Conferencing is in High Demand: Are You Maximizing Collaboration?
Posted by Kathleen S on Tue, Dec 22, 2009 @ 07:50 AM
The global economy has put increased demands on the small to medium sized business (SMB) sector. At the same time, many SMBs have felt the crunch of the economic impact. In order to stay viable, these companies must be able to drive effective communications among employees, partners and customers. When geographic locations are dispersed or employees telecommute, the SMB needs a robust conferencing solution.
Industry Research Suggests Growth
According to a recent Frost & Sullivan report, Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration, 61 percent of organizations said they use collaboration technologies to cut the need for business travel. The same report also found that more than half of those responding think conferencing tools present a powerful alternative to making in-person office visits.
One interesting element found in this report was the impact conferencing can have in different regions of the world. For instance, conferencing tends to be in high demand within the Asia-Pacific region and the United States when face-to-face meetings are not possible or necessary. Europeans, however, tend to prefer in-person meetings and business travel.
The Telecommuting Connection
With the advancement in technologies over the past few years, a number of companies have implemented telecommuting platforms to allow employees to work from locations other than the physical brick and mortar building. Such a platform is more easily integrated when a conferencing solution is already in place.
In the Frost & Sullivan report, 47 percent of respondents reported they have a formal telecommuting policy in place, yet less than a third telecommute at least once a week. Another 22 percent telecommute on a daily basis and 61 percent would like to work from anywhere.
India tends to be the most telecommuting-friendly country as 59 percent of its organizations have a formal telecommuting policy and 48 percent telecommute on a daily basis. Hong Kong is in a close second at 54 percent and the United States currently comes in at 47 percent with as many as 25 percent of U.S. workers telecommuting daily.
Conferencing is Collaboration
Brian Cotton, vice president for information and communications technologies for Frost & Sullivan, noted that this research shows that the adoption of progressively more advanced unified communications and collaboration tools such as conferencing solutions can help organizations to achieve a strong return on collaboration while also improving processes across all business functions.
An apparent advantage with conferencing solutions is that a robust, collaborative platform, designed according to the needs of an SMB, can help to enable enterprises and organizations to speed decision making, increase productivity and improve interactions. Taking such an approach to communications can significantly develop the competitive edge.
