During a recent holiday last December, I met the most incredible woman. When I returned home I wondered if there was any possibility that a friendship at such an early stage would be able to survive, or develop into anything more with 7000 miles separating us. (I live in Johannesburg, South Africa, and she lives in Brampton, Ont.).
In the past, international phone calls have been very expensive. Letters and emails have been the primary way of keeping in touch with friends, family and colleagues. I wondered if we could possibly develop a relationship that way.
With the increase in availability of low cost high speed bandwidth, and instant messenger (IM) applications that include capability for voice and video streaming over the Internet, the way people communicate is changing and the global village is becoming smaller.
What technology do we use?
Our first contact was initially through email and SMS. As the need to have conversations without incurring huge phone bills grew, we decided to try Skype.
For those not familiar with Skype, it is a type of instant messaging VoIP software that enables people to make phone and video calls from one computer to another free over the public Internet.
Six months, and many hours of video calling later, Melanie is my girlfriend and is currently on an extended visit with me in South Africa.
This does not mean that our time on Skype is over, as we now have relatives and friends in different countries that use Skype to keep in touch.
Why video?
Video adds a really useful dimension to any conversation as it adds body language to the conversation. Body language gives a good indication of how what you are saying is being received. This was vital for Melanie and me, particularly with our different cultural backgrounds.
I work in an IT department doing Network administration, user support and project implementations for a global management consulting company. This means that I need to communicate with a number of colleagues in the IT department that are in different countries.
While we don’t use Skype to communicate, we have implemented a different video conferencing package that enables us to communicate securely and effectively between offices.
We have been able to improve the level of service we offer to the business we work in due to improved communications that video brings.
Benefits and Opportunities
Voice and video calling have become a normal part of my personal life. It saves on telecommunications costs and takes communication to a new level that has previously only been available in “in the flesh encounters”. I am excited to see what future technological advancements hold personally and professionally.
Professionally it will be interesting to see how global firms deploy these types of technologies, and what the associated challenges and benefits will be for IT professionals like me to deploy and support.
Donovan Schmidt is from Johannesburg, South Africa and you can check him out online at www.turnerandtownsend.com
Note from Roberta Fox: Donovan’s new girlfriend, Melanie is a niece of ours. When we met Donovan during his recent Canadian visit, we found their journey to romance interesting, and thought that our readers may find it of benefit.
We have implemented a similar solution within FOX GROUP for our distributed technology and management consultants. The cost, time to implement and learning curve to use the solution on each PC was nominal for our consultants and staff.
We wonder how many enterprise organizations will embrace this type of technology solution for their employees, and what the real challenges, productivity gains and benefits will be.
We are tracking the business benefits to calculate our own ROI, and will provide further information in future issues of the FOX FLASH.
