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November 20, 2008

Reduce Travel Expenses and Go Green with Video Conferencing

Can You See Me Now?

Rising gas prices, airline cutbacks, canceled and delayed flights, skyrocketing travel costs -these are just a few of the challenges facing businesses today. As a result, more companies are looking for ways to eliminate or at least greatly reduce travel expenses, and they're re-examining how they'll conduct meetings in the future.

Trying to eliminate meeting expenses is not a new concept for business. After September 11th, the airlines temporarily shut down. When the airports reopened, many people were afraid to fly. In response, companies rushed to try virtual meetings--namely video conferencing and Web conferencing--in an attempt to save time and money. But the tools available had limitations. On a personal PC, video conferencing was slow, due to low bandwidth speeds that made the video fuzzy. High-quality systems were confined to a few video conferencing rooms, which were always booked. Web conferencing, using a combination of audio, text messaging, and PowerPoint, was useful but limited.

People also tended to overreact and do all meetings virtually. Since no one had "meeting guidelines" in place, companies learned some hard lessons: that there are times when you actually need to see someone face-to-face; there are times when an audio conference will do; and there are times when an e-mail is perfectly fine.

With greatly diminished meeting outcomes due to the lack of guidelines, video conferencing and Web conferencing went back to playing a minor role as companies reverted to traveling for their meeting needs.

Fortunately, people didn't completely abandon video and Web conferencing. Companies use video and Web conferencing today more than ever before because they discovered the technology. Now it's time for businesses to step it up a notch and use the new meeting technology not only to save costs, but also to build relationships. Many companies today are going into crisis mode again. Because air travel and gas costs are high, they're using video and Web conferencing, as well as the new high-end video conferencing called telepresence, offered by Tandberg and Polycom to save travel money.

However, if their only motivation is to save money on travel, rather than the more important goal of enhancing communication and collaboration throughout the enterprise, then they're simply creating another fad. Video conferencing has evolved tremendously over the past few years, and companies need to use the technology of today to pave the path to future profits, all of which hinge on relationships.

To add fuel to the fire, rising gas prices and travel costs are not cyclical this time--they're permanent. Major social changes are taking place worldwide in such places as China and India, and the increased global energy consumption affects everyone. In other words, fuel costs will fluctuate but will not go back to the low levels we once enjoyed. Therefore, smart companies are changing how they think about meetings and the new video conferencing technology, and they're realizing that it offers business something more powerful than they've had in the past:

These companies are thinking in terms of "visual communications" rather than simply video and Web conferencing.

Visual communications heighten the bond you have with someone when you cannot see them face to face. It's about adding dimension to the communication. There's a reason you shake someone's hand when you meet them: The more senses you involve, the higher the connection. Those companies that can enhance their communication, both internally and externally, are the ones who can cause change faster and stay competitive longer.

By: Daniel Burrus
New Hampshire Business Review