Video Calling Vs. Regular Calling: Why video is vastly superior

A few decades ago, the notion of tapping a glass screen a few times and being presented with a window into someone else’s living room thousands of miles away – in real-time – would’ve been strong science fiction. Today, it’s normal.

But just as video calling is beginning to gain traction in the private market, it seems as if friends and families use it to more of an advantage than businesses do. Video calling, no matter what it has become today, has always evolved on a scale that is conscious of its potential in business communications. Yet, despite that, many companies still retort to communicating through text or calls, both of which are incredibly behind the recent leaps in technology that video calling has made.

Sure, even just a few years ago, having the hardware and software to do video calling properly was expensive and inconvenient – and back then, the number of people you’d be able to call was quite low, as well. But that’s changed. Today, video calling isn’t just easy, it’s more convenient than calling over the phone – and here’s why.

Face-to-Face Communication Creates Greater Trust

As PGI.com points out, there’s the well-known statistics that over 90 percent of all communication is non-verbal – it’s less in the words we speak, and more in how we speak them, the facial expressions we make as we speak, the way our shoulders and back move as we’re talking, and the what our hands are up to as we’re telling a story or discussing a deal.

Speaking to someone over a high-quality video feed is almost like meeting them face-to-face – without the insane costs you have to take into consideration when you’re sitting in your office in New York and would like to meet up with a client in Zurich.

It’s not just that, though. Sixty-six percent of candidates prefer to be interviewed through video than over the phone, almost solely because speaking face-to-face helps them do better during the interview.

Video calling doesn’t just foster trust and communication between you and your potential employees or clients – it also builds a stronger bond with your current employees. Being in a video conference call during a meeting gives every single employee the opportunity to speak to you face-to-face, as it were, and it allows you to easily address individual employees in a more apt and appropriate fashion than if you were to call out to them from across a long table.

Furthermore, there’s the added benefit of an increased attention span. People are more likely to pay attention to what you have to say when what you have to say occupies their mind. On a call, it’s easy for people to drift off and doze off – not so much when you’re using video. 

Video Calling Is Much Easier than It Used to Be

People still compare video to audio and consider audio more practical – but that’s because audio communication has had over a century to develop its infrastructure. In just a few decades, video has become comparable in many ways – especially in the realms of security and efficiency. From simply calling someone with a video feed, video calling has become a way to share files and view them in real-time.

Hardware-wise, achieving high-quality video is much easier, as well. You can host a large conference call on any office computer, and send invite links to people on their laptops, smartphones, tablets and other devices – they can accept the invitation and join in without having to worry about performance issues or network troubles.

In terms of security, a premium video calling service like Blue Jeans is far superior to any free competitor. With advanced encryption, private and secured data centers and cloud-based file transferring, video calling can become a tool of interoperability for a business of any size without the worries of cyber-attacks or unsophisticated jabs at your privacy.

It’s Easier to Communicate over Video

Audio quality over the phone can be very tricky. Likewise, it can be difficult to explain exactly what you want someone to do through text, or with images. But when you can stream your own screen to show someone what it is you want them to do, or when you can rely on premium services to ensure your audio and video quality remains superb throughout a call, communication in a business – between its employees and the clients – becomes easier, and much less worrisome.

The Adoption Rate for Video Calling Is Still Rising

As Inc.com points out, audio is becoming obsolete – and video is rising up to the challenge. However, despite the fact that video calling is being adopted by many larger businesses for communication, there’s still the myth that it’s somehow not a practical option for small businesses.

Some businesses decide to rely on resource-intensive and unsafe free voice-over-IP services, putting the security and privacy of their business and themselves at risk – but the fact of the matter is, premium video calling services are both worth the buck, and much more convenient than they used to be.