Study: Three Of Four Companies To Have Videoconferencing In Two Years

Increased adoption will be driven by reduced operating costs, improved decision making and improved communication, according to the Vernon Hills, Ill.-based solution provider.

"[It] will branch out beyond simple peer-to-peer devices into more cutting-edge collaborative video conferencing systems, such as immersive telepresence," the company said in a statement.

The report found that about half of all companies use some form of videoconferencing today and another quarter plan to implement within two years, the company said.

"Companies see videoconferencing as a great tool to collaborate remotely while cutting travel costs. Without videoconferencing, you had to plan travel and pay all of the associated costs to get quality face-to-face time with a client," said Christine Holloway, CDW vice president of converged infrastructure solutions. "Now, at a moment's notice, you can have the same benefits of that meeting, without any of the travel planning and at a reduced cost over time. However, IT managers must still take a few key steps to prepare for a successful implementation."

Today, desktop and multisite meeting rooms represent the main videoconferencing implementations, but IT managers are showing increasing interest in full telepresence, according to CDW.

"Within the next two years, almost half of those surveyed indicate that they plan to implement immersive telepresence, which uses high-definition, life-size images to simulate an in-person meeting, from the experience of entering a conference room to the sensation of being at the same table with users spread across multiple locations," according to the company's statement.

Diving deeper, CDW found that companies implementing videoconferencing took the following steps to ease the implementation:

-- 69 percent completed a network assessment;

-- 66 percent changed or upgraded their IT networks to handle videoconferencing;

-- 54 percent purchased managed conferencing services;

-- 44 percent built and manage their own conferencing infrastructures;

-- 32 percent use free conferencing software.

The survey's respondents also said that an inability to justify the investment is the biggest barrier they face, despite the fact that more than half of the respondents have the ability to track a return on their investment. Further, 62 percent of the companies tracking ROI can chart their travel cost savings.

"The ROI disconnect prevents many companies from implementing videoconferencing successfully," said Holloway, in the statement. "Executive decision makers need to see the bottom line to determine whether implementing the technology is worth it, and in most cases the value of videoconferencing is easily demonstrated."