Online video chat apps are not only a great social tool, but they are becoming increasingly useful for businesses too. If you have been using them in your daily work or for important meetings, you have probably discovered this already. But there may be additional ways that your chosen piece of software can help both your work and personal life further in ways you haven’t realized. Here are just a few things you can begin to try out today:
- File Sharing
Gone are the days when sharing important documents meant waiting for an unreliable printer and then bringing them over to somebody else’s desk or mailing them. Even sending files through e-mail and clogging up somebody’s inbox isn’t required any longer. Many conferencing apps also come with cloud storage and file sharing options to allow ease of access to important documents for every member of a team, and even those outside of the team. One particularly useful feature is recording online sessions, saving them to the cloud storage, and sharing them later on. This means that people can not only check back on what was discussed during a meeting, but they can also catch up if they missed it without having to rely on somebody writing up a summary, saving time for everybody.
This extends beyond the work team and to other clients and customers as well. One function is playing a video or audio clip during a presentation, live streamed for all users to watch in real time with options for the meeting host to pause or speak over the clip if they wish to. This is a useful tool for large conferences, sales pitches, or lengthy talks as video clips serve a number of functions. They break up a monotonous meeting, bring back the attention of those whose minds have wandered, and improve pitches by making them more interesting and customers more likely to buy. They can be used in everything from new product launches to online job interviews. All they require is the video file to be uploaded to the software, which takes only a few mouse clicks with certain programs, and they can then be played during the presentation and even shared to other users.
- Use All of Your Devices
If you have only been using your program on your work computer or in the conference room, you may be missing out. More people are accessing meetings through their home computers, tablets, and even their smartphones so long as they have an internet connection, a webcam, and a microphone, which come as standards on practically every device today. Most conferencing software doesn’t require a download and can be accessed through a web browser with the right password. This opens up your options for attending conferences, catching up with colleagues, and accessing files from remote locations. If you haven’t yet tried using your software on your mobile device, give it a try to see how easy it is.
Alternatively, you could use it as a chance to work from home, saving travel expenses and improving your work/life balance. Forbes magazine estimates that 20 to 30 million people already telecommute at least once per week and advances to conferencing technology will only increase those numbers further. If you haven’t done so already, try using video communications apps such as BlueJeans to work from home and see how well it works out for you.
- Increase Team Communication
The key purpose of online meetings are not to replicate the board room but to bring clients and colleagues together across physical barriers. If you work with a remote team or wish to work from home more often, use your video apps to collaborate and work together on projects even if you can’t all be in the same room together. This is especially important if you are extroverted and prefer working in group situations but your location or situation doesn’t allow for it. However, this approach does still allow for the best of both worlds. People can work on their own without interruption when they need to while still coming together with the team to socialize or share their work at other times. Both are important in their own way. This way of working hasn’t been possible until now, but is becoming easier and more common every day thanks to online conferencing systems. People can even keep up with the team when they are on the move thanks to mobile apps.
These are just a few of the uses for conferencing apps beyond online conferences. There are more creative uses and solutions being thought up every day, which will only increase as technology improves and the use of online video feeds increases. Look into the different features and functions of your chosen app and you will see just how much it can benefit you, your business, and your colleagues.
