It has been said that we need
technology to help solve all the problems caused by technology.
Transport and telecommunications technologies have fuelled
the process of globalisation, and we now expect to be able
to do business with companies anywhere in the world. But travel
services and infrastructure carry a high cost and often let us
down, while voice telephony is often insufficient for our
business purposes. So we need technology to get us out of
a fix.
Advances in air transport have brought a myriad
of worries, varying from massive pollution, the high speed
transport of diseases, the unproductive time taken to skip ever
greater distances and last but by no means least the cost of
travel, which invariably isn’t just about the air ticket. Long
distance travel often involves taxis and/or buses, hotels and
subsistence costs. On top of this there is a stress factor
involved, that with all the other costs, is totally unnecessary.
Thankfully global trading, which is impacting an
increasing number of UK companies, can employ technology to
great effect to overcome the adverse effects of flying here,
there and everywhere to attend meetings.
Electronic face-to-face
Videoconference
technology has developed greatly in 20 years. Using a
videoconferencing booking service, businesses of all sizes can
take advantage of the electronic face-to-face meeting and
discuss issues at 200 locations in the UK and a further 1,600
world-wide, with a starting price of £80 per hour with a
£30 booking fee.
The main impediment to the growth and
development of the videoconference is the mindset of executives
themselves. Somehow we have been conditioned to think that if we
need to sort out a matter in a way that requires a bit more than
a telephone chat, we need a real-time face to face meeting. We forget that this is entirely possible electronically.
The joy of the videoconference is that one can
plan one's time to greater effect. An important meeting with a
distant business associate need only take an hour or so out of
the day and one can plan to be fresh and on-the-ball. In a
hectic business world, the ability to plan to be at ones best
undoubtedly gives one competitive edge.
An increasing number of business
executives assure me that the videoconference can form a crucial
part of their business development strategy. This strategic
approach to meetings can hardly be built into a programme
involving long haul flights, a few airline meals and an extended
wait on a polluted highway. Videoconferencing empowers managers to
use time/management and planning skilfully.
Advantages over physical
face-to-face
In fact there are circumstances where the
videoconference will score over the conventional face to face
meeting. When you need to gather people from, say, a couple of
locations in Scotland, a couple in England and a further two
more in Italy and France problems can arise. These problems
increase proportionately with the commitments and the position
of the people involved.
Bridging technology enables a videoconference to
be conducted at any number of locations, and the problems of
getting a number of key players together at the same time in the
same place is much less of an issue. To this effect the
videoconference scores over the conventional meeting.
This growth has in turn given a boost to the
recruitment industry and a rapidly growing number of job
interviews are now conducted remotely. In countries such
as Australia, it already forms a regular part of long distance
recruitment. And the same is beginning to happen here.
For
those that have their own video studio, a booking service
provides a management and planning utility that reduces the
technical headaches that can undermine a videoconference. For
those that don’t have their own equipment, Eyenetwork has facilities
available for hire.
The electronic meeting is the shape of
gatherings to come and it is a reflection of a business just how
effectively it can use this important and exciting new
technology.
|
