From packet loss to productivity: The new era of video KPIs
AI has reshaped video meetings, and success can no longer be judged by jitter or latency. Explore why IT leaders must adopt new KPIs to measure meeting effectiveness.
In the old days, measuring the success of video conferencing was easy. Did the call connect, and did it stay connected? That's really all we asked for. Today, AI has raised the bar. Quality and reliability are now the bare minimum.
Our standard of success is changing -- in part because meetings themselves have changed. We no longer meet over video just to discuss and plan work; we meet to collaborate and get work done.
As video evolves from supporting simple status chats to sophisticated AI-enabled working sessions, the metrics we use to judge its value must shift as well. Understanding the ROI of collaboration technology hinges on IT leaders moving beyond technical call stats to begin measuring human outcomes.
Traditional video KPIs and their limits
Let's be honest: The old metrics used to measure video performance weren't necessarily the same ones that reflected the meeting's success. They were metrics that were easy to obtain. In fact, the video conferencing platforms themselves would collect the relevant data and present the information on nice dashboards.
We looked at data like the packet loss, jitter and latency on an individual call basis. Great for troubleshooting the network, but it provided no indication of whether work actually got done during the meeting.
We also collected data like total calls and total minutes for our organization. We even had data on our room utilization, based on system bookings and people detection. Again, useful information in terms of system performance and usage, but none of this data can determine whether the meetings yielded results. Basic usage data is helpful, but it doesn't show the true ROI of today's tech.
The limitation here is clear. These metrics gauge hardware and software, not the people. The true ROI of a meeting is based on people's performance. The technology is merely an enabler. A meeting can have flawless audio and video quality and still be a failure if the experience isn't productive.
Key advancements in video conferencing
Traditional video KPIs are now obsolete, thanks to technology that finally meets all of our reliability and quality expectations. Today, the typical call simply works and looks good, if not great.
Today's networks are far more powerful, and protocols are far more forgiving. Case in point: We don't need to obsessively monitor packet loss during every call anymore. Packet loss isn't as big an issue these days, and systems can handle dropped packets much more effectively. In other words, the problems we were monitoring are no longer problems.
Today's video meeting issues
Yet, despite the superior performance of today's video systems, meetings still suffer from issues that diminish their success. Meeting equity is still a problem. Remote attendees look great on Zoom or Microsoft Teams, each fully framed like a newscaster. Yet, if you make the commute and sit in the meeting room, you share a frame with everyone else. You appear small and are less effective as a communicator and presenter.
Yet, despite the superior performance of today's video systems, meetings still suffer from issues that diminish their success. Meeting equity is still a problem.
New products are available to address this issue. Multi-camera deployments can use AI to switch to the best camera/angle of the current speaker. Even a single camera setup can use AI to best frame participants based on the context. This approach not only lets the people in the room to be more effective meeting participants, but it also helps the remote participants to feel more present in the meeting.
Another issue is that some companies still balk at using AI-based video meeting tools. These tools are widely available as video vendors race to position themselves as AI-first. In the past few years, vendors have a multitude of AI features designed to increase productivity in video meetings.
Even before the meeting starts, for example, AI can scan emails and previous meeting transcripts to create an agenda. During the meeting, AI can bring in stats and details from databases. And of course, we all love post-meeting AI summaries and task generation. Using these basic AI tools can dramatically improve the productivity of video meetings. Taking the time to find and implement advanced AI tools specific to your needs can create massive ROI.
New video KPIs to consider
To align with the modern era, IT leaders should track the following:
Meeting equity score. The percentage of meetings where individual participants are framed as appealingly as those dialing in remotely. This may be harder to measure than a traditional metric like packet loss. It isn't enough to list how many rooms have the feature available; you need to measure its actual usage and effectiveness. User surveys may be helpful in addition to system data.
Feature adoption rate. Are users getting the most out of AI-enabled features such as summaries, digital whiteboard generation, agentic action items and live translation? These tools are not just marketing hype. They can be productivity dynamite. Again, this will be a mix of system data and user surveys.
Sentiment analysis. Why not use this new AI tool to measure the effectiveness of meetings? We are just starting to tap into the potential of sentiment analysis. If everyone is visibly frustrated at the end of meetings, you have a problem. If everyone is visibly self-satisfied and reflects a sense of accomplishment, you are doing something right. AI can do a better job -- and more objectively -- at detecting and reporting on these behaviors.
Today's video conferencing demands that companies shift from monitoring technical performance to auditing the collaboration experience. By adopting these new video KPIs, IT and video leaders can prove that video conferencing (and its inherent suite of AI meeting tools) is not just an expense to be managed, but a strategic asset that drives the business forward.
David Maldow is founder and CEO of Let's Do Video. He has written about the video and visual collaboration industry for almost 20 years.
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