With a more mobile workforce and a new generation of employees who are digital natives, web conferencing is becoming more and more popular within businesses. Employees are looking to communicate with colleagues in a more personal way, and they are turning toward mobile devices and web conferencing to do it.

A Decade of Web Conferencing Trends

In 2005, market analytics company Wainhouse Research began a decade-long study on web conferencing trends. They found that the use of video has not only become acceptable within a company, but also a technology that transforms the way organizations do business. Organizations now expect to be able to use some type of video within their platforms.

Of the 800 companies surveyed, a third responded that they used video and web conferencing at least 50 percent of the time. Forty-four percent of overall users looked to use video when web conferencing and turned to another service or stand-alone system only if video was not available.

While video web conferencing fluctuated throughout 2007 and 2008 – mostly due to low-quality video and over-hyped services – the increase in quality has led to an equal increase in use and user base. Millennials, many of whom have grown up with video technology, now expect video conferencing to be a part of collaborative services – and if it doesn’t exist, they will ask for it.

Mobile Web Conferencing with Video

With the continuing improvement in technology, many organizations are beginning to rely on remote team members. According to the study by Wainhouse Research, only 42 percent of employees could use mobile devices enabled for conferencing in 2013. Since then, that number has increased to 70 percent.

Fortunately, many web conferencing vendors created mobile clients early on, resulting in over half of respondents agreeing that web conferencing on a tablet is effective. With its larger screen, the tablet is the first choice of most employees, but many are also willing to use mobile phones for the same purpose.

More and more workers are working remotely from home or on the road. This is a benefit for businesses that are looking to expand their reach, but it is also one of the major driving forces behind web conferencing. In fact, most organizations surveyed were using web conferencing to increase communication between employees.

Some of the top web conferencing platforms include:

• Cisco’s WebEx
• Microsoft’s GoToMeeting
• Skype
• Microsoft’s Lync
• Google Hangouts
• join.me

Although the survey found that WebEx was at the top of the list for web conferencing platforms, Microsoft is working on rebranding their offerings. This includes an effort to show consumers that Lync is the business version of Skype.

Millennials and the remote workforce are looking to improve teamwork and interact with their colleagues visually. By using video in their web conferencing, businesses are improving internal relationships and increasing the value of their employees.