Doing Business Face-to-Face from Across the World
Holographic projections may change the way that people do business around the world. Technology from Cisco is among the innovations that are allowing businesses to step into an entirely new world where talking to someone over the Internet no longer means talking to a flat, two-dimensional image on a screen. In today’s world, having the person represented holographically is not something that the technology of the future may offer: it is already here.
Holograms and Humanity
One of the reasons that video conferencing is so popular with businesses is that actually seeing the person on you’re talking to enhances the level of communication you have with them. The way their face responds to what you say and the way that they communication information through their own facial expressions makes seeing someone a very effective way of making certain that the entire message of what they’re saying is conveyed.
While video conferencing can enhance this communication, having a hologram in the room makes communicating long distance a much more personal experience. Around the world there are already rooms set up that can accommodate Cisco’s holographic technology and that allow businesses, government agencies and other entities to conference with people around the globe as if they were in the room.
Not Taking that Flight
Although efficiency, profits, communication and a host of other reasons may be used to justify it, flying somewhere to attend a business meeting is sometimes done just to make the entire affair more personal. With the holographic technology that Cisco and others are coming out with, globe-trotting for the sake of business will likely no longer be a necessity. Not only can all of the travel expenses that businesses pick up every year be replaced by holographic technology, those holograms can show up at a meeting instantly, eliminating all of the logistics involved in getting people important to the business to these meetings.
The effect of the holographic technology being introduced these days is likely one that will further shrink the globe. People will be—and already are—able to meet face-to-face over Internet connections that do more than provide a small webcam image. Not to discount the impact that video conferencing has had; it has been significant. Holographic conferencing, however, will likely change the world in a much more profound way than did being able to conference over webcams.
According to Cisco’s information, holographic technology will also be important to public speaking events. Rather than having to fly someone across the world to make a presentation to a board or another group of people within a corporation, holographic technology allows the presenter to interact with the audience from anywhere. Not only this, but the presenter has the advantage of using their stage presence and body language to communicate. This technology is already very advanced. It is being used by businesses from finance to the entertainment industry and has even been used to recreate performances by deceased musicians in recent months. This technology is not the wave of the future; it is very much already a part of the present.
