Will this dongle change what I do?
15 June 2010
A while ago I received a new broadband dongle cited as being a ‘super fast; work anywhere experience’. Excellent I thought; my first test will be a video call into our boardroom to see what sort of quality of experience will be had by both parties.
To my surprise it actually worked really well; and the thought of just being able to take part in a video meeting without having to be tethered to a WiFi hotspot does open up possibilities.
However we are creatures of habit, and most meetings (in person or via video) will typically be pre-appointed. This is backed up by a recent study by Wainhouse Research® which states impromptu video meetings are not the pervasive communications driver but rather structured well equipped video meetings are valued. This probably reflects the general shift towards extended offline communications, whereby we generally text, chat and tweet our status and keep in touch in new ways.
Integrating rich presence with smartphones is far more valuable to a dynamic workforce than video capability. Knowledge and subject matter can be shared and discussed over a period of days or even weeks, building to a crescendo which normally provokes a formal meeting (video or otherwise). So apart from the novelty value I’m not sure it will change what I do; … although I must say the extra speed is great when browsing the Internet.
Ed Humpleman
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