Remote Conferencing Use Climbs Despite Travel Rebound

Use of remote conferencing tools continues to rise this year, even as corporate travel budgets increase and face-to-face meetings return, said industry analysts. Although the debate over the level to which remote conferencing would replace face-to-face meetings heated up in the economic downturn as corporations cut their travel budgets, today most corporations use a blended approach to virtual meetings.

Corbin Ball, president of Bellingham, Wash.-based consulting firm Corbin Ball Associates, said use of teleconferencing and Webconferencing tools will continue to rise in the coming years, though videoconferencing is becoming outdated. Also, mobile technology is expected to influence development of remote conferencing tools.

The benefit of remote conferencing systems is that they are relatively cheap to implement and use. Virtual meetings can be 90 percent less expensive than face-to-face meetings. Global access, archiving capabilities and interactive tools also are benefits to remote conferencing. However, the very nature of remote conferencing can decrease the value of a meeting. Attendees often can lose focus on the meeting message, so Ball suggested any virtual meeting be kept to less than 45 minutes in length.

"People have eliminated the amount of travel that they can, but they still feel this is a great tool. It can continue to help eliminate trips that don't need to be made, and keep focus on productivity," said Tony Terranova, vice president of product marketing and sales training for Genesys Conferencing, which has global headquarters in Montpellier, France.

Genesys has seen a consistent rise in sales and the market is far from saturated, he said. Corporations also are using these tools more. Virtual meetings are happening more often and for longer time periods, according to Genesys sales figures, he said.

Buyers said they use Web, telephone and videoconferencing applications to make their traditional meetings more productive.

Stephen McWilliam, vice president of channels for Toronto, Canada-based Fusepoint Managed Services Inc., said his company uses Webconferencing tools from Genesys Conferencing two to three times a week.

"My challenge is that I've got people across four different time zones and partners across all time zones and so we're completely infatuated and have bought into using Webconferencing," McWilliam said.

Fusepoint, a managed IT solutions provider, uses both teleconferencing and Webconferencing tools, he said. Before the company adopted the remote conferencing tools two years ago, these meetings were held at roadshows.

"Now, I can knock off four time zones in an hour," McWilliam said. "It hasn't stopped any of my travel or my team's travel. It just puts a different role on those face-to-face meetings. I can use Webconferencing to deliver information in a consistent way, and use my travel budget to do more strategic meetings."

McWilliam said his top criterion for picking a remote conferencing tool was participant ease of use. "I can't afford to waste the first 10 minutes of a meeting trying to get everybody logged in."

Although many companies find the greatest use of remote conferencing is for internal meetings, Alexandria, Va.-based GetWellNetwork uses remote conferencing for external meetings as well, said John Plunkett, director of marketing for the healthcare-related software company.

GetWellNetwork adopted Netspoke Conferencing's system in October 2004, Plunkett said. The company uses the remote conferencing tool four or five times a week, and holds biweekly sales Webconferences.

"We use it for internal meetings, we have a lot of field staff, and then once a month we have a client Webinar to talk about the latest features and what's new with our products," Plunkett said.

The remote conferencing tool also is an easy way for a sales agent to turn a phone call into an online demonstration of the company product, he said. Although the teleconferencing function of the tool occasionally is employed, GetWellNetwork frequently uses the Webconferencing functionality, he said.

Remote conferencing hasn't replaced face-to-face meetings, but Plunkett said Webconferences have been more effective in attracting new customers because they are easier to schedule and execute.

"It doesn't replace face-to-face meetings. It's a fairly long sales process and so face-to-face is part of that, but it does help to get through some of the early stages," GetWellNetwork's Plunkett said. "It helps the account learn more about us in a nonthreatening environment. It helps inform them before they get into an actual conversation."

Plunkett said he expected to use remote conferencing tools even more frequently. "We will always be looking for new and more effective and efficient ways to communicate to our marketplace, be it prospects or our customers, or our internal team," Plunkett said, "so the use of the product will continue to expand."GetWellNetwork chose Netspoke because users do not need to download a separate application before participating in a Webconference. "With other systems, it can really delay a meeting for 15 or 30 minutes because the other person didn't know you needed to download something," he said.

Genesys' Terranova said the company plans to expand the scope of its offerings. "Corporations are looking for further integration with existing business tools. One of the things that we're already testing is voice-over-IP capabilities. As IP communications start becoming more ubiquitous at enterprises, we want to be prepared for that," Terranova said.

The company in July integrated with Microsoft's Outlook to provide direct e-mail links to Webconferences. The new version also includes automatic meeting usage reports. Genesys announced in June that it has expanded into mainland China and South Korea to support its growing operations in the Asia/Pacific region. The company has offices in 24 countries.