High-quality secure video conferencing experiences are increasingly important for end-user productivity. With more users working from home and turning on video, IT must ensure company networks can handle the load. Just as importantly, meeting rooms often need to support Zoom video conferencing as well Microsoft Teams video conferencing, as collaboration between in-office and remote users is the new normal and users require both.
The Need for Video Conferencing
By 2024, remote work and changing workforce demographics will impact enterprise meetings. Only 25% will take place in person, down from 60% today.
Challenges of Teleconference
The growing popularity of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and video conferencing in general is driving increased usage of room systems in organizations. These room systems exponentially increase support needs and associated costs.
Common Challenges with Video Conferencing Solutions:
- Multi-platform Management: Modern organizations typically use multiple videoconferencing solutions, such as Zoom video conferencing & Teams video conferencing and require a central management solution.
- Actionable Meeting Room Analytics: Are rooms over capacity? What rooms should be upgraded? Actionable insights are key to continuous improvement of the meeting room experience.
- Integrating Software and Hardware: Videoconferencing solutions and meeting rooms are complicated. They require the perfect connection between hardware and software, typically from different vendors.
- Inherited Video Conferencing Technologies: Organizations need tools to deal with legacy technologies while still meeting end-user expectations of a modern conferencing experience.
- Room System Troubleshooting: If there's an issue with a meeting room, IT needs to know. Troubleshooting guidance is important, especially when working across multiple systems like Zoom Rooms, Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR), and Skype for Businesss Room Systems (SRS).
- Room System Security: What is the best way to manage admin access to your platforms and monitor the integrity of meeting recordings? Ensuring secure video conferencing is key.
The Future of Remote Work
According to a recent study conducted by Nemertes Research, a whopping 90.6% of companies have employees working fully remote because of the pandemic – an increase from 63.2% pre-COVID-19. Almost overnight, companies had to send hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of employees to home offices.
Employee Work Habits Changed To:
71.8%
WFH Full-Time
(an approximate 2x increase)
50.5%
WFH Part-Time
(an approximate 2.3x increase)
Working Home with Video Conferencing
Pre Covid-19 statistics showed over 70% of professionals conducted remote meetings or worked from home (WFH) for at least one day each week. However, in the wake of Covid-19, whole companies are working from home, and they’re doing so 100% of the time.
Learn more about what Unify Square and our PowerSuite software and managed services are doing to empower enterprise IT to manage complex work-from-home scenarios with their videoconferencing solutions.
The Upside to this Quick Transition
This rapid transition to remote work showed a low impact on daily functions. Businesses reported that they experienced a number of benefits:
1.
Better employee quality of life (59%)
2.
Better environmental impact (42.7%)
3.
Reduced employee turnovers rates (32.8%)
4.
More productive employees (28%)
5.
Cost savings (24.9%)
The downside to this
quick transition
More Challenges for IT
Beginning in early-March, the world experienced an unprecedented shift to working from home. This resulted in two significant transformations. First, organizations suddenly found themselves with the need to deploy video conferencing solutions on a massive scale. Second, the threat of video conferencing security dangers quickly became a top issue in the UC world.
Caught Unprepared
And in many cases, the UC Platforms was not ready.
The Importance of Secure Video Conferencing
With an expected 40% of businesses maintaining a remote structure post COVID-19, secure video conferencing is a higher priority as we transition back to a semblance of normality. The key elements of security for video conferencing monitoring can be broken down into three areas:
Pre-Call Settings and Policies
The difference between a “Zoom-Bomb” or an exposed chat thread and a secure video conferencing meeting, is as simple as checking a few boxes in the settings.
Call Data Transmission
Data transmission is the most vulnerable area of security. In the wrong hands, the video conference stream can turn into a private surveillance camera.
Post Call Archiving
Information from these virtual meetings could be sensitive, so data storage needs to be secure and separate from all other networks.
Video Conferencing Security Loopholes
Security Settings
Each UC platform comes with its unique list of security settings. Keeping track of these settings becomes even more difficult as they’re constantly being updated. How do you navigate the complexity and ensure a consistent experience across multiple platforms?
Polices
For emerging technologies, the conventional IT impulse is to lock down/discourage adoption until the organization fully understands the risks. However, the adoption of new features isn’t just a security decision anymore.
Phishing
Apart from exploiting security bugs, cybercriminals have other attack vectors when it comes to collaboration. These phishing attacks include stealing credentials and delivering malware payloads through links and attachments, just like email.
Recordings Exposure
Any number of different security misses can inadvertently make recordings public. Lack of complex password or default password requirements and nonexistent policy regarding recordings could lead to data leakage.
Both IT and end users need to keep a core list of security best practices in mind for both Zoom video conferencing and Teams video conferencing. This renewed and hyper-vigilant form of digital workplace dexterity is essential.
Monitor &
Track Metrics
Deploy
Policies
Protect & Verify
Meeting Links
Don't Share Personal IDs
Authenticate & Track Users
Control Screen Sharing
Disable Join Before Host
Use Waiting Rooms
Avoid File Sharing
Double Check Confidentiality
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Videoconferencing solutions have increased expectations for productivity gains and always-on reliability. Especially with so many companies new WFH policies, IT teams are now responsible for planning, deploying, and maintaining a multifaceted stack of unified communications and workstream collaboration platforms. Our unified communications experts have been busy honing their skills to cover the video conferencing solutions arena so that you don’t have to. Take a look at our Signature Consulting Services Datasheet to see how we can help your virtual meeting platforms be successful and secure. Learn More Here.
