The growth of the video conferencing industry has been seen by us all, from work video conferences, to quizzes and birthday parties. To say that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it is already an overused statement, but it’s hard to argue with it. Whilst growth predictions for many markets are now cut, video conferencing is by no means in the same situation.

In early February, when the COVID-19 pandemic was in its infancy, one provider saw a surge of 15% in its stock price. Analysts predict this company could potentially double its value by the time the pandemic settles.

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven greater demand and adoption of video conferencing tools, and this has seen many short-term benefits, as well as challenges created by the demand. Whilst some companies offering video conferencing have gained negative attention for privacy concerns and technical capacity issues, overall, the demand has increased exponentially. These new levels of growth have been driven by this increased demand, predominately from corporations organising remote working solutions.

2020 is already said to be the ‘Year of Remote Working’, with many businesses making the decision to change their business model to a remote working organisation, or an organisation with new degrees of flexible working, this growth is set to continue. Research demonstrated 57% of small businesses will continue to work at home after ‘Stay-at-Home’ orders are relaxed. Many big employers are also talking about introducing or building upon their work-from-home models, including Facebook, Twitter and Google. Like most changes to routine, this can feel unusual and daunting, however Video Conferencing technology allows for continued collaboration and teamwork.

In 2018, the global video conferencing market was valued at just over 3 billion dollars. This is estimated to more than double to 6.4 billion dollars by 2026. This means a compound annual growth of 9.8%. As we are all adjusting to the ‘new normal’ and connecting in new ways, video conferencing will become an increasingly important tool in productivity, collaboration, and connectivity.

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