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Why Videoconferencing?
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Business travel can be maddeningly inefficient. Traveling a few hours to attend a one-hour meeting and then having to retrace your steps home at the end of the
meeting can be tiring. Videoconferencing gives you the benefits of in-person meetings while slashing travel time.
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Videoconferencing adds a visual element that provides more depth to meetings. In addition to being able to see the people you are meeting, you can give actual
product demonstrations, make a presentation from a common set of documents, and conduct real-time collaborations like a brainstorming session.
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And the cost? For a 1-hour videoconference that involves two locations, expect to pay about $420.00 at an average rate of $175.00 per location per hour and
associated ISDN connection charges. At first, it sounds like a lot of money. And it is, if you contrast it to a phone call that costs $10-$15 or a teleconference, which
can set you back $80-$120 by comparison.
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But stack up a videoconference versus business travel and the savings become apparent.
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Travel costs for one person can easily hit $500 when you account for
airfare, hotel, meals, and car rental. Send another person to this meeting and the difference in cost between a videoconference and travel are wiped out. Even without
another person, a videoconference can still be more cost-effective if you factor in the cost of lost productivity due to travel time, or the additional costs of international travel.
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Have a multi-point videoconference (more than two locations), which is very common, and you really save, save, save $$$. Placement interviews, legal depositions, professional witnesses, checking up on the audit team that has been out for 2 weeks, or meeting with all of the field people that are scattered around the globe; all of these are very common videoconference applications.
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Admittedly, some aspects of face-to-face meetings like the ritual shuffling of business cards and the traditional exchange of handshakes, a business lunch or golf game, just can't happen via video.
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But for the time-saving and productivity you gain, its a tradeoff worth investigating.
Enjoy Videoconferencing!
Its Smart Business!
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