In the global village that we live in today, travel for business is commonplace. Often, traveling for business is considered an unavoidable expense for many businesses, given the occasionally vast geographical distances between their branches. Many companies just regard it as part of the cost of doing business.
However, the cost involved in travel and accommodation, the time wasted in flight or on the road, and the hassle of coordinating trips can take a toll on businesses across the world. Fortunately, there is a better, more cost-effective way to communicate with employees, clients and customers, consultants, and business partners in far-flung areas: professional video conferencing.
In this post, we will delve into the top industries that stand to gain many benefits from secure video conferencing, should they choose to invest in this technology.
1. Telemedicine (Doctors and Hospitals)
The earliest form of telemedicine involved using telephones and radios to get health care, and in some cases emergency health care services, to patients in remote areas. However, this form of telemedicine did not have any visual component and was, therefore, limited in what it could achieve. The use of the most secure video chat available enables more effective doctor-to-patient and even doctor-to-doctor consultations to take place over vast distances, without sacrificing the protection of patient data that is required by HIPAA and other laws.
Such a setup of medical service delivery has plenty of benefits. Obviously, it allows patients in remote and rural locations to securely consult professional medical practitioners in the comfort of their homes, thereby reducing the need for outpatient visits. In the case of contagious diseases, secure video conferencing negates the risk of infection.
In a nutshell, there are plenty of benefits that medical practitioners gain from incorporating secure video chat into their service delivery tools. Doctors and hospitals can reach more patients, as well as diagnose and treat their patients at a cost-effective price point, which will reduce the overall cost of providing healthcare.
2. Legal
The legal field is another area that stands to benefit by embracing the most secure video chat available. The vast majority of the legal process, such as deposition and collection of witness testimonials and client meetings, involves one-on-one meetings. As such, this has traditionally required a person to interrupt their daily endeavors and go to the lawyers’ office, or for the lawyers to go to their clients' offices. As you can appreciate, this is a time-intensive endeavor that can also be costly.
By investing and using virtual meeting technology in the form of secure video chat, the legal fraternity can reduce the cost associated with rendering services. For instance, attorneys can get rid of high travel expenses by investing in advanced WebRTC video conferencing software and solutions. This also makes legal collaboration and consultations easier to arrange and much simpler to execute.
Lawyers and law firms stand to find many benefits should they choose to invest in this technology and associated services.
3. Education
By now, it should be obvious to all learning institutions that there is value in investing in e-learning solutions. Investing in webinars and distance-learning video conferencing for online learning purposes should be a priority for educational institutions, especially those in higher ed.
Offering e-learning allows institutions to expand their reach to the global stage in a very cost-effective manner. The cost associated with taking 10 students through an online program does not vary greatly from the cost associated with taking 100 students through the same program, owing to the economies of scale and lower additional costs.
From the students’ perspective, they gain access to a high-quality education that meets their needs and desires, while being able to self-pace their progress to match their lifestyle and schedule. For instance, busy parents looking to advance their education will undoubtedly feel more comfortable learning from the comforts of their home without having to travel to a school or classroom.
Video conferencing for education is a win-win for both learning institutions and students. It goes without saying, then, that educational institutions should focus more on using secure video chat as one of their main tools.
Seemingly, video conferencing for education is a win-win for both learning institutions and students. It goes without saying then that educational institutions should focus more on using secure video chat as one of their main tools.
4. Human Resources
Many human-resources specialists have been quick to accommodate video chat as a communications tool. Studies show that video conferencing is the third most popular communications tool after emails and voice calls. As such, many in the HR field already appreciate and understands the benefits of video chat.
That said, video interview software as an HR tool has been seriously underutilized. While many human-resources managers and specialists utilize video conferencing for things like meetings, there is huge untapped potential in conducting interviews via video chat. Video conferencing will reduce the time and monetary costs associated with recruiting and managing talent.
5. Behavioral Health
Although the use of video chat in behavioral health can be considered as part of telemedicine, given the unique services of psychiatrists and psychologists, it should be discussed on its own merits. There are plenty of benefits of telemental health – the use of secure video conferencing technologies by psychologists and psychiatrists. According to the Cambridge University journal, telemental health has utility in various clinical areas like suicide risk assessment, mental health assessment, psychological assessment, as well as use in a forensic setting. Moreover, there are also tangible other benefits, such as providing service delivery to patients in remote areas. Once again, in order to best protect clients' sensitive data, only the most secure video chat technology should be considered.
6. Financial Services (Banking, Insurance, Securities)
With each passing year, more money is being invested in fintech (use of technology in financial services) as more customers turn to digital banking. This has meant that a majority of people are opting to bank on their mobile devices, rather than walking into physical bank branches. Video chat is uniquely positioned to improve the way banks and insurance companies operate. For instance, banking institutions can use secure video conferencing for face-to-face online banking, especially when dealing with high-level customers where a personal touch is needed.
In the same light, banking, insurance, and other institutions dealing with securities can use remote video chat to improve their customer-service delivery and improve overall customer satisfaction. This has the added benefit of using video chat for collaboration with other banks or insurance companies, and to communicate with remote branches.
With the continuous development and improvement of secure video-chat technology, especially on the efficiency and security fronts, these six industries stand to gain much by investing in and making maximum utility of video conferencing as we move into the future. However, in many instances, particularly when client/patient data is involved, only the most secure video chat solutions should be considered.
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