Communication Bandwidth and Effectiveness
I've had some thoughts swirling around my head for a while now -- it's time to get them out.
It is said that 90% of communication is non-verbal in nature.
Let us express the entirety of the message that someone wishes to convey using an arbitrary measurement, such as "units." The higher the communication bandwidth or freqency response, the more message can be communicated at any one time. A purely text- or voice-based communication vehicle (email, instant message, phone call) is unable to convey a message as well as a multi-channel or broadband mechanism such as VTC or face-to-face. In text-based communications, in-band mechansisms to improve encoding the parts of the message that would traditionally be conveyed via alternate channels have grown (versus being explicitly or purposely developed) out of necessity -- emoticons, acronymns (e.g. LOL).
If 100 "units of message" can be conveyed face-to-face in 1 minute, lower bandwidth mechanisms such as email would therefore take more time and effort to convey the same 100 units. This lack of efficiency and increased work also provides foothold for the introduction of error, resulting in an decreased signal to noise ratio [edited: lower signal, more noise]. Errors in these mechanisms can be considered a miscommunication, which often result in subsequent additional work to correct and realign efforts that were either not started or progressing in a different direction than intended. Over time, habits have been adopted in an attempt to add redundancy to these systems, such as following up an important email with a phone call.
Video teleconferencing with HD video and HD voice is the closest commercially available mechanism to face-to-face high-message-bandwidth communication. Widespread adoption of HD VTC down to the individual employee level should yield more efficient communications and less rework, and make for fewer face-to-face meetings. Fewer meetings means less travel time and expense, and a reduced need for conference rooms. It also improves the cultural acceptance and environment for telework, which again drives down travel expenses and reduces the need for office space.
The implementation of HD video telecommunications to the desktop will be the catalyst responsible for driving more efficiency and cost-savings in the workplace and across our organizations than any other 'single' change.
[edits/additional thoughts]
By "face-to-face" above, I mean in-person meetings. Maybe when my son is my age, "face-to-face" will connotate a physical meeting.
