It is becoming an increasingly common theme; the technical limitations of video conferencing and unified communications are going down, but companies could do significantly more in terms of standardising and getting employee buy-in.

This is the latest finding from West Unified Communications, an online video maker company, whose survey data of more than 230 US employees, reveals less than a quarter (23%) of those polled are using paid, enterprise-grade video conference systems compared to 70% using the likes of Skype and FaceTime.

The research reveals organizations are more likely to choose video conferencing for internal communication as opposed to external. 58% of respondents use it for internal meetings with employees, 50% use it for meetings with supervisors, while only 34% and 21% respectively say it is used for sales calls and employee interviews.

Despite this however, the benefits of video conferencing are clear, according to the researchers. Almost three quarters (73%) admit they are more attentive and engaged in video calls compared to audio, and 82% said they make more of an effort for a video call.

“Similar to trends around mobile conferencing, video is quickly becoming a must have resource, whether workers and their employers are ready or not,” wrote Dennis Collins, West Unified Communications senior director of marketing in a company blog post. “Organizations that fail to fully support video-based solutions from an IT and broader change management perspective are leaving untapped productivity on the table.”

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