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A Look Ahead at the Video Conferencing Industry: What to Expect in 2023

A Look Ahead at the Video Conferencing Industry: What to Expect in 2023 Image Credit: Dean Drobot/BigStockPhoto.com

Video conferencing exploded in popularity during the pandemic but wasn't a passing trend. Due to its success in facilitating day-to-day business operations and how it has saved employers money on corporate travel, particularly internationally, it has gained momentum and is here to stay. A new study by Fairfield Market Research shows that the global video conferencing market attained revenue of around $9.7 Billion in the year 2021 and will reach nearly $21.1 Billion toward the end of 2026. Pandemic or not, we will continue to see an increase in use cases for video conferencing across various sectors, including financial, legal, healthcare, government and education.

#1: The "new phone call," but with laptops

A recent survey shows that security remains a mounting concern for organizations amid increasing cyber threats and nation-state attacks. Video is the "new phone call," with everybody having access to it, making the meeting richer with analytics and more attractive to hackers. We never had to worry about attacks on phones in the past. Now, with conversations taking place through multiple laptops, we must remain vigilant about protecting proprietary data and adhering to a zero trust architecture - this entails ensuring every video conference user is authorized and authenticated before meeting entrance (for each meeting).

Malware and other types of attacks are on the rise, something that video conferencing users, IT departments, CTOs and other high-level executives are aware of, as the survey results indicate. Therefore, expect a deeper look at videoconferencing from an enterprise perspective in 2023.

#2: Enhancing video conferencing platforms, adding features

The fact that this form of collaborative communications is here to stay also means that platforms will receive more features and enhancements as 2.0, 3.0 and other versions of these platforms hit the market, elevating the need for greater security and compliance.

For example, some companies want agendas and notes built into their video conferencing platforms, granting them access to meeting history and allowing executives to look back on various meetings, evaluating if they reached their business goals. It also helps these platforms to have built-in modules for customer reporting. Those that provide insights into employee video conferencing usage, engagement, performance and productivity are optimal. (i.e., "Mary used this platform five times this week, had 57 % more meetings than everybody said, had less of a drop off than everyone else and said she would be responsible for the following tasks.")

All the additional features to a video conferencing platform that require elevated data protection will compel companies to beef up security and ensure proper compliance (i.e., that all communications about healthcare are HIPAA compliant) to support new, enhanced features in 2023.

Popular video conferencing platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams need the capability of knowing who is coming to the meeting, something that they will be working on and that companies will require in 2023. With the threat of attacks looming, organizations must know who is on a video conferencing call and be sure to authenticate and authorize every user before granting them access to a meeting. The added tools that provide this information also fall under the compliance domain; again, security for these advanced tools is essential.

#3: Return to office expected, but hybrid not neglected.

As more employees return to in-office work, many remote workplaces exist, as do remote workers. Employees stationed in corporate headquarters can have video conferences with those who work remotely and with national and international clients and partners. Although we hear about bosses who insist their employees return to the office, and the workers who are returning, video conferencing will remain a fabric of businesses. So many companies have successfully relied on it for transactions, forging and signing agreements, and holding meaningful, private and highly proprietary discussions.

#4: Personal use will decline.

Barring another unforeseen wave of COVID that necessitates social distancing, we can expect video conferencing between friends and families to lessen. Video conferencing will always be excellent for Grandma in Florida to watch Jessie's bat mitzvah in New Jersey. Still, we will see a different level of personal usage from these platforms than when COVID impeded local get-togethers that didn’t require long-distance travel.

#5: With attacks on the rise, open your eyes.

I often reference an old saying, "the hackers go where the money is." If you look back to when banking first went online in the late 1990s – the early internet days – online breaches were not a phenomenon. However, as time passed and online banking became more popular, prevalent and more sophisticated, hackers followed the money and attacks followed. Each day, video conferencing becomes more popular than the day before; we should expect more incidents (like the above-referenced "Zoom bombings") to occur.

The most valuable commodity today is data. With data, you have identities, corporate information and proprietary healthcare details, and 2023 will only lead to an explosion of more data as more companies rely on video conferencing. Healthcare is the number one type of data hackers set their sites on, and healthcare identity fraud is prevalent.

