INSTALL STORY: GUEST COLUMN
Post Pandemic Video Conferencing Rise
Abdul Waheed is the Managing Director at EYTE Technologies. A CTS holder from Avixa, Member of
the Certificate Committee of AVIXA, has been in the AV industry for more than two decades,
delivering many successful projects across various segments. Abdul gives his overview of the
video-conferencing industry and the latest market trends.
Abdul Waheed, Managing Director, EYTE Technologies
Communication, the human connection is the key to personal and
professional success. It is very important to have effective communication. John Powell says,
"Communication works for those who work at it."
During Pandemic, when the entire world went under lockdown, businesses were kept alive using the
communication tools only. Since then, the usage graph of VC usage is increasing every day. Video
conferencing statistics reveal that video call is becoming an essential business tool rather than an
optional innovation.
Astonishing, Video conferencing stats shows that the Video Conferencing market is increasing with an
annual growth rate of 11.4%. VC calls have seen a 535% rise in daily traffic in 2020. Earlier days
only hardware-based solutions working on SIP protocols were available ruling the VC world with their
strict protocols and proprietary systems leveraging the monopoly in the business.
Every school is now talking about Hybrid solutions which enables them to take physical as well as
virtual classes. The extensive usage by common people has now given importance to the user
experience. The concept of eye-to-eye contact, echo cancellations, and better acoustics
considerations are getting more important than ever.
Manufacturers are bringing forward the latest upgrades and features in video conferencing cameras.
Even small cameras can cover the wider angle, and many automatically frame the participants during
video conferencing. Cameras also have the speaker tracking feature, which means the camera lens will
focus on the presenter who is speaking, AI technologies are enhancing day by day.
Microphone audio reinforcement will be at the far end, and currently, microphones are also available
with Acoustic Eco Cancellation (AEC).
Video Conferencing Monopoly
Lately, when the world started moving towards 5G the software solutions started becoming more
popular so much so that they made Video calls easy and cheap and people started using them for
personal usage via WhatsApp, google meet and free zoom calls etc. It's now part of everyone's daily
routine be it in a personal Video call or professional VC meetings.
During the pandemic, the businesses started opting for software options that only demands a good,
third party camera or headphone cost, skipping the expensive Codec, cameras, accessories etc against
a hardware unit. The software-based VC works on simple Wi-Fi data available as little as 1-2Mb for a
good call.
The strict encryptions and security measures made it more secure communication and have made this
popular for business usage. This became so common and effective that many banking sector
organisation changed their security policies adapting software-based solutions.
WFH became effective and so is the overhead expenditure savings by the business segments. Now months
after the third wave the WFH has become a part of the working style for many organisations. So much
so that the new office designs are reducing the number of dedicated employee seats converting them
to hot-desking and there is an increase in the number of meeting rooms calling for cloud-based VC
solutions in every room even if it is a 3 or 4 seater room.
And that is not a burden on budget as it just calls for a simple camera with a built-in microphone
and speaker, supported by VC software such as MS teams, Cisco Webex, Zoom or Google meet.
The education segment was the worst hit during the last two years. Education institutes were last to
resume back to normal. How did they survive? VC was the only tool the teachers had to be in touch
with the students for their educational needs.
Today the market dynamics have changed. It's the reverse now. Today the clients are upfront asking
for technology advancement, and they are educated for their needs.
Analysis of the Video-conferencing market
There is an increase in the number of meeting rooms calling for cloud-based VC
solutions in every room. Pie chart shows dominance of Zoom in this segment.
The common resistance to technological solutions by the teaching staff has been converted to the
institute's demands.
According to the statistics, 79% of workers think video conferencing is at the same level or more
productive than in-person meetings. (Owl Labs 2020). 97% of remote workers would like to work
remotely at least some of the time for the rest of their careers (Buffer 2021). The web and video
conferencing market increased 500% in the first two months of the COVID-19 pandemic. (TrustRadius
2021).
The manufacturers are working on VC to upgrade the features, inclusion of AR, VR and AI becoming
common to make it an immersive experience to take it to the next level.