Beyond the video conferencing software itself, another thing to consider is the hardware you need to support it. Fortunately, almost every modern laptop, tablet, and smartphone comes with an integrated microphone and a serviceable (if fairly mediocre) webcam. Many modern laptops ship with high-quality 1080p webcams, and the same goes for many higher-end mobile devices.  Desktop PCs, on the other hand, typically need additional hardware. If you're looking for enhanced clarity of sound or video, you'll need the best microphone and high-end webcam you can get. Some business monitors also come with built-in video conferencing features. You can use some digital cameras as a webcam, too. For most use cases, consumer-grade hardware is all you need. Then again, if you want the highest possible video quality for webinars and client meetings, you may need to make additional purchases, such as green screens or lighting accessories. Although these hardware purchases drive up the total cost of your video conferencing deployment, the good news is that you'll still save compared with old-school, end-to-end conferencing solutions. You don't need to make a huge capital outlay all at once. Instead, you can buy the licenses you need and grow organically as you add new seats, a method that can dramatically reduce costs.