Pushing forward with a "multi-tiered travel
alternatives" initiative to reduce carbon emissions, Microsoft Corp. has
installed nine high-end videoconferencing units in its top cities and plans to
install eight more by the end of its fiscal year in June 2011. Curbing some
travel by its 50,000 travelers since May with an initial launch of five suites,
Microsoft estimated the units will cut trips between its top 10 cities by at
least 5 percent, thereby reducing its $700 million in annual travel and
entertainment spend and shrinking its carbon footprint, according to senior
global travel manager Eric Bailey.
"This isn't an alternative to travel," Bailey
noted during a recent ProMedia.travel/BCD Travel webinar. "This technology
isn't necessarily replacing travel. If it took out 1 percent of our travel
budget, it would be a positive return on investment. It isn't like we are
saying that we need to cut 30 percent of our travel. At this point, we just
need to start making some impact on it. Maybe reduce one out of five or one out
of 10 trips."
After conducting a cost-benefit analysis, Microsoft's travel
department determined that the greatest benefit would be in its top 10 cities,
to which executives sometimes travel weekly. Those cities include London, San
Francisco, Singapore, Seattle and Tokyo.
According to Bailey, Microsoft opted for Hewlett-Packard's
Halo system "because of HP's commitment to have them interoperable with
Microsoft Lync," the company's communications and collaboration tool.
Microsoft's IT group rebuilt parts of Halo and branded it internally as
Microsoft IT Telepresence.
"We have a three-year timeframe on cost reductions, but
we will see reductions before that," according to Bailey. "The goal
is currently to break even because of the other benefits of the technology,
which include carbon reduction, work-life improvements and faster product
development."
During the webinar, Bailey said Microsoft is "putting a
third or half" of the suites at its headquarters in Redmond, Wash.
Initially, Microsoft began the project expecting "that
technology is always going to save you money in the long term," Bailey
said. However, as more users stepped into telepresence suites, an improved
work-life balance became another reason to push for more rooms. At Microsoft,
some employees take more than 100 flights a year, he noted.
"The rooms are booking up, and we haven't fully
implemented yet," he said. "We are starting to get some positive
feedback. Even if we didn't get all the money back from the telepresence
[technology], all the other benefits will outweigh the cost.
"Even if you get the budget to go to Beijing, taking
the time to adjust to the time zones over there and being gone for a week isn't
something people necessarily want to do," Bailey continued. "A lot of
those meetings are just sitting down for a couple hours with somebody. We're
definitely getting interest from a lot of those people who say, 'I just want to
be able to get more done; I don't want to sit on an airplane for so long.' They
can get that done with a very effective meeting in two or three hours without
going across the ocean."
The "economic downturn helped" to shift the
mindset of frequent travelers, a challenge Bailey presumed would be difficult,
especially with the company's sales representatives. Yet, most agreed that some
travel "isn't a good use of time or resources," he said, adding that
employees were "really starting to shift away from the old 'get in front
of [clients] with the handshake.' "
For travelers who say they prefer to attend face-to-face
meetings to better gauge clients' or colleagues' facial expressions, Bailey
found that once they experienced the technology, they were comfortable with it.
"We give a lot of freedom and control to the travelers,
and we know that there are times when you need to travel," Bailey said. "Generally,
people don't fly somewhere just to get on a plane and wait on a security line
and sit in an airport for two hours."
One use of the virtual conferencing option, Bailey
explained, could be to gather Asia-based employees in Beijing, for example, and
Europe-based ones in Paris. "You would have two sets so each of those
[groups of] people would have a real meeting, but there also would be the
virtual side of it," he said.
To increase adoption, the company inserted Microsoft IT
Telepresence popup notifications within its online travel booking tool,
allowing travelers to click a link to Microsoft Outlook to reserve the virtual
conferencing rooms.
Communicating Via
Virtual Channels
Microsoft employees also communicate via a Web portal for
brief, internal meetings, Bailey said. Microsoft Lync allows employees to
connect through their computer screens and share videos. Lync displays
employees' availability to chat and can inform workers when someone is trying
to reach them on their cell phone or office phone.
"Microsoft Lync is installed on everybody's computer
within the company—we have 90,000 users active right now," said Bailey. "Your
computer becomes your phone. All of your voicemail goes through your computer;
all of your discussions. Everything is routed through your computer. Maybe I
can have a quick five-minute conversation or instant message back and forth."
Lync also shares presentations "in real time" for
groups and meetings, Bailey added. For other small meetings, Microsoft also
uses Virtual Teleconference Endpoints in more than 350 locations worldwide.
This report appears in
the Nov. 8 issue of Business Travel News.