As Travel Costs Rise, More Meetings Go Virtual

July 23rd, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

Peter Wynn Thompson for The New York Times

Jill Smart, in foreground, in a videoconference from her office in Chicago with colleagues in Atlanta and London.

Jill Smart, an Accenture executive, was skeptical the first time she stepped into her firm’s new videoconferencing room in Chicago for a meeting with a group of colleagues in London. But the videoconferencing technology, known as telepresence, delivered an experience so lifelike, Ms. Smart recalled, that “10 minutes into it, you forget you are not in the room with them.”

Accenture, a technology consulting firm, has installed 13 of the videoconferencing rooms at its offices around the world and plans to have an additional 22 operating before the end of the year.

Accenture figures its consultants used virtual meetings to avoid 240 international trips and 120 domestic flights in May alone, for an annual saving of millions of dollars and countless hours of wearying travel for its workers.

As travel costs rise and airlines cut service, companies large and small are rethinking the face-to-face meeting — and business travel as well. At the same time, the technology has matured to the point where it is often practical, affordable and more productive to move digital bits instead of bodies.

The emerging trend, analysts say, goes well beyond a reaction to rising travel costs and a weakening economy. “These technology tools are going to change the way corporations think about travel and work in the long run,” an analyst at Forrester Research, Claire Schooley, said.

Past predictions that technology could replace travel have been frequent and premature. The main difference today, analysts say, is that the technology is finally catching up to its promise. No single breakthrough explains the progress, but rather a series of step-by-step advances — and steady investment — in telecommunications networks, software and computer processing.

The results can be seen not only in the expensive new telepresence systems like those from Cisco Systems or Hewlett-Packard, but also in more mainstream collaboration technologies — Web conferencing, online document sharing, wikis and Internet telephony. The audio and desktop presentations in Web-based meetings, for example, are now more likely to be in sync and interactive.

Companies of all sizes are beginning to shift to Web-based meetings for training and sales presentations. “Only in the last two years has the technology gotten to point where it really makes sense to use it,” said Alan Minton, vice president for marketing at Cornerstone Information Systems, a 60-person business software company in Bloomington, Ind.

With his sales force doing many product demonstrations online, Mr. Minton estimates the group’s travel costs of have been cut by 60 percent and the average time to close a new sale has been reduced by 30 percent.

No one suggests that the face-to-face meeting is becoming obsolete, or that it is time for a requiem for the road warrior. Companies talk about using digital tools mainly as a way of making business travel more selective and more productive.

Still, the potential for digital displacement of business travel is substantial. A report last month by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, a group of technology companies, and the Climate Group, an environmental organization, estimated that up to 20 percent of business travel worldwide could be replaced by Web-based and conventional videoconferencing technology.

The most dedicated business travelers tend to be management consultants, investment bankers, accountants, lawyers and technology services consultants. Much of their work has to be done in person with clients. But these professionals are increasingly using online collaboration tools for work within their firms.

At I.B.M., Michael Littlejohn, a work force and technology expert in the company’s global services unit, said two years ago, he was on the road 13 to 15 days a month. These days, he says, he travels 8 or 10 days a month. “But my time spent with clients is not less,” he said. “To really understand a client’s problems or to close a deal, you need face to face.”

Corporate training and education is a field many companies are moving online, in part to trim travel costs. Darryl Draper, the national manager of customer service training for Subaru of America, used to travel four days a week, nine months of the year, presenting educational programs at dealers nationwide. Today, Ms. Draper rarely travels and nearly all of her training is done online.

Previously, Ms. Draper estimated, in six months she would reach about 220 people at a cost of $300 a person. She said she now reaches 2,500 people every six months at a cost of 75 cents a person.

A range of companies offer the mainstream online communications and collaboration tools, including WebEx, Citrix, Microsoft, I.B.M. and others. The most rarefied offering, though, is telepresence videoconferencing. Today, it is an elite product supplied by a few companies, including Cisco, H.P. and Polycom.

Completed telepresence rooms, typically with three huge curved screens (and a fourth screen above for shared work), custom lighting and acoustics, cost up to $350,000 — though that is down from $500,000, when H.P. sold its first system in early 2006.

The resolution on telepresence screens is even sharper than on high-definition televisions, and images can be magnified to inspect products. Engineers at the far-flung labs of Advanced Micro Devices, for example, scrutinize the microcircuitry on new chip designs using the company’s telepresence systems. And the images of people on screen are life-size.

Cisco, which has more than 200 telepresence rooms, figures it is avoiding $100 million in yearly travel costs, and reducing its greenhouse gas emissions from air travel by 10 percent. H.P. says air travel among its offices with telepresence rooms is down 25 percent.

