Modern Business Looks More Like Star Trek Every Day

If you think about the old television days of the original Star Trek, you will remember how any time the Enterprise would have an encounter with another spaceship, Captain Kirk would want the communication with the opposing captain to be put up on the screen.

This idea of video conferencing seemed so far out there at the time. It seemed so far into the future. There was a form of audio conferencing in place, where executives could sit around a speaker phone and chat with other executives who were far away, but the idea of teleconferencing was science fiction. Today, of course, that is no longer the case.

By the year 2020, it is estimated that half of all conference rooms will be video enabled. This means that more and more video conference calls will be taking place all over the world. The idea of seeing a person or a group of people in a live conference will no longer be science fiction but an everyday occurrence.

Audio conferencing certainly has its merits and will probably never go away. If you are talking about sensitive information, for example, you might not want to do video conferencing because those on the other end might be able to see the way you are reacting. Audio conferencing might be better in that situation.

When it comes to teleconferencing, it is much more than conference room to conference room. Many workers are getting the opportunity to work from home now because their jobs can be done, at least in part, over the airwaves. Global Workplace Analytics has found that 50% of the workforce in the United States hold a job that is compatible with at least partial telecommuting. If furnished with the proper av software, many employees can do their work from home and actually be much more efficient.

In addition to being able to work from home, the advances in audio conferencing and video communication help connect workers to one another all across the globe. When a company has offices in several places around the world, audio conferencing and video conferencing helps connect the employees. More than 90% of employees in big companies believe that they are more connected with their fellow workers because of the advances that have been made in the world of communication.

It might be quite a while before we have the technology that allows us to “beam up” to some other location for a quick meeting. For now, we’re going to have to settle for video conferencing. But, when you think about it, it wasn’t very long ago when the idea of watching a video presentation live from 2,000 miles away was science fiction.

Now, it is a great deal more than science fiction; it is the reality of the workplace. Who knows what the future may bring. What is certain is that it is only going to get brighter.