Does coronavirus have to prevent face-to-face business meetings?

If your business depends on face-to-face meetings, the thought of mass self-isolation and home working could be worrying. Salesmen, for instance, rely on getting in front of a potential customer to discuss their needs, make a presentation, demonstrate a product or service, etc. So, if you or your colleagues are forced to self-isolate or your business temporarily closes, does that mean you become unproductive and therefore unprofitable?

Businesses need to shift the way they work in these times of crisis. They could send their presentations by email or letter and talk them through on the phone but the personality of the salesman or the tone of the presentation may be lost. It may be harder to strike up a relationship.

Video conferencing offers a distinct improvement to phone conversations. It provides face-to-face communication without the need for any human contact or the need for elbow bumps instead of handshakes! Joking aside, every attendee can still read facial expressions while matching them to the tone of voice as well as what is being said.

Video conferencing has moved on. It no longer means using a boardroom-style suite specifically designed for that purpose. Individuals can very easily access video conferencing from their desktops via unified communications apps.

They can use these on their PCs at work, laptops at home or anywhere they can access an internet connection, or with mobile devices. They are so simple use, invites can be created with a couple of clicks to existing or new contacts with links sent via email or an instant message. These conferences can be attended by multiple people with the option to share desktops for presentations and to send documents too. It really is that simple.

This meeting set-up will ensure you can still communicate with prospective customers in as personal way as possible without breaching any quarantine periods. If people start cancelling your appointments, maybe start offering this type of meeting so neither of you have to miss out and you can maintain business as usual.

We offer solutions that can be linked to telephone systems, such as Collaborate with Gamma’s Horizon or Rainbow with Alcatel-Lucent Connect solutions. We also supply Microsoft Teams as part of the Office 365 family of apps.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need to source a video conferencing application for your business.