In case you were paying attention, two bits of high-tech news might have captured your attention for a few minutes—or not at all. But these two news items are related in a way that might be significant to the future of your small business.

• Event number one:  Earlier this year, a new version of Skype was released that allows video teleconferencing with multiple parties (FYI – my video interviews with experts were done using Skype for free!).
• Event number two:  the iPhone 4 will officially be released June 24^th of this year, with a front-facing camera and with a feature called FaceTime

Confused what this means for you? The common denominator here is that both companies are focusing more and more on the value of the video conference to businesses. The main purpose of that front-facing camera on the new iPhone is to allow you to see the person that you are talking to—and for them to see you.  Skype, on the other hand, has always allowed you to make and receive video calls, provided only one person was on the camera at a time. Their new version will allow a business owner to see several people at once.

So what does this have to do with a Virtual Assistant (VA)? This trend bodes well for the small business owner that makes use of virtual assistants. By the very nature of a virtual assistant’s operation, he or she works from a home office.  Often, you might never get to see this person face to face, due to them living possibly hundreds of miles away (FYI – our VAs are based in the Philippines). This means, of course, that you keep in touch with the VA through email, instant messenger, and yes, the telephone.  Still, none of these does that great of a job replicating the experiencing of having a team meeting. There’s something powerful and dynamic about having all of your team members brainstorming a challenge together.

Why is Video Conferencing important for your business? It brings you face to face with all of the virtual assistants who are part of your business—and maybe even face-to-face with full-time employees.  And if the new trend is for hardware and software to allow several people to video chat at once, this will be almost a perfect counterpart to the in-person, physical meeting.

Interestingly, Skype has announced a new app for the iPhone. Perhaps they already had a heads-up regarding the inclusion of the new front-facing camera on the iPhone 4. This is not to say you need the iPhone to hold video meetings with your virtual assistants, however, any computer including; Windows, Mac and Linux computers, can run Skype.  As long as you have a webcam on your computer and as long as your virtual assistant also has a webcam and Skype, you can easily hold your own virtual meetings.  One other benefit to your business installing Skype, especially if you’ll be making lots of long-distance calls, is that you can sign up for a local phone number for only $6 a month. (FYI – I have been debating on whether to get one of the Google Android phones or the new iPhone 4, I am now officially sold and will be getting the iPhone 4. The possibility of being mobile and having video conferences for my business is what got me hooked)

Incidentally, almost all computer chat programs now offer video chatting.  This includes Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).  But so far, all of them have been handicapped by the same problem:  a maximum of one video-call at a time accepted.

Not quite ready to go to the Skype and “iPhone 4” route for your virtual meetings? That’s fine. There are actually a couple of good Web-based methods of accomplishing the same thing.  For instance, Tiny Chat allows you to quickly set up your own chat room on the fly and send the address to all of your virtual assistants. They don’t need to register to get into the room; you will see all of them, and they in turn will see you and the others in the conference. You may chat with each other either via voice or through standard text chatting.

One other similar website is Palbee; it is a little more complicated and registration is required by anyone who takes part in the video conference. However, in addition to the video chatting and text chatting, it offers a white board feature—perfect for brainstorming with your team.

So what’s the conclusion? Video teleconferences are the wave of the future.  Apple and Skype will be proof of that.  And it’s perfect timing for you, as you begin to build your business through the help of your virtual assistants and find ways to run your business without really having to be stuck in a office.

Questions for you:

• How are you currently using video conferences in your business?
• Do you think that including the forward-facing camera with the iPhone will make video calling more popular?
• In what other ways is the iPhone 4 is better than the Google Android phones?

I will like to know what you think.

Visitors who read this post also read:

• Cloud-Based Telephone and Voicemail Services for Your Small Business
• Trust is a Two-Way Street; Why you need trust to work successfully with Virtual Assistants
• Great News! Here is a new Video Testimonial from Mark Shandrow on Hiring Virtual Assistants from us

Get my FREE Ebook & Newsletter!

Enter your name and email address below to get Instant Access to:

• 1. Your Free copy of my ebook, The Entrepreneur's Guide to Running A Business in the Cloud
• 2. Email updates of the latest blog posts and interviews with small business experts
• 3. Insider Newsletter with outsourcing tools and Virtual Assistant hiring and managing tips that you can't find on the blog

First Name

Email Address

Close