Press

Virtual meetings could save businesses billions

Today, almost half a million businesses are expected to participate in Virtual Meeting Day and show how the British economy could save billions of pounds.

The day, organised by Work Wise UK as a part of Work Wise Week, is expected to have around ten per cent of businesses taking part. They will be replacing traditional face-to-face meetings with audio, video or web conferencing, avoiding travel and subsistence costs and the waste of employees’ valuable time.

Increasingly the demands of business necessitate saving money yet increasing efficiency and maintaining quality and this is when making greater use of virtual meetings can play a major role.

In the case of BT, a founder strategic partner of the Work Wise campaign, statistics indicate that the use of phone, web and video conferencing saves 300,000 face to face meetings per year. This had led to a reduction in carbon footprint of 60% in the last ten years (1996-2006) largely as a result of lower property use and travel, quite aside from the money saved in fares, expenses and motor vehicles.

Sarah Stewart, project director of Work Wise North East, said: “In these straitened times, holding virtual meetings represents a great opportunity to cut costs and boost productivity. If every business aimed for just ten additional virtual meetings a year, they could save a staggering £14 billion collectively.

“There are also the economic benefits of reduced congestion, while cuts in emissions would amount to a massive saving of 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the 4.7 million small businesses in the UK alone.”

Holding just one virtual meeting typically saves organisations at least £298, 247 miles of travel and at least three hours travel time, according to research from BT Business.

Regional development agency, One North East, has recently invested a considerable sum in enhancing its virtual technology in a bid to reduce costs, reduce travelling and support value for money initiatives across the areas of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Michael Hitchen, ICT senior specialist on the Information Management & Technology Team, has worked with the facilities team to implement this new round of video conferencing technology. He explains:

“One North East is a major supporter of flexible working methods and smarter working. We have invested in new technology as we see this as the way ahead for communicating with our employees and our external partners.

“We have remote desk top software to provide a secure desk top environment accessible from anywhere in the world while web cams and ISDN video conferencing allow face to face discussions and presentations. We decided to upgrade our systems to allow staff to work flexibly and remotely and also to host multi site connections. The next generation of telephone systems, VoIP will be installed over the next two years so we can link to email and various other applications. There are definitely lessons to be learned from the social networking websites in terms of how to improve communication.”

While many companies have not yet fully embraced the concept of virtual meetings, for fast growing technology solutions provider, Onyx Group, they play an integral role in the company’s continued success and rapid growth.

Jill Ward, business development manager, has worked at Onyx Group for two years and has been involved in tele-conferencing from the outset. She says it would be difficult to imagine operating without the use of virtual meetings, which have become a staple part of the weekly work schedule.

“Each week we hold our managers’ meeting by tele-conferencing as it simply would not make sense to have 12 managers travelling to Middlesbrough from four sites for an hour long meeting. We also use it for internal communications because we hold different skills in each location and by using a VoIP (voice over IP) phone system, we can speak to one another free of charge.

“At our Edinburgh office, we have created a 200-seat workplace recovery centre for companies which have suffered some form of disaster. Video conferencing plays a key role in getting companies back up and running quickly.”

Work Wise UK, a not-for-profit organisation, promotes smarter working practices, such as flexible, remote and mobile working, and working from home. This is the fourth year that Work Wise UK has run Work Wise Week, which involves a series of themed days, starting from Tuesday, May 12 to Monday, May 18, demonstrating the benefits of smarter working. Supporters of the initiative include BT, the TUC, TfL, CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce.