Using Video for Business

Businesses have been using video for business for decades now. Common uses have included: training videos, new employee orientation videos, product demonstrations, commercials, and coverage of important corporate events such as annual parties and fundraisers. Today, video for business continues to be popular. However, there’s a new wrinkle: video for unified communications.
What is Video for Unified Communications?
Modern business video solutions often incorporate video for unified communications, allowing employees to collaborate face-to-face in real time despite geographical differences. Unified communications integrates various communication services such as voice, email, fax, text messaging, and video into a single communications platform. With video for unified communications, users can see and hear one another via webcams and microphones. Depending on the media platform being used, support for mobile devices may also be available.
Common Uses for Video for Business Today
Businesses continue to use video as they have used it in the past. That is, they record training videos, produce orientation videos and product demonstrations, create commercials and other marketing messages, and document corporate events. Now that online video and video for unified communications have entered the mix, businesses have even more ways to use video for business (Source: unified video communications from MediaPlatform). Below are a few ways that modern businesses communicate via video:

• Video sales presentations – Sales professionals often use real-time video collaboration tools and webinars to conduct virtual sales presentations with prospects.
• Online brainstorming and collaboration sessions – Sharing concepts and bouncing ideas off of one another is much easier when the collaborators can see and hear each other. In a unified environment, not only can collaborators use webcams to connect, they can send files, share screens, enter comments, and more all from within a unified platform.
• Virtual meetings with partners, suppliers, and contractors – Need to explain the bidding process to bidders? Want to touch base with your partners? Need to negotiate a better deal with a vendor? Video conferencing is a great way to conduct a virtual meeting with participants from various locations.
• Legal proceedings – Attorneys regularly use video for business to hold depositions and interview expert witnesses.
• Customer service – Some companies have added video for unified communications to their call centers, allowing agents to deliver customer service in a far more engaging and personal manner.

Video for business has evolved, allowing for robust, face-to-face communications despite geographic boundaries.
Author Byline: Mark Phillips is an IT expert and works part-time teaching at his local community college. For a quick understanding of how video improves corporate communication, view this infographic through this link: http://www.mediaplatform.com/site/2013/07/video-improves-corporate-communications-infographic/