Video Conferencing: A Complete New Digital Era amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

Video Conferencing: A Complete New Digital Era amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe has compelled mankind to stay at home. Stringent lockdown and social distancing measures by the regulatory bodies have given rise to work-from-home initiatives by a large number of companies. Video conferencing is playing a crucial role in helping people communicate with each other and share significant information, thereby enhancing productivity and decreasing operational costs. A newly published report by mentions that the global video conferencing market is projected to reach USD 6.37 billion by 2026. 

What are the Benefits of Video Conferencing?

  • Easy-to-use: The users just have to schedule a meeting, invite their co-workers, and begin the conference right away. The interface is user-friendly and doesn’t require any additional skills.
  • Time Saver: The users will be able to communicate with their remote colleagues right from the luxury of their living rooms or meeting rooms. Video conferencing software solutions save time and money. 
  • Safety: Software developers nowadays use encryption, proprietary protocols, and specialized codecs to create unique software solutions. These provide safety and security to the users’ confidential data. 
  • Collaborations: Novel software solutions are equipped with numerous collaboration tools, namely, instant messaging, screen & content sharing, and slideshow. They enable several users to join an individual project and brainstorm ideas. 

Corporate Affairs Ministry Allows Organizations to Conduct AGM through Video Conferencing

In May 2020, the Corporate Affairs Ministry of India declared that it approved the organizations to conduct annual general meetings (AGMs) throughout 2020 by using video conferencing owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The nationwide lockdown has disrupted the ministry, as well as the economic activities. This decision will help the corporate companies to hold their AGMs within 6 months from the end of a year. Besides, they are required to submit a window to the shareholders to register their mandate. It will be done to transfer dividends through the Electronic Clearing Service (ECS).  

Airtel Launches BlueJeans Video Conferencing App to Take on Zoom & JioMeet

Airtel, a global telecommunications services firm headquartered in India, debuted BlueJeans, its latest video conferencing app in the country in July 2020. The main aim behind the launch was to take on the pre-existing apps, such as Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, JioMeet, and Zoom. The company joined hands with Verizon based in the United States to develop this app for its Indian customers.

The company stated that this new app includes high-grade security that will protect users from unwanted participants and end-user privacy. It also consists of authentication options, such as participant passcodes, secure storage & transmission, randomized meeting IDs, meeting lock, and fraud detection. You can add up to 50,000 participants in a single call.

Vamsi Kurama Introduces Libero, an Alternative to Zoom App

In July 2020, Vamsi Kurama, an alumnus of Aditya Engineering College invented Libero, a suitable alternative to Zoom video conferencing app. Vamsi created this app backed by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s video-conferencing challenge to discover an alternative to Zoom that would be much safer.  Vamshi bagged an award of 15 lakh from the Union Ministry of IT for replacing Zoom efficiently.

JioMeet Showcases 5 Million Downloads on Launch Day

In July 2020, Mukesh Ambani, the Chairman of Reliance Industries Limited announced that JioMeet, the company’s first ever cloud-based video conferencing app exhibited more than 5 million downloads right on the day of its launch. The app features unlimited free calling service and is considered to be a rival of Zoom. It supports HD video and audio calls with around 100 users. Apart from that, it consists of numerous novel features, such as meeting schedule and screen sharing.   

Google Meet Introduces New Safety Feature for Education Meetings

Google stated in July 2020 that its video conferencing app, Google Meet will now support blocking of anonymous users for ‘Education’ meetings. This new feature will surge the privacy of educational meetings taking place in the app. Many schools and colleges have started conducting online classes via several video-conferencing apps since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and Google Meet is one of them. As per the company, ‘zoombombing’ or interruptions of classes by pranksters has become a crucial issue that needed immediate action. Hence, it decided to introduce this feature to keep away miscreants.

The Road Ahead

The future of video conferencing promises more than high-quality, reliable calls. Many vendors are persistently striving to bring about innovative capabilities and features in their solutions to boost the productivity of meetings. The introduction to artificial intelligence (AI) is making it possible for them to launch new apps equipped with real-time translations and transcriptions. Similar other technological advancement would further refine the overall system in the coming years.

Swati