AI rewrites ROI for next-generation video conferencing
As AI drives the advancement of video systems, IT leaders must reevaluate infrastructure needs and develop new ROI frameworks that align with improved business outcomes.
Video calls in the enterprise were once the pinnacle of technology. They felt futuristic -- like teleporting to a teleconference or meeting. Today, video systems are taking that experience to the next level.
Video calls are now full-fledged, intelligent collaboration experiences designed for the enterprise knowledge worker, supporting meetings with high-quality audio, file sharing, real-time translation, transcription and more.
This evolution stems from customer demand and unified communications (UC) providers enhancing video platforms with features that help businesses achieve tangible business goals. As such, video has shifted from merely enabling communication to a core tool for business productivity and a competitive advantage.
"For years, we treated video like a digital version of a conference room. It was just a way to see people when we couldn't be in the same place. But the real evolution is that video is becoming an intelligent part of the business itself," said David Smith, founder and principal analyst at InFlow Analysis.
UC buyer priorities in 2025 included a desire to consolidate communications and collaboration platforms, an increased demand for integrated UC-powered customer engagement platforms and the early adoption of AI-powered meeting room features, according to research firm IDC.
Many organizations still lack advanced video capabilities, making the market ripe for vendors to push sophisticated systems that offer data-driven insights, enhanced collaboration and improved experiences for both employees and customers.
For years, we treated video like a digital version of a conference room. It was just a way to see people when we couldn't be in the same place. But the real evolution is that video is becoming an intelligent part of the business itself.
David SmithFounder and principal analyst, InFlow Analysis
Emerging video technology
The most impactful emerging video technology is, unsurprisingly, AI. It creates a scalable data layer that businesses of all sizes can use to automate repetitive tasks and tackle time-consuming tasks like turning video libraries into searchable and compliant, audit-ready assets.
There are also tools designed for the interactive and immersive side of meetings, powered by augmented and virtual reality to enable remote training, 3D product demos and even customer support -- areas developers at Zoom dabble in.
The evolution of video is about using the technology as a foundation to connect people to progress, change and outcomes, said Jeff Smith, interim chief product officer at Zoom.
AI is a key technology that bridges people, interaction and output. For Zoom, the core focus of its video systems is using AI to translate unstructured conversational data, including shared content and chat, into work products.
Evolving beyond traditional video calls
Beyond traditional video calls, vendors are measured by how well they orchestrate workflows that drive efficiency and business value. Differentiating products hinges on optimizing work processes and outcomes through advanced video features, Smith noted.
In this sense, it is about orchestrating this experience to be more effective at one's job. Zoom's AI Companion tool has an engine that moves information from one location to another, Smith said. Users can then use applications like Zoom Docs and Zoom Whiteboards, where AI can take actions based on a conversation and produce a product.
"Those orchestrated workflows, if we do that effectively, become a hard competitive advantage," Smith said.
Rethinking infrastructure requirements
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have had to adapt to meet the requirements of a distributed workforce. Today, that demand has increased, forcing UC and collaboration vendors to continually innovate, churning out primarily AI-rich feature sets.
"What's changing is not just the camera or the codec, but the intelligence wrapped around video," said Craig Durr, founder and analyst at the Collab Collective. "AI-driven framing, transcription, sentiment analysis, and meeting summaries are turning video into a data-generating layer across the organization."
As features grow richer, so do infrastructure requirements. Many vendors rely on edge computing, with others following suit and updating the under-the-hood portion of their machinery, creating novel infrastructure requirements to align with market shifts, such as global edge computing and other changes in enterprise purchasing habits. These networking infrastructure updates have been substantial, yet incremental, over the last five years, Smith said.
"As we get higher quality, more resiliency and more redundancy, that will be a steady infrastructure buildout," Smith said. "The step-change will be on the edge or cloud computing front, and when you look at edge computing, the amount of intelligence processing we put into our application is incredibly taxing at the edge."
Measuring new video KPIs
Technologies like edge computing will become increasingly ubiquitous in the video landscape, namely as hybrid and remote workers maintain a prevalent presence in the U.S. Just over half of remote-capable workers use a hybrid work model, while about a quarter exclusively work remotely, according to a Gallup poll.
It's incumbent upon IT leaders to develop a framework to evaluate, implement and monitor these capabilities, aligning them with long-term business objectives and the needs of a hybrid workforce for the next generation of video systems.
"IT leaders are being asked to connect video investments to productivity, employee experience and even customer outcomes, which requires an entirely different measurement framework," Durr said.
Measuring ROI must go beyond traditional cost savings and introduce new key performance indicators (KPIs) that assess productivity gains, employee satisfaction and business process improvements.
"The next generation of video ROI comes from what AI sees before, during and after the call," said Kristen Koenig, AVP of product video solutions and events at RingCentral. "It's no longer a static touchpoint -- it's a data source that fuels productivity, engagement and decision-making."
New KPIs should measure not only meeting participants but also the quality of collaboration and the actions driven by meetings, she noted.
The future of video software and hardware continues to drastically change, bringing forth fresh use cases and innovative ways to track and quantify progress that support the bottom line.
Moshe Beauford is a writer with nearly a decade of experience covering enterprise technology, including AI, unified communications and customer experience.
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