NB: This is a guest article by Brian Beard, executive technology consultant at Amadeus.
An important meeting. Five locations. Three time zones. With an eye on travel costs, we tried to complete two days’ worth of packed agenda into a money-saving video conference.
Our intentions were good. As for our meeting? Well, here are a few observations:
- If people can’t see the speaker face to face, out comes the mobile device -- a few checks of the email, a phone call here and there (hey you can always put that video-conference on mute)
- On the subject of mute, I saw several conversations happening on the video screen (although I couldn’t hear them thanks to the handy mute button the provider employed).
- Two words: microphone placement. Annoying to say the least. Over the course of two days, I counted seven, ten, thirty (I lost count) when someone had to say “can you please get closer to the microphone? We can’t hear you!”
The results? We got through a third of the agenda. We have had two follow up video conferences since… we decided to meet in person next month.
Don’t get me wrong, I love video conferencing. But it has its place. And that place is to complement (rather than replace) business travel.
Video conferencing not travel’s nightmare
New technologies deliver unintended consequences, and video conferencing is no different.
Some predict that it will disrupt the travel business significantly cutting into the bottom lines of hotels and airlines as road warriors fire up their desktop communications instead of packing up their bags.
Not me. As you can see from personal experience, I’m not in that camp.
Despite the perks (and there are many) of fast, high-quality video conferencing that will be as common and as accessible as email within the next decade, I think its impact on travel will be surprisingly positive.
Bad economy is good for video conferencing
No question the video conferencing market is in growth mode. Last year, IDC predicted that the industry would grow at a compounded rate of 23%, almost twice as fast as it grew in the previous five. But consider the market’s backdrop.
A severely turbulent economic time makes cost-cutting tools like video conferencing very attractive.
Marketing literature of big-time video conference players is filled with case studies that show significant travel and meeting cost reductions. And as apps like FaceTime and Skype make video conferencing more mainstream, the big guys will open new markets with small and mid-size businesses looking to save money.
But as the economy rebounds, don’t expect sales managers or business managers at global corporations to hang around in the video conference room looking to move prospects through the pipeline, improve operations or conduct multi-day business meetings.
That is a face-to-face game. Always has been. Always will be.
Business travel is driven by sales
I can’t ever see video conferencing replacing the in-person requirement of a complicated sale. Take enterprise software for an airline – can this be sold by a face on a screen?
As travel budgets loosen with improving economic outlooks (someday soon, hopefully!), business travel will rebound as sales teams get on the road to meet face-to-face with customer teams.
Sales happen when people spend time together developing a relationship, building trust and understanding.
And though I do acknowledge that video conferencing may reduce the frequency of meetings once a deal is signed, don’t think that the competition isn’t showing up at your customer’s site with tickets to Sunday’s game trying to take that deal from you!
Tyranny of time zones
Additionally, don’t forget that today’s marketplace is global. Video conferencing still has its kinks, especially when spanning intercontinental distances.
Image lag and pixilation can make even the most pleasant of video conversations awkward and frustrating when you hear the voice before the lips move.
Technology, however, is on the case. As broadband speeds increase, computing power multiplies and innovation advances, I fully expect video conferencing to soon be as clear and confident as good old copper wire landline calls are today.
One thing technology cannot change is time. If you’re in Chicago and have a customer call, team meeting or project review with people in Singapore, someone’s waking up at 2am to get on the video conference call. Just remember to comb your hair.
My guess is that a few Tuesdays of time zone inconvenience will convince folks it’s better to get together in person for some quality meeting time.
Love You Daddy
So while travel will see some impact by video conferencing, I don’t think it will be significant, as a happy medium will be reached between the need to travel reinforced by what can be accomplished through video conferencing.
The hassle of traffic, weather and not enough time will turn some previously faceto-face meetings into desktop video calls, but the need for facetime will always be there.
Important meetings will happen in person, as they always have before.
Where will video conferencing make its biggest impact? Road warriors will get to be closer to their families from wherever they are in the world, remote workers will be more connected to their colleagues domestically and across the world and we could see a reduction in metropolitan traffic congestion.
But these are unintended consequences I welcome.
NB: This is a guest article by Brian Beard, executive technology consultant at Amadeus.
NB2:Image via Shutterstock.