The covid-19 pandemic has given a major boost to the use of real-time video conferencing in the business world. Conference calls using video chats are now a regular part of any company’s operations, as they had to transition most of their workforce to operate from remote places.
The number of video calls increased from 10 million to north of 200 million within three months in America. As the year progressed, the technology also advanced with the use of larger screens, high-quality cameras, and lightning-fast internet connections.
In this article, we are going to discuss some of the trending features that would shape the future of video conferencing software in the year 2021.
Browser-Based Conferencing
Several open-source developers have started coming up with video conferencing solutions that can be operated directly from the browsers. That means people would not have to wait to download any additional software or plugins on their computers. They can simply schedule a video call, join an ongoing conference, or start a video chat instantly with the click of a button on their web browsers.
Unified Communications
Companies need one point solutions for all of their business communications with their internal and external users. Therefore the software would need to provide different kinds of conferencing solutions, such as voice-only or chat only along with the video conference services.
Businesses would choose such software over the ones that do not offer all these features since they need maximum productivity from their workforce. That includes managing all forms of internal and external communications on the same platform.
Cloud-Based Hosting
Digital services from almost every industry are moving to cloud-based solutions, and video conferencing is not an exception to that. So whether it is an internal meeting between the team members or giving a presentation to a customer, businesses can use a cloud-based solution without worrying about hardware or software related hassles.
Using a cloud-based solution means that the company will not have to keep upgrading their hardware or software depending on the current requirements since the service provider will take care of that. Team members might often need to share documents or presentations before starting a video conference.
Cloud-based solutions will ensure that the employees can store and share the essential content from the same platform instead of having to rely on another one. Video conferencing software would also offer smart ways to manage the content so that the workforce finds it easier to search for them. That includes the ability to tag the content and search for files using keywords in the storage and chats.
Influence of Artificial Intelligence
The future of video conferencing is already influenced a lot by AI. There are several aspects of video conferencing that use AI in the present times, like controlling the video quality according to internet speed.
Experts expect video conferencing solutions to be able to use facial recognition, voice recognition, pose analysis, and gesture controls to operate several features by 2021. AI-based API synchronization also enriches the quality of video conferences. Experts have also said that AI-based solutions will be able to make video conferencing more accessible to people with disabilities.
Sign-in Integration
Since employees have to use so many solutions to complete their work from a remote location, companies will prefer the video conferencing services that allow sign-in integration. That means employees can access all the different solutions using the same user id and password assigned by the organization.
So whether they are logging in to their office management system, accessing their company email account, or using the video conferencing tool, they only need one set of sign-in ID and password to login to the system. Most companies have implemented the system for almost all of the existing services, which means they would prefer the video conferencing solutions that they can integrate into it.
Companies would also prefer video conferencing services that can get integrated with the employee’s smartphones. Team members might have to pick up a conference call or make one even when they are not at their desk. Therefore, video conference companies that also provide an app for smartphones will get preference over others.
More and more businesses are relying on video conferencing as a solution to their remotely controlled operations. With an increase in the demand for their services, the best companies that provide video conference services are watching the current trends and improving technology.
In the coming year, we can expect these companies to come up with newer and better solutions that can meet the future requirements of businesses all over the world.