The importance of a good web conferencing solution is undeniable. As video becomes even more indispensable, more and more companies are fast finding out, the hard way, that it doesn’t pay to go for substandard systems. In a market that changes often with each new platform, tool or technology, choosing the wrong system could spell doom for your company.

Here’s how to make sure you don’t make that mistake:

Evaluate Your System

It’s going to be expensive to overhaul your entire communication infrastructure. Take a good, long look at your system and determine which areas require an urgent switch or replacement. Some companies have hybrid systems—a mix of hardware and cloud-based tools—to get them through the initial stages of migrating from one system to a new one.

You could try that on for size. It’s not a complete migration so you could still use hardware so long as its compatible with your software.

Switch to Cloud

If you’re still reliant on hardware, you’ll need to migrate to a new system—preferably sooner rather than later. Check out cloud-based solutions like the BlueJeans web conferencing software. This will eliminate a lot of your costs, giving you lower expenses without compromising your operational capacity.

With pricey hardware upgrades, it makes much better sense to go for cloud solutions that are cost-effective and much more agile for businesses.

Determine Usage

What kind of system will your team need? Most likely, they’ll end up using the system all the time. You’ll find a better option, one that addresses their needs and comfort, if you take the time to ask them what they want and need. How do they hold meetings? What would they like to change? How many participants are in their sessions on average? These should give you a much more accurate view of what they need out of a video solution, allowing you to pick the best one.

Check Out The Features

Before you decide on which software meets your organizational needs the most, check out the features of each one. Multipoint conferencing allows about 12 to 120 users, on average, on a single call all at the same time, whether broken down into smaller conferences or into one massive one, says Tech Target.

If that’s the kind of capabilities you need or you think you could use that technology to your advantage, then switching to a cloud-based web conferencing system is one of the best moves you can make. Other features also include streaming and recording.

Look For Collaboration Features

These days, tools to make your teams collaboration-ready abound. If you have onsite and offsite teams, you’ll want to invest in a video conferencing solution with the right collaboration features to encourage and build better relationships among your employees. The stronger those relationships are, the less misunderstandings, tensions and problems at work, and the higher their happiness, satisfaction and productivity levels should be.

Compatibility Counts

Be careful about choosing a system that restricts or limits the apps you can use. That’s going to be inconvenient especially if your employees need to communicate with anyone—clients and customers—outside the organization, who are using a different system, platform or third party app.

Given all that, it’s smarter and more practical to go for a system that supports slews of end points. That way, whether your clients are on mobile, their laptop, desktop or tablet, they should have no problems connecting to your video system and calls, the Information Age says.

Consider Your Network Support

Before you choose a system, make sure your network is wholly capable of supporting it. If that’s not the case, you’ll need to look into getting a system upgrade so your network has the bandwidth needed to make sure your system could run without problems and hitches. You might even need to upgrade several devices in your network to make sure everything is compatible with the new system. It’s going to be useless to install one if it’s being bogged down by incompatible devices anyway.

Before you install your system, be sure to determine which devices must go. Replacing these devices will add to your costs too. That means…

Do The Math

You’ll have to calculate your costs before you make a move. If you need to replace a lot of devices when you invest in a new video conferencing system, be sure you have enough capital to cover the expenses. An estimate will help you get an idea if you can afford the migration to a new system or not. If not, you could do it bit by bit. Go for hybrid systems. This could help reduce your outlays.

With so many companies joining the video and livestream revolution, it’s only a matter of time before all your competition gets there. Be sure you’re in a position to do so. Upgrading to a better video conferencing system is a good start.