Implementation of Video Conferencing Increases Rapidly in Australia

Australia is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, currently ranked 13th in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) internationally. Many global industry leaders have set up offices in the country and make use of high end conferencing solutions to liaise with their geographically isolated offices. The sophisticated conferencing services, consisting of audio, video, web conferencing and telepresence, help such firms in working closely with their offices, located within the country as well as outside it. The effectiveness of video conferencing and telepresence can be judged by the sales figures of the hardware itself. In a bid to deploy high end communication solutions in their offices, organisations located in the APAC region have acquired equipment worth USD 246 million. This represents an annual growth of 40 per cent, as per data released by Synergy Research Group. Companies like Cisco, Huawei and Polycom have been at the forefront of this growth. According to reports, these three conference service providers sell 25 per cent each of the total video conferencing and telepresence equipment sold in the APAC region. They give tremendous competition to each other, with the all three exchanging the pole position in consecutive quarters. Currently Cisco leads in terms of sales volumes, in APAC region as well as throughout the globe. This lead is primarily contributed to the wide vendor base of the company, which provides Cisco's proprietary conferencing solutions throughout the globe at competitive prices. Continuously advancing technologies, steadily lowering costs, focus on increasing the efficiency of high level management and emphasis on reducing operational costs are the key drivers of this growth in the deployment of conferencing products in Australia. Apart from high end, video-based telecommunication solutions like video conferencing and telepresence, Australian companies also rely on conventional web conferencing. This can be justified by its 40 per cent increase in the growth in APAC. According to professionals of Synergy Research Group, "To use a travel analogy, if using simple web-based conferencing technology is like taking a ride on a bus then using videoconferencing and telepresence room-based systems is like driving a Ferrari, which mostly limits users to executives and government ministers.” However, conference service providers will be able to provide these solutions to the masses with advancements in technology. Synergy's researchers envision a future where video conferences can be rendered as a cloud-based application. This would drastically bring down the costs of deploying such high end solutions and allow small, medium and large sized businesses to implement these at all levels of their hierarchy. Teleconferencing has not taken a back seat either amidst the development of electronic telecommunication modes. Most of the organisations based in Australia still rely on audio conferencing to liaise with their business associates as these are affordable and highly effective. Conferencing has become one of the most important tools for Australian organisations looking to cut their carbon emissions and earn valuable carbon credits, in line with the national mission. Therefore, such growth statistics should not come as a surprise to any telecommunication expert working in Australia or observing the national market.