compete with the traditional in-situ screen and base units.”
Director and internet strategist of
social media marketing company ZiiRii, Shilpa Panchmatia, uses Skype and GoToMeeting. “The good thing about Skype is that if you have got wifi, you can bring it up on your iPhone. The quality is not brilliant but for internal stuff it is perfect,” she says. “We have a development team in India and have reduced costs radically by using VOIP [voice over internet protocol].” Skype Premium includes group video-calling and group screen-sharing. For larger numbers of people,
Panchmatia uses GoToMeeting. “It is a bit more robust and we use it for technical reasons rather than face-to- face – for sharing software or going to a competitor’s site. Skype is brilliant for face-to-face,” she says. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has long had VC technology in its 35 offices across the UK and, although sustainability is embedded in the partnership, the firm still needs to see clients to pitch for and execute business. Ironically, as business has picked up and travel has increased, