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Remote Conferencing on the Rise, Supplementing High-Growth Business Travel

By Corrie Dosh / July 17, 2007

The Federal Aviation Administration in March said aviation delays would grow in the coming years if the nation does not make "significant" infrastructure reforms. "Forecasters predict air traffic will increase by the equivalent of two major hub airports each year through 2020," the agency said. "The number of passengers carried by U.S. commercial air carriers is on track to hit the one billion mark by 2015."

Nor is that all leisure travel. For two straight years, two-thirds of more than 130 members of the National Business Travel Association have said their companies would take more trips than they had the previous year.

No wonder companies are seeking alternatives to travel.

Though remote conferencing tools have long been available to firms seeking to reduce travel costs and save traveler sanity, a more intense drive for the use of web-, audio- and videoconferencing tools has emerged during the past year.

[PULL_1]Mergers and acquisitions in the market are happening "every week" as the competitive landscape shifts and vendors fight for market share, Zamoszczyk added. Competition is based not only on price, but also functionality, as customers demand tools that not only replace travel, but also enhance business objectives. "The main reason is to reduce travel-related costs, and the second is to increase productivity and competitiveness. We are also seeing a trend toward the implementation of this technology to reduce the carbon footprint."

In North America, cost and productivity continue to be the greatest influences on use of remote conferencing, while concerns about carbon emissions play a greater role in Europe, Zamoszczyk said.

However, some U.S.-based vendors, expecting concerns over emissions to continue to increase, have started to promote their "green" technology solutions. Dan Ford, director of product marketing for Rearden Commerce, said his company sees a tremendous opportunity in webconferencing as travel costs rise and corporate social responsibility initiatives gain ground.

"Actual use of webconferencing technology at organizations is a fraction of what it could be," Ford said.

Many employees do not know which webconferencing vendor their company prefers-resulting in some paying rack rates for webconferencing services--and do not realize the potential cost savings and positive environmental impact, Ford said. To overcome these challenges, Rearden advises clients to build adoption through convenience, suggesting its products can be "addictive." Rearden also offers standard discounts with vendors available through its products.

[PULL_2]Telepresence, with systems costing in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, features large, life-size images of meeting participants, high-quality audio and services to make connections automatic and seamless.

"The technology is hidden, and they're trying to create a very pleasing meeting space instead of just a TV with a video system in front of it," Weinstein added.

Use of telepresence systems is not expected to skyrocket, but many major companies are installing rooms for high-end board meetings, briefings, and research and development.

"We are seeing adoption, but these solutions are expensive," Weinstein said. "This is not the kind of purchase that somebody slaps on their corporate credit card. Videoconferencing is viewed as an IT solution, and it's the IT department that creates the videoconferencing strategy for the company. Telepresence is viewed as a communications tool; it's an executive tool because of the cost. So it tends to be paid for out of different budgets, it tends to be deployed in smaller numbers and it has to go through a different approval process."

Since cost is not really a consideration in purchasing these systems, return on investment metrics are difficult to implement. The focus for the customer is on the quality of the experience as a true virtual meeting that can substitute for an in-person event. Time savings, not cost savings, is the biggest user benefit. "You can have five face-to-face meetings a day instead of one," Weinstein said.

Weinstein said he expects more deployments of telepresence technology every year. Yet, as technology for videoconferencing continues to improve with high-definition monitors, and the price of telepresence remains high, use of the premium systems will continue to be limited.

"Telepresence is generating a huge amount of interest and hype, but more often than not that demand is being fulfilled with an HD videoconferencing system," he said.

Plans are in place at Wainhouse's WebMetrics project to begin tracking demand for archival and management tools and to continue research into how customers want to use remote conferencing technology, whether for ad hoc events or scheduled meetings, Greenberg said.

Greenberg said he expects webconferencing to be accessible by users in different ways as unified communications packages gain favor in the future. Users may be able to launch online meetings within other applications--such as a Microsoft Word document, for example.

"Definitely, use will continue to increase. There is no doubt about it," said Frost & Sullivan's Zamoszczyk. "We see a massive deployment of such technologies separately or in bundles."

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