For SMB or enterprise managing to encourage and improve team collaboration, video conferencing provides a straightforward way. Diverse from a phone call or Voice over IP (VoIP) session, high-definition video allows you to meet face-to-face with customers, clients, and colleagues, even when you're far apart.

The latest studies found that video plays an increasing vital room in team collaboration:

-96% of business leaders consider video conferencing the technology that allows to defy distance and break down cultural barriers, according to the Polycom and Redshift survey.

-Nearly 90% of remote employees say that video helps them feel more connected to colleagues. (IMCCA)

-94% of businesses that use group video chats say it increases productivity. (Wainhouse)

Moreover, video conferencing solutions like Yealink Meeting can combine vital collaborative functions such as screen sharing, AI transcript, video recording, and media flow into one easy-to-use and secure platform, which delivers more possibilities for efficient teamwork.

The following are five ways how video conferencing enhances collaboration and boosts productivity while cutting costs:

1. Improve Communication

As today’s workforce prioritizes mobility, flexibility and clarity, video conferencing brings both remote workers and in-office employees together conveniently and directly. By video, Teams can exchange ideas and see one another's reactions with fewer misinterpretations or miscommunications that hinder decision-making and productivity. Also, video conferencing enables leaders to communicate important information to different teams and departments at the same time, reducing the need for multiple meetings, long emails or business travel.

2. Streamline Collaboration

Video enables people to more focus on what they really need to fix out by providing collaborative features like one-click content sharing, AI transcript, etc. Usually, relying solely on email or call to solve problems cost so much time of a day caught in a game of tug-of-war where a lot of opinions are shared, but no conclusions are actually made. These situations could be easily resolved with face-to-face video conversations through ability to collaborate in real time enables team members to brainstorm and make decisions on the spot.

3. Preserve Knowledge

Video conferencing is helpful to preserves knowledge for teams by auto-recording of record meetings, events, or knowledge transfers. These recordings can be used to catch up team members who missed meetings or loop in other employees who need to know what transpired. Even employees who were physically at the meeting but mentally in the gourmet coffee shop down the street can go back and review any vital information they may have missed. Recorded videos can also be used as training tools for new employees — no cheesy skits required.

4. Boost Attendance

When equipped with the tools they need to effectively participate in a virtual meeting, employees are more likely to show up on time and actively contribute to the conversation. That said, sometimes it's not possible to get everyone in the same virtual room at the same time for a live video conference — particularly if your workforce is dispersed across different time zones. Employees who are not able to join at the appointed time can still catch up on an important meeting after the fact, chiming in with their input afterward, and the work can keep moving forward.

5. Simplify Management

By deploying a consolidated online meeting solution with a simple UI that is centrally managed, teams can focus on their meetings instead of being burdened with troubleshooting every meeting. When there's a problem, it can be helpful for everyone to have the same video view of what's going on. For example, IT teams troubleshooting a tricky server issue alongside their vendors can benefit from looking at the same indicator lights, while sales professionals that have questions about how a new product works can hop on a video chat with their colleagues in the product team, product in hand, to address points of confusion. What would have taken endless back and forth via an email or phone exchange can now be resolved in short order in a video conversation.

Face time matters for team building and collaboration, for sales and customer relations, and for any other person-to-person aspects of your business. However, there's more than one way to get face-to-face. With video conferencing, your team can stop typing and get united.