Conferencing solutions provider, Datacom, says corporations need to introduce the latest video and web technology as an alternative to business travel, greatly reducing the company”s impact on the environment and also cutting costs.
”To reduce business travel it is critical that a practical and cost effective alternative exists and video and web conferencing now offers such a solution,” said Datacom conferencing managing director, Jocelyn Lomer.
”In fact, investing in collaborative technology such as this should become a higher strategic priority for organisations, as it will not only help them become more ethical, efficient and environmentally-friendly companies, but also offer an opportunity to better manage and optimise employees and resources.”
Datacom states that the average business meeting involves six hours away from the office, for less than a two hour meeting, with an average cost of ”2,000 ($4,000) per trip. Business travel accounts for one quarter of all air travel, it says and one return flight to New York produces 1.22 tonnes of CO2. Car travel is also a key contributor to emissions, with 6,000 miles (9,700km) producing the car”s weight in CO2.
The latest conferencing technology no longer involves the out-of-sync sound/image transmission common to earlier systems, argues Datacom, while offering additional cost-cutting benefits such as reduced air travel, hotel bookings, meals and taxis.
”Gone are the slow and jerky, almost robotic movement, the poor image quality and speech unconnected to the actual lip movement,” continued Lomer. ”Now, video and web conferencing offers effective fact-to-face eye contact with colleagues, customers and suppliers, without the time consuming, costly and environmentally damaging nature of business travel.”