Video Conference -- Ready for Small Business?
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Video conferencing is the new hot topic in business communications. Face it
-- the Internet is already old-hat! Anybody can put up a webpage, but can your
company communicate face-to-face across the miles?
While video conferencing technology has come a very long way in the past two
years, many might say it is still "not ready for prime time" -- unless
you have a significant budget for purchasing top-of-the-line equipment and
super-fast data lines.
While smaller, less powerful and lower quality systems are available, for
good-quality video conferencing, you should count on spending about $30,000 in
initial equipment purchase, and at least $1500 per month for maintenance of a
T-1 line. Obviously, this will eliminate the small- to medium-sized business
from the market. Some video equipment vendors offer hardware designed for
64k/ISDN connections; however, this author can say from experience that a 64k
video connection is fuzzy, jerky, shows lips moving at a different rate than the
words are arriving, and will give you a headache. In my opinion, it is not worth
the investment required. Wait another year or two for prices on the really good
stuff to come down.
There are alternatives to establishing your own system. Many universities,
chambers of commerce, small business incubators, and communications companies
have established video-conference-centers-for-hire. If your company would
benefit from a weekly video conference with the branch office 250 miles away,
you might consider having the two staffs assemble at the local Chamber of
Commerce in each city every Thursday afternoon for a one-hour conference, at a
tiny fraction of the cost of setting up your own video conferencing capabilities
in the two offices.
Explore the possibilities in your area before making the decision to purchase
video equipment.
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