Impact of Video Conferencing across Diverse Sectors

Integrated communications have developed to the extent that deploying these in various professional environments has become feasible and cost effective. In Australia, these solutions are used to bridge geographical gaps and promote interaction. So far, integrated conferencing solutions have been quite successful in making live communication possible via small scale or enterprise grade software and hardware. Furthermore, new prospects for video conferencing have emerged with the development of handheld devices.

Nowadays, Australians rely on chat messengers, like Gtalk, Skype and Live Messenger, and specialised products, such as Cisco WebEx, to communicate with others. These solutions are used in education, healthcare, corporate, legal and media sectors to perform various functions. Integrated conferencing products effectively increase functionalities in the field, while lowering costs and reducing carbon footprint. With an integrated conference bridge, conferences can be initiated and managed effectively by moderators.

In the legal sector, courts have allowed the use of video, integrated conferencing for trials and testimonies, thus eliminating the need for parties to travel across the globe to attend hearings. Lawyers located in Perth can provide legal advice to their clients based in Melbou
e without leaving the confines of their offices. Brainstorming can be carried out via solutions that support whiteboarding.

Integrated communications have made a significant impact on the education sector, as distance learning becomes optimised via collaboration tools, webinars, webcasts and general conferencing tools. Moreover, virtual tours can be held over an Internet connection and guest lecturers can conduct classes virtually. Scholarship candidates and graduates can be awarded degrees and diplomas via electronic means. Educational research collaboration can be carried out irrespective of the location of researchers.

Medical and healthcare sectors have also benefited greatly from real-time telemedicine, wherein consultation and diagnosis can be carried out over a remote meeting. Simulated surgeries can be observed by several people who have access to the video conference via integrated conference bridge. This allows medical professionals to participate in realistic medical environments. Rendering healthcare in rural areas is now streamlined by video conferencing and unified communication.

Hearing impaired individuals who need to communicate via sign language can do so through integrated conferencing. Sign language translation via Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) has become quite popular among geographically isolated disabled people. Nowadays, several interpreters can translate sign languages of different countries like France, Spain, United Kingdom and USA, to facilitate communication between these individuals. Many interpreters even convert these languages to spoken forms, which is helpful in interviews and similar situations.

Today, more Australians are relying on conferencing for effective communication between people at different locations. Everyone is able to collaborate better while lowering costs as unified communication and integrated conferencing is increasingly adopted. Organisations that use integrated conference bridge can enjoy the most sophisticated collaborative features for conferencing. Telepresence has opened up the possibility for delivering a realistic environment to use conferencing for interviews, trainings and seminars.