Indians most bullish on Video Conferencing: Cable&Wireless Worldwide Study

According to a research conducted by Cable&Wireless Worldwide, the mission critical communications provider, Indians are most bullish on prospects of video conferencing (VC) becoming a "way of doing everyday business' with more than 70 per cent saying it will become a regular practice at workplaces this year. Currently, video conferencing (57 per cent) is the third most preferred method for communicating with clients, after face-to-face meetings (82 per cent) and email conversations (60 per cent) at Indian workplaces.

The emphasis on face-to-face communications appears stronger in Asia as compared to Europe. As high as 98 per cent respondents in India agreed that seeing a business contact is important while carrying out a significant business deal. Indians also believe that a face-to-face or a video conference with their bank manager, travel agent, or their insurance company, for instance, would be more impactful than an email or a telephone conversation.

C&W Worldwide's survey also revealed that a majority of Indians put in an extra effort into their appearance to make a good impression while taking part in a face-to-face or a video conference meeting with business associates. This figure was the highest amongst Indians (98 per cent) when compared to UK (90 per cent); Spain (94 per cent); Singapore (97 per cent) and Germany (90 per cent). Interestingly, Indian males (64.2 per cent) put in more effort to look good when compared to Indian women (55.6 per cent)!

Apart from the business angle, the survey also found that more than 54 percent of people in India would be happy to deal with their doctor or health provider on a video call, while 31 per cent would want to meet their employer over a VC!

"We conducted this survey in order to get a fair understanding of the direction video conferencing is headed globally. We are happy to see that Indians are extremely bullish about the technology," Commented Shali Thilakan, Managing Director, India, Cable&Wireless Worldwide. "In India, corporates at large are regular users of Video Conferencing today. Industry experts believe that in 2011-2012, we will see successes across business segments with large enterprises as well as small and medium businesses (SMBs) in various markets including telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, financial services and government sectors. There could be a considerable uptake in the media & entertainment vertical as well," remarked Shali on the potential for VC in India.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide provides telephone and video conferencing solutions, to large national and multi-national companies and government departments. It estimates that the use of managed video conferencing (MVC) saves customers at least 25 per cent on their travel costs. The number of video conferencing units being deployed to customers has increased by 34 per cent over the last 12 months. Internally, Cable&Wireless Worldwide uses video conferencing extensively, clocking up over 1.2 million ---minutes across the business in 2010 with usage increasing 36 per cent in the last six months alone.