In terms of the areas where it could be particularly useful to business; 70% believed business class video could improve conference and speeches and 61% felt employee training could be improved using business class video.

According to the research findings:

* Six in 10 respondents anticipate that the biggest change in South Africa in the next 10 years will be an increase in the number of people working remotely. Meanwhile, 71% of respondents believe business class video could help reduce travel and smooth out any issues related to telecommuting. In addition, the majority feel that business-class video will foster and reinforce relationships with dispersed colleagues.
* Respondents said business class video can improve conferences and speeches (70%), employee training (61%), internal communications (59%), customer service (59%), problem resolution during development and manufacturing (56%), the sales process (47%) and company sponsored events (35%).
* The features of business-class video that respondents found most relevant and useful to them included: making personal notes and capturing portions of presentations (64%), helping them engage more actively and providing subtitles in the case of language differences (56%), seamlessly shifting from HD video to a mobile device when having to leave a meeting (56%) the ability to discreetly control what the viewer sees (54%), the ability to quickly cut and edit a video recording to share it via social media (50%).
* There is little concern over the security of business-class video (only 7% of respondents felt it is not secure).

Conrad Steyn, product sales specialist: collaboration at Cisco, says: “Today, technology is making it easier to connect and collaborate with colleagues, partners, and customers in South Africa from any location and reliable, high-quality, interoperable video – as opposed to video that’s webcam-based, unreliable or incapable of scaling – will play a significant role in the collaboration mix.

“The Cisco research findings are in line with the changing mind set we have observed within South African enterprises. Whichever way you look at it, the sheer scope of video technology and its current application potential is breath-taking, particularly when it comes to the collaborative benefits it can deliver for South Africa both in and outside of the day-to-day office. When it comes to fields like education, healthcare, and government services the benefits will have a really positive impact for all South African citizens.”