Mtg. Planners: Conference Technology Onus Not On Us

Despite the newfound prominence of videoconferencing and Webconferencing, most corporations have chosen not to involve meetings or travel personnel in the management of these travel alternatives.

According to an exclusive Meetings Monitor survey of 137 corporate meetings buyers, nearly 70 percent of those polled indicated that none of their companies' videoconferences were planned by meeting planners, and 66 percent said the same about Webconferences.

Though the strength shown in the travel alternatives industry after Sept. 11 continues to hold—36 percent of respondents said their companies would use the video technology more this year than last, and 31 percent said so regarding Webconferencing—the responsibility to direct their usage usually resides in other business services departments.

There are many possibilities regarding videoconferencing management's place within a corporate structure, but, in many cases, the directive to adopt or increase use of travel alternatives emanated directly from corporate senior management, which often designated internal information technology services departments as the lead enabler of the effort. "In most cases, it's outside corporate travel or meetings," said consultant S. Ann Earon, president of Skillman, N.J.-based Telemanagement Resources International. "It's usually through senior executives or IT, and it's often executives forcing IT to look at it because it's a technology issue."

Some buyers noted that there are clear guidelines that govern when and if their departments will be involved in a remote conference. "We've supported videoconferencing very much, and we use it at all of our key sites in the United States and Europe," said Susan Dupart, director of corporate services at San Jose, Calif.-based Aspect Communications. "Usage probably hasn't increased because we use it for very definite functions, like staff meetings. We use it as an alternative to travel but not necessarily as a replacement."

Dupart said Aspect used to have an in-house videoconferencing department, but last year the company outsourced that operation to two outside vendors. However, the former department employees went to work for those companies and stayed on Aspect's grounds. Those managers, not meeting planners, she said, handle all corporate videoconferencing services.

Meeting planners at Cisco Systems Inc., also based in San Jose, get involved in a videoconference only if the technology is connected with an existing meeting, including video broadcasting of conferences, breakout sessions or larger companywide events, said manager of meeting services Michele Snock. "Typically, we won't get involved in small, internal videoconferences," Snock said. "With larger conferences, it's on an as-needed basis."

Smaller remote conferences often fall under the purview of the individual department participating, because the cost of the conference often comes out of their budgets. "The decision makers are often at the department level," said David Rosenberg, Chicago-based executive vice president of sales and marketing at Genesys Conferencing. "The heads of departments control their budgets and will use the tools they find effective. If the CFO, for example, says to cut travel, each department must tighten its belt.

"Vanilla audioconference or a Webconference can be handled at the user level," Rosenberg continued. "Videoconferencing has an IT focus, because it needs to be set up and have efficient controls provided. Usually, planners don't get involved there unless there's a specific event, typically a large companywide meeting or a larger event that needs very high-end and high-touch services. It runs the gamut, but smaller videoconferences are actually conducted by sales, marketing, human resources or other departments."

There are some similarities between how the role of travel and meetings management is viewed by corporate senior management and the internal role of travel alternatives. Companies that view their travel and meetings departments as parts of a larger services department are less likely, it seems, to involve them in remote conferencing management. "In many organizations, travel is not directed from the top down, but is part of a general business services environment," Earon said. "There's more attention to the message at other companies, where travel is driven from the top."

It is rare that a meeting or travel department seeks to reduce travel costs with video- or Webconferencing on its own accord, she said. "I have not found many travel departments that have initiated looking at this," Earon said. "It seems to be an 'out of sight, out of mind' issue. There were some in travel and some in IT that knew immediately after Sept. 11 they would need to deal with this. It depends on the company. At one company I work with, travel is proactively involved, but at others that outsource travel, they keep their heads in the sand, even after Sept. 11. Pressure from the top down to look in this area started before then because of the economy, but Sept. 11 propelled that trend much further."