When used regularly, the rooms pay for themselves within a year, analysts estimate. Sales of telepresence systems will more than double this year to 627, estimates the market research firm IDC, and reach more than 8,000 by 2012.

There is a certain paradox in telepresence, in that it is all to simulate the richest form of human interaction: people talking to each other, face to face.

And it is not a perfect substitute. Ms. Smart, the chief of human resources for Accenture, still travels about 10 days a month. “You don’t learn about other cultures in telepresence,” she said. “You get things from being there, over breakfast and dinner, building relationships face to face.”

The Coming of Age of Video Conferencing

July 21st, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

The not so popular art of meetings have come a long way. It started with two people standing face-to-face to talk. It progressed to people from different place sitting down together in a boardroom to people in different places talking on a conference call from the other side of the world at the same time. The pinnacle - so far - is taking those people in different places in a conference call, and adding video through so they can both see and hear each other.

What if you are already using conference calls to save money? Why would you want to add video as well? On a conference call, you can hear the tones and inflections of your participants and gauge their demeanor, mood, and attitude. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is live video worth? Daily it seems to be increasing with the rising costs of transportation.  However, being able to see the subtle expression changes in your participants and see what they really think. You could look them in the eye and know they will get the job done.

Another reason to do video conferences is to deal with a naughty human behavior trait almost everyone has: multi-tasking. When someone is talking on a conference call, the temptation is almost too great not to check your email, finish that memo, or look at your schedule. We are probably all guilty of this at one time or another, but the tell-tale signs are there. We suddenly hear our name spoken on the conference call and are jerked away from an email and we say, “I’m sorry, could you repeat that? What was the question?”

While multi-tasking is an excellent skill to have, there is a time and a place for it. On a video conference, you can’t be looking away for long periods of time, or under your desk fixing those pesky wires. You - and your participants - are held accountable by video to stay in the moment and at the meeting. Studies have shown that video conferences extend participants attention span and allow much less distractions. This means that your meetings will be much more productive.

And let’s not deny it, having people from all around the world looking and talking to one another is just plain cool!

Once you’ve taken the next step to video conferencing, what equipment will you need? Of course there isn’t just one solution for every company. You’ll have to look at what kind of video conferences best serve your company’s needs.

The top of the line, full body or life-size from the chest up video conference experience fits nicely into the old saying, “You get what you pay for.”  You will have the most realistic picture, no choppy pictures, no hang-ups and it will cost more. Video conferencing has come a long way in its technological advances.  Using lower bandwidths and compressing digital signals to achieve incredible video at very reasonable costs.
Video conferencing is not new, but the level of quality, expense, and ease of use are now such that it makes good sense to add it to your business arsenal.

Emmil Gaucher gives practical and usable advice regarding video conference systems.  Contact him at egaucher@bigumedia.com

or 813-984-2800

Florida Video Conferencing - In High Definition

July 2nd, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

While the cost of travel increases along with just about everything else it is nice to know some things have improved and offer greater value over time. With the advent of video conferencing many have spoken about its benefits but also its reservations. Through the years technology and know how have been able to drastically improve the visual and audio quality of video conferencing equipment. With High Definition Video Conferencing now the norm, users can enjoy visual and audio clarity that, just a few years ago would necessitate an extremely high end video conferencing equipment.

Just one example of this is provided by LifeSize High Definition video communications:

Virtual Travel with High Definition Videoconferencing

For more information regarding high definition video conferencing equipment contact: 1-813-984-2800

Companies Cut Travel Costs But Not Trips, Study Finds

June 23rd, 2008    Subscribe To Our Feed

TAMPA - Rather than reduce business travel because of the lagging economy, corporate travel managers are booking rooms in less-expensive and lower-rated hotels and increasing day trips in lieu of overnight hotel stays, according to a survey by OrbitzForBusiness.com.

Sixty percent of 610 respondents said they are traveling as much, if not more, on business this year than last, says the report, which was scheduled to be released this morning.

However, companies are reducing trade show and conference travel, with 44 percent either sending fewer people or simply not attending shows this year.

The Orbitz for Business/Business Traveler Magazine Trend Report was conducted online May 15 to 23.

“Most clients aren’t cutting back on travel; rather, they continue to look for ways to become more cost-effective with their managed travel programs in a cost-conscious economy,” said Dean Sivley, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Orbitz for Business.

The survey found that:

•41 percent are tightening travel policies and implementing more restrictions on travelers for hotels and dining.

•47 percent indicate changes to their company’s rental car policy, including requiring employees to rent the smaller/least-expensive car available (38 percent) and return vehicles with a full tank of gas to avoid costly surcharges (20 percent).

•42 percent are exploring alternatives to travel, including video conferencing.

•32 percent say the area in which they are most limiting or keeping an eye on spending is air travel, and 17 percent say their company’s per diem spending for meals has decreased in the past year

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