January 18 | Sam Scott
Air travel sucks. It’s been a year since I’ve travelled by plane. I’m sure it’s the same for most of you. Frankly, I don’t miss it. A year away from airports has made me realize how frustrating it is. Between the byzantine security check-ins, jostling for overhead bins, and decreasing legroom the experience of air travel has been getting worse for years. After the financial stress airlines have been under this year, it’s not going to get better. As airlines search for more ways to cut costs the experience for the average flyer will decline.
You know what also sucks? Zoom meetings. The constant technical glitches are frustrating. Staring your coworkers not-quite-in-the-eye is unnerving. A day of videoconferencing can leave you feeling alienated and wrung out. Depending on the software you use, the experience can be exasperating. But it’s the only choice we have lately, so we make it work.
Once the pandemic is over, which version of the future are we looking at? Will we hop back in the airplane as quickly as we left it? Or will those in-person meetings that once seemed so critical be replaced for good by Zoom?
It’s hard to imagine business travel coming back with the same enthusiasm. Companies are saving piles of cash in travel costs. Six months into the pandemic Amazon had saved 1 billion dollars in travel expenses. The savings are too big to ignore. We must also reckon with the environmental impact of airplane travel. Increasing carbon pricing will keep the cost of air travel high.
So are we condemned to a future of bad video calling? “Can you hear me now?” “I think you’re on mute!” until our eyes glaze over?
Video calls are discouraging because the technology has made slow progress. It’s taken a long time for video chat to feel seamless and easy. Skype has existed for 18 years, yet software innovation has been sluggish. Until now Skype and its competitors have never bothered to iron out the friction points in the user experience.
Things changed in 2020. The true market for video calls has been revealed and competitors are scrambling to improve their product and win market share.
In the last nine months I’ve seen conferencing software improve fast:
- Easier scheduling and coordinating calls
- Audio quality and echo management
- Affordable, quality conferencing hardware — whether for your desk or for a meeting room
- New specialty video software optimized for different types of remote work
- Vastly better mobile experience
As these user experience wrinkles are slowly ironed out, video calls will integrate as a natural part of our working life. We’re getting there faster every day.
So how will you position your business for the future? Will you hold your breath and return to air travel the moment it’s possible? Or will you invest in the technologies that make remote work better?
While business travel will return somewhat, It’s clear we’re trending toward the latter.