Despite COVID-19, Unable to Use 'Hwasanghoeui'... Cost Burden

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Junho] While non-face-to-face video conferencing is gaining attention to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), it has been found that R&D companies are struggling to even adopt it due to cost burdens. According to a survey conducted on 1,035 companies with research institutes by the Korea Industrial Technology Association on the utilization status of video conferencing systems, 68% of the surveyed companies responded that they do not use video conferencing systems.

R&D Companies Struggle to Adopt Video Conferencing Systems Due to Cost Burdens

The biggest reason companies do not adopt video conferencing systems was the cost burden of using the system (49.7%). Many companies also expressed a lack of utilization information (41.3%), felt no need to adopt because the effect was not significant (37.8%), or were unfamiliar with or resistant to video conferencing (25.8%).

Companies believed that the government should provide support related to video conferencing systems for non-face-to-face R&D activities (55.7%). Among companies requesting government support, 63% thought that support should also cover peripheral equipment for video conferencing such as webcams and microphones. In particular, they pointed out that just as expenses for quarantine supplies can be covered by research funds, video conferencing costs should also be allowed to be used from research funds.

Only 32% of Companies with Research Institutes Have Adopted Video Conferencing Systems

Only 32% of the surveyed companies responded that they use video conferencing systems for meetings with domestic and international clients or internal work meetings. Especially, these companies reported using it about twice a week (79.9%). This indicates that video conferencing is not being actively utilized.

Among the users, 39.6% expressed dissatisfaction with the system. They pointed out issues such as disconnections during video conferences, network instability, poor video and audio quality, security concerns, and participant limits.

Among companies that adopted video conferencing, 69.3% used foreign systems. The reason for not using domestic systems was found to be due to insufficient functionality and the necessity to have the same foreign system when dealing with overseas clients who use foreign systems. About 29.2% of companies that adopted video conferencing used domestic systems.

Machanghwan, Executive Vice Chairman of the Korea Industrial Technology Association, said, "To enable companies whose R&D activities have been disrupted by the COVID-19 situation to continue their R&D activities normally, government support for the use of non-face-to-face solutions is urgent," and added, "The government must actively promote and support the distribution and utilization of excellent domestic products so that the rapid expansion of the non-face-to-face solution market does not end up being dominated by early foreign products."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.