VIDEOCONFERENCING

George Jetson, a character in the 1970s cartoon, was not
terribly futuristic when he used his telephone that enabled
him to see the person to whom he was talking. Videoconferencing,
as it is known today, has been under development
in the research labs at Pacific Bell since the 1920s.
The project, referred to as picturephone, is in the form of
a desktop videoconferencing system. Videoconferencing
rooms have been in existence at AT&T since the 1960s,
where they are used to support large corporate meetings,
including the annual shareholder’s meeting.
It was not until the 1964 World’s Fair that the picturephone
was introduced to the public. AT&T predicted
that the picturephone would replace the telephone by
1970. Although that prediction was wrong, the recession
of the 1970s created a wider acceptance of videoconferencing
by corporations that were looking for alternative
ways to conduct meetings and conferences while cutting
travel costs. Videoconferencing was not successful at that
time, however, because the technology needed to attain
personalized meetings was lacking.
With technology becoming more affordable and economically
justifiable, practical and profitable applications
of teleconferencing have gained popularity in the business
world. With increasing competition and the need for faceto-
face contact with customers, videoconferencing has
become more popular because it allows face-to-face interaction
without wasting travel time. Teleconferencing also
allows team meetings without the need to travel hundreds
of miles.
WHAT IS TELECONFERENCING?
The earliest form of teleconferencing was the telephone
conference call, in which several parties in various parts of
the world could simultaneously hold a conversation. Businesspeople
could talk with each other while sending and
receiving faxes to provide a hard copy of the information
being discussed. Today computer technology allows for
synchronous, or simultaneous, sharing of data through
four means: voice, video, digital whiteboard, and data
files.
Several parties are able to share not only voice but
also a live camera image of themselves while they talk. The
size of the image can be shrunk to occupy only a small
portion of the computer monitor or large display screen so
that a data file can be accessed, displayed, and edited on
the monitor at the same time.
Individuals participating in the conference call have
the option of sharing and working with data files from
either party’s computer. While verbally discussing changes
within the document and observing each other’s body language,
either party can edit the document and give immediate
feedback. The digital whiteboard provides an

758 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION
Videoconferencing
electronic version of the dry erase board mounted on the
wall. While viewing each other’s actions via the computer
monitor, individuals can also write on each other’s whiteboard
with special markers in the color of their choice.
This allows professionals to make decisions and solve
problems on the spot.
VIDEOCONFERENCING AND
BUSINESS
This type of communicating enables people to work from
their home via satellite, which increases family and/or personal
time while reducing time spent commuting. It is
estimated that in 1999 between 8 million and 15 million
of the 120 million U.S. employees worked at home and
communicated with their offices and customers using a
computer and telephone lines. The number of telecommuters
in America was expected to double by 2005.
A business environment requires most corporate
employees to collaborate on a routine basis. Videoconferencing
allows for face-to-face planned as well as
impromptu meetings of workers who are separated by several
thousand miles.
Sales presentations are an example of a profitable and
easily justified business use of videoconferencing. When
conducting the sales presentation at the customer’s location,
a sales representative with videoconferencing equipment
on a laptop computer can connect the customer
with specialists back at the company’s offices to answer
specific questions about the product being demonstrated.
This allows greater specialization, with the salesperson
focusing on closing the sale and the specialists focusing on
the technical aspects of the product. The salesperson is
able to view the customer’s body language and ask the specialist
for clarification on customer objections or questions.
The customer feels a sense of security by being able
to see the individual instead of merely hearing a voice.
Another business application of videoconferencing is
the ability to train people without actually traveling to
another location. Companies can provide more frequent
training to their employees in distant locations for less
cost.
The Northrop Grumman Corporation implemented
extensive teleconferencing for its 45,000 employees by setting
up one hundred Team Communications Centers
(TCCs) (teleconferencing rooms) at their offices across
the United States. The TCCs are equipped with large digital
whiteboards and projector screens. Groups of employees
or managers from two or more locations collaborate
on, discuss, and edit documents as though they were all in
the same room, saving both time and money. The corporation
identified airfare savings in 1998 of $150,000.
These savings did not include hotels, meals, overtime, or
incidentals.
VIDEOCONFERENCING AND
EDUCATION
Teleconferencing can bring more educational choice and
excellence to remote schools with small student bodies.
Specialized courses that individual schools could not offer
because of cost or limited student interest can be shared
by several schools to provide cost efficiency. Flexibility in
scheduling classes to meet either an individual student’s or
a group of students’ need is another major advantage.
Many universities offer courses over the Internet or
by means of other teleconferencing capabilities. Known as
distance learning, this technology enables thousands of
students to take college classes without leaving their community
or, in many cases, their home.
The nature of videoconferencing often requires
distance-learning classes to present more class material,
use better visuals, and show greater preparation of the
teaching materials than traditional classes. These classes
also hold students more accountable for their own learning.
A major drawback for some students is that they must
still attend classes (virtually) at preset times and progress
at the pace set for the course.