Such environments allow companies to realize a number of competitive advantages by using their existing computers and network infrastructure for group and personal collaboration.
Recent developments have allowed companies include streaming in real-time and archived modes into their ICE.
Common applications found within ICE are: ICE allows organizations to take advantage of technological advances in computer processing power and video technology while maintaining backward compatibility with existing standards-based hardware conference equipment.
These benefits are achieved through cross discipline fertilization, which allows knowledge workers to share information across departments of a company, which can be important for ensuring that corporate goals are shared and fully integrated.
There can be challenges to implementing ICE due to employees' lack of acceptance of knowledge management systems.