There’s no denying the necessity of video conferencing. Ever since the pandemic began, the need for video communications has continued to grow, with many platforms becoming household names.

As technology continues to advance, it can be hard to predict what new trends will emerge. But by looking at how the marketplace has grown over the past few years, we can spot some key trends and see why they’re only going to get bigger in 2023.

1. Video calls for hybrid work environments

Video conferencing was a necessity when everyone was working from home, but now that people are starting to return to the office, will it remain just as important?

Yes, absolutely.

Many employees will continue to work from home, and others may return to the office, but hybrid work isn’t going anywhere. Video conferencing remains essential for businesses with remote and hybrid employees (those who split their time between the office and working remotely), so even those who are back to working in the office still need video conferencing solutions to meet with employees who are remote.

That also means that video conferencing needs features to support workers on-the-go, so all the meeting functionalities should work just as well on mobile devices as they do on computers and laptops. 

2. Ease of use

Do you remember the old days of video meetings? Just joining a meeting required everyone to download the conferencing software, set up an account, and of course, make sure that the person they’re conferencing with had also done the same. If one participant used a different platform, or it wasn’t compatible with their devices, then they’d need to find another solution. Then once the meeting started, you’d need to enter a meeting code, sometimes enter a PIN as well, and then wait to be allowed in. 

It’s a good thing those days are behind us.

Most modern video conferencing solutions are designed for ease of use, and vendors whose aren’t are quickly learning that they need to catch up. Functionality to improve ease of use includes:

  • Accessibility across devices, including computers, mobile devices (iOS and Android), and tablets,
  • One-click meetings that can be launched from a calendar link,
  • The ability to join meetings from a web browser without needing to download or install any software.

If joining a conferencing isn’t quick and convenient, users will move to a platform that is. In fact, many video conferencing vendors are working on making their platforms more interoperable with other vendors’ platforms. Enabling meeting attendees to join a meeting from their platform of choice improves the user experience. 

3. Gamification and interactive features

“Video fatigue” is real. While video conferences are great for helping employees, managers, and teams meet and connect from anywhere, it can be draining to spend multiple hours a week in video meetings and constantly on-camera. On top of that, meetings can quickly get monotonous, and it’s easy to zone out.

Gamification helps address these concerns by adding immersive and interactive elements to video meetings.

Interactivity can be as simple as adding emoji reactions, enabling attendees to send a quick thumbs-up or smiley face when someone presents good news. However, gamification takes this a step further by adding in activities that require attendees to pay attention, while keeping things interesting, and even fun.

This can include little things like quizzes and polls, or even “bingo” games based on buzzwords or phrases brought up during calls. Meeting attendees will have to pay attention to the meeting if they want to “win,” but it creates more active engagement for everyone involved. And it’s easier to remember the latest announcements brought up at the end of the meeting if they help you score a bingo.

And with virtual reality (VR) becoming more accessible, we’re also seeing meetings move to the VR space. This opens new opportunities for interactivity and gamification; a company’s all-hands meeting is a lot more engaging when everyone is sitting around Camelot’s round table. (On a non-VR note, some companies are even using multiplayer games to hold meetings instead of a traditional video conferencing solution.) 

4. Artificial intelligence

AI continues to be a big part of modern communications, and it’s only growing bigger. For video conferencing, AI serves several purposes, both on-screen and behind the scenes. These include:

  • Background noise reduction and movement tracking
  • Identifying active speakers and placing them on-screen
  • Automatically transcribing the meeting and providing captions in real-time
  • Assistance with scheduling meetings
  • Saving and organizing meeting notes and summaries
  • Post-meeting analytics

Each of these features are designed to help make meetings easier and more productive. 

At the same time, the technology continues to develop, and we can expect to see more AI innovations down the line. While we currently have AI-powered captions during a call, we’re starting to see AI-powered translations to help users communicate across language barriers (although there may still be challenges with accents).

5. Customization and personalization

Everyone has their own preferences for video meetings, which is why many solutions now provide ways to adjust and personalize settings. This can be useful both in and out of the meetings themselves, depending on the features. 

Customization options for meetings can include custom backgrounds (or blurring backgrounds), voice modulation, and even the various ways of displaying participants on the screen.

Outside of the meetings themselves, users can set aspects like working hours (to avoid getting scheduled for meetings during their time off), waiting room music, and default settings.

Combined, these capabilities can help make meetings more comfortable and convenient for employees.

6. More robust organizer controls & features

As video conferencing solutions become more advanced and gain new features, admins and meeting organizers need more control over their meetings. This is why providers are developing more ways for meeting organizers to control important aspects of their meetings.

These kinds of controls can include setting time limits for meetings, adding virtual “waiting rooms,” muting and unmuting speakers, enabling various gamification features (as mentioned above), and so on.

Basically, when someone’s hosting a meeting, they should be able to control every meeting detail.

These are a few of this year’s hottest video conferencing trends, but as the technology continues to develop, there are bound to be more innovations that change the way we meet. If you’re looking for a new solution, make sure you find one with the capabilities your employees need to hold great meetings.



from UC Today https://ift.tt/cikmEP8