video is faster than email and text messaging in this regard.

There’s also the matter of body language and facial cues to consider. Since debates are going to be inevitable, it’s easier to gauge a coworker’s feelings involving a particular revision in video rather than in text. Words can sometimes come off as abrupt, terse, or worse, angry. Via video conferencing, it’s much easier for everyone to explain and discuss changes, without worrying about being misread or misunderstood.

Build Consumer Engagement with Videos

This is one way to keep track of your customers. Try to check up on your clients on a regular basis. Sending them promotional content through email, instant messaging channels and social media platforms are all earmarks of a good marketing plan.

However, checking up on them by way of live videos—and not just sending them pre-recorded ones—goes a long way to ensuring and sustaining brand recall. You could also ask them for feedback, comments and suggestions via video. Try sending them birthday and holiday greetings, too.

That’s taking your marketing and business model a notch further. With video conferencing, you’re securing consumer engagement. After all, people pay more attention to someone when they can see who it is they’re talking to, rather than to a letter, email or text.

Adapt video conferencing into your marketing plans, put these plans into practice and watch your sales figures climb.

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