In our house, video is part of our daily lives. I don't mean entertainment video. I mean video phone and conference calls. And video between Sheryl and I. Our conversation about video and it's importance, coupled with how it ties into mobility has been pretty anumated for the past day or two as we also wrapped up a piece entitled Mobility of the Future - What Lies Ahead as part of the next eJournal series here in our Digital Library.

Yesterday Sheryl wrote a post about video on our own blog that made a couple of important points. First she said this about how video will and is changing our lives -

Another thought I have with regard to video is that as we stop heading out the door to work, socializing with our coworkers, we are going to need ways to connect with each other since we'll spend less time together physically. Video makes it possible for us to still have the contact with others that the humans crave. Human beings seek comfort from other humans. It's the way we're designed. It's our nature to socialize and commune together. Segregation is not our way. Video really will help as our culture makes the changes it is clearly going to make.

And she closed with this -

For those of you skeptics, GET OVER IT! It's day that's not long in coming. You can either complain and squawk about how the world is changing and you'll never use things like that, or you can accept that you already are, everytime you use an atm or a computer to pay a bill, even signing a receipt at a store that just took your debit card/credit card. It is coming, it is here, and Video is in line to really blow your mind.

In short, Sheryl and I believe strongly that video is more than a fad or novelty. It's an integral and vital part of our daily lives. We see it as a technology that's growing in importance and creating a tidal wave of adoption.

This morning, our friend Andy Abramson added his voice to the importance of video with Video Conferencing to See Wider Adoption Say CIO's. Andy cited a CNW Group report by Robert Half Technologies that really drives the point home for business use of video in a big way. Here's a capture:



It really hammers home that more businesses already use video than do not. If you've watched the trends longer term, you'll note that the number of those who don't use or plan to use was much higher in the past. The momentum is shifting.

This reports also demonstrates an observation that's bothered me for quite some time. Enterprise business all wanted to jump on the Web 2.0 bandwagon. Mostly this was because they saw a way t tout their hip and cool factor. They didn't really understand Web 2.0 any more than they understand some things that are such a compelling part of today's winning business. That only 33% of CIOs surveyed use collaboration workspace tools today is an appalling demonstration of lethargy and complacency on the part of technology managers engaging to lead the way to doing business better.

If you were CEO of a company and saw those answers from your CIO, would he still be your CIO tomorrow? Think about that. The CIO is a pivotal leader in how technology is used to advance a company, yet here's a survey from a group of CIOs (ok, only 270 CIOs in Canada) who are managing via the ostrich method to a large degree, by ignoring and avoiding change.

Yet, even the ostrich CIO is embracing video as something that simply must be part of business. Liek Sheryl said, get over it. Video is here, it's real and it's a vital part of our lives. If you aren't using it today, you're already behind and falling farther behind. Is that where you want your business sitting in the competitive spectrum?

Technorati Tags: Sheryl Breuker, Andy Abramson, video, unified communicatoins. Robert Half Technologies, CIO study, technology adoption