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Webcam benefits

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7 replies

by wesley.chin

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At the workplace, there are two telecommuters. Are there benefits to setting up a webcam so that the telecommuters can see the home office?

7 replies

by robo_dev

Where he's using a finger puppet of himself to appear on the video conference back to the office?

The main benefit is that it forces the telecommuter to wear clothes when working....which may or may not be a benefit, depending on the particular physical characteristics of the individual employee.

by wesley.chin

Are there any other benefits? In particular those related to productivity, service, quailty and profit? The workplace is a traffic consulting firm.

by robo_dev

Being able to see your co-worker's face when talking to them would reduce the sense of isolation that a home-office worker may feel.

If there were things like some sort of speech or presentation that could be done over the webcam versus a drive into the office, that could save time and money.

With a webcam you could show diagrams or photos more easily, and discuss a drawing in real-time, again, helping to prevent that costly and time-wasting commute into the office.

To a limited extent, having a webcam on both ends could help to ensure that the worker is actually working (allowing remote supervision).

I know that if I worked at home, my lunch break might go from one hour to one and a half hours, to two hours, etc, etc. With a webcam, the user would have to at least 'pretend' he is busy, like we all do at work in the office.

by oh smeg

But if you do go this way remember that Web Cams use a lot of Bandwidth so make sure that all the people who will be involved have enough and don't run into Excess Usage Fees which can get really expensive. I seem to remember that a Web Cam uses 1 GIG a minute to record I'm not sure how much of that is required to stream Video over the net as it's not something that I've ever measured though I suppose I should.

Col

by wesley.chin

I hope the bandwidth usage was considered when it was all setup. A lot was done to get it up and running. Previously, Internet access was wired. There is a conference room that is located such that snaking a line from the switch to the room would not have been an option. So a wireless access point was installed so video from the webcam in the conference room could be broadcast.

by wesley.chin

From my understanding, the webcam is not going to be on all of the time, at least the webcam of the telecommuter that has one. It is to be on only when a weekly managers' meeting takes place.

Virtually all of the telecommuters' work would be in the form of computer drawings.

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