With all the secrets integral to its operations, the military is another target. The legal field is also an open ground for hackers since intellectual property theft is a growing concern. Countries can enact state-sponsored hacking into these law firms to obtain this information, stealing creative ideas and inventions.

It is crucial to safeguard all of these critical industries because leaks in data can be catastrophic. You don’t need a degree in computer science to be a hacker; just about anyone can be one today. There are online forums where you can buy a piece of malware for as little as $10, accompanied by an instructions manual. Bad actors can inject malware into a video conferencing system to listen in on conversations, then blackmail executives for bitcoin or some other currency. In addition to blackmail, they resort to many acts that cause tremendous emotional and financial stress to a company.

In 2023, data theft will continue to grow in the video conferencing industry as video conferencing companies lag when it comes to ensuring the security of their platforms. The immediate need for these platforms took precedence over security when the pandemic began. Security is now an afterthought and anxiety-fraught in light of newsmaking breaches (i.e., Zoom bombings). Today, many companies and their engineers want to ensure that all collaborative communications comply with a zero trust model. “Zero trust" will no longer seem like a buzzword in the coming year but one that companies will come to understand by familiarizing themselves with NIST standards.

The department of defense (DoD) just issued an announcement clarifying what adhering to zero trust architecture truly means. For many, until now, the question of what it entails was pervasive. The press release, titled “Department of Defense Zero Trust Strategy and Roadmap,” provides delineations that will help to clear up a lot of confusion for companies, giving them an excellent starting point to fortify their organizational architecture. In 2023, expect engineers, IT professionals and cybersecurity experts to further narrow in on the specifics of zero trust and anticipate that organizations will focus on improving their network infrastructure for overall cybersecurity hygiene.

#6: An increase in virtual events

Since employers have recognized the savings on travel costs, and due to the success of trade shows and conferences through advanced videoconferencing platforms during the pandemic, expect an increase in virtual events in 2023.

The events' platforms often have built-in features, such as "virtual lounges" for ad hoc discussions among participants, break-out rooms and network prompts randomly pairing off willing individuals for networking. Because these platforms support an entire conference, not only will there be an increase in these events, but expect the addition of more advanced features to the platforms, necessitating advanced cybersecurity solutions so that events go off without a hitch.

#7: Protecting private groups and performances

As video conferencing has become widely popular, expect more creative uses in 2023. Aside from new and innovative business approaches and tracking customers, we might see more private groups and clubs online. Two examples are a music group wanting to keep their performances limited to a subscribed fan base or a yoga class with paying members. When securing a subscription-based platform, some data requires protection.

Small, exclusive video conferences will also become more popular for other talents. For instance, this smaller video conference might involve actors who only want four or five people evaluating their performance to decide whether it is worthy of a more significant undertaking (i.e., an in-person live show). Being able to verify participants is crucial to some of these conversations that need to be under lock and key. Expect more individuals to seek ways to secure their video conferences in 2023 for various reasons not limited to corporate usage.

In conclusion

Going back to the Propeller Insights study mentioned earlier, IT professionals have indicated that they are concerned about the security of video conferences and believe the time to prioritize it is now. Expect them to put their money where the mouths are in 2023. The White House's executive order issued on May 12, 2021, to bolster the nation's cybersecurity only scratched the surface of what we should be paying attention to in terms of cybersecurity. When Biden signed this initiative, there was little indication that collaborative communications would take off beyond a pandemic panacea. The video conferencing trend is here to stay because of how instrumental it is for large and small corporations to conduct business and how it saves time, money and travel for so many other individuals.

Author

An entrepreneur and technologist with over two decades in the computer industry, George Waller is a co-founder and the EVP of Zerify Inc. (formerly StrikeForce Technologies), a 20-year-old U.S. cybersecurity company that has developed solutions to prevent data security breaches for consumers, corporations, and government agencies. Zerify has made video conferencing cybersecurity its primary focus now that remote and hybrid work models have become commonplace. Waller’s strong leadership, sales background and technology experience prepared him well for his current role. Previously he was a VP at Connexus Corporation, a software integrator. He also successfully managed several software integration firms such as TeachMeIT, Incubation Systems and HealthSCOUT.

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