While we've all seen over the course of the last several months just how much video conferencing has to offer enterprises of every size and stripe—from boons to training and education to at least partial replacements for business travel—there are still those who resist technological change. Maybe said resistance is afraid of looking incompetent, never a good sign in a down economy. Or maybe said resistance just prefers “the way things used to be.” But Arbitrage Magazine recently took a look at how to get the tech-resistant on board with video conferencing and offered up some key points to remember to help keep everybody up and running.

Arbitrage first suggested that companies start by pointing out the obvious: everybody else is doing it. With a recent survey noting that 52 percent of respondents expected videoconferencing to be the primary communications method  by the end of 2015, that's a major inducement to get in on this new technology, particularly if the employees in question favor the analytical. That simple majority is likely to be enough to tip a scale.

Second, consider a program of weaning employees off of the desktop computer. Yes, the desktop is a powerful and valuable tool even today, but with the rise of the mobile workforce, there are certain things that the desktop used to be the go-to source for that can be readily passed on to mobile. Video conferencing is one of those things, with a camera and an Internet connection being most of what needs to be on hand to make it happen. Using video conferencing as a way to gradually move employees to mobile devices can be an effective way to kill two birds with one stone.

Three, consider the value of promoting video conferencing as the way business actually used to be done. Remember that the business world of 50 to 70 years ago or so accomplished much of its tasks primarily face-to-face, and it's only comparatively recently that the telephone, the fax, and email took over as the means of communication. Thus, video conferencing allows a “back to the basics” approach, and with the ideology in place, the methodology may be a much simpler problem to tackle.

Finally, point out the value of personal image control. With video conferencing, users can control the tempo and the environment, from the background behind the conference participant to the level of lighting in the room to the cleanliness of work surfaces. There are plenty of possibilities to allow the user to come across as a sharp, vital professional, and much of that staging simply can't be done on the phone or even in a face-to-face meeting.

Admittedly, no one really wants to change in business, unless forced to or there's a clear opportunity at hand. Once a method is found that “works,” no one really wants to change that, because the new method may well “not work.” Failure is seldom recognized as the stepping stone to greatness and rather is considered the start of a paper trail to initiate firing proceedings. That makes one final point Arbitrage doesn't consider: think about why employees are resistant to change, and how much of that comes back to corporate culture. If there have been layoffs recently, there may be a lot more resistance to change, especially if the survivors think there's a chance of being “on the chopping block” next. It's all part of a larger picture, so considering the fullest picture may provide all the insight needed on why employees won't video conference.