Video Killed the Telephone Call
Novelty. Habit. Routine. It’s the daily reinvention of life. Something that is novel today inevitably becomes routine. And so it goes with businesses too. The novel ways of doing things eventually catch on and become the norm, especially when the climate is ripe for change. One need only consider how business communications have evolved in the few short months since COVID-19 arrived on the scene. As people transitioned from working in the office to working from home, they needed new communication tools more readily adaptable to their new work realities. Hence the mass adoption of unified communications. In March alone, it’s estimated that individuals had spent 500 million minutes using one such unified communications tool – Microsoft Teams. By May, usage of Teams had exploded to 5.7 billion minutes. What I find most interesting about this is how attitudes have shifted. Personally, I had always shied away from video calls, having always preferred face-to-face contact with customers and colleagues. But now, as an ardent daily user of Microsoft Teams, I find it almost uncomfortable when I’m speaking with someone and they have their video camera off – are they listening? How are they reacting? Since diving into my new work-at-home reality in early March, I’ve virtually visit over a hundred different customers and I have come to realize that I can indeed have high touch, high value personal interactions, even if they’re not in-person. Being able to video conference is a close second to actually being there, and definitely miles better than simply talking on the phone. In fact, compared to the time I’ve spent on Microsoft Teams, I’ve hardly used my mobile phone for business over the last several months. So, has video really killed the telephone call? Well I guess that remains to be seen. But what I do know is – it takes an average of 66 days to form a habit and we’ve been in lockdown for over four months. During this time, video calls have gone from being a novelty to becoming the norm. Long gone are the days of desk phones tethered to fixed lines. As lockdown eases, we are beginning to see a hybrid mode of working emerge. The surge in video calls will more than likely led to remote workers using this method of communication back at the office. Wherever the next year takes us, it’s clear to me that virtual meetings via video calls are going to be an integral part of the new normal. In the regulated financial market space, however, this new normal has significant compliance implications. Conducting virtual meetings, as opposed to in-person ones, requires a different approach to remain compliant as firms need to record and surveil regulated employee communications. This, of course, applies to video calls as well. At NICE we understand these challenges. That’s why we’ve developed a single go-to solution that can capture, store, search and replay any trade and compliance-related communication regardless of its modality. Want to learn more? I invite you to click on a link below:
About the Author
Matthew Caine
Having worked for NICE for over 10yrs, and outcomes based software sales for over 20yrs, Matt has been instrumental in leading various teams through transition and a consultative based business approach. For the last couple of years Matt has lead the EMEA Communications Compliance business unit focusing on assisting organisations that are subject to Financial Regulations enhance and optimise their compliance operations across all communications platforms.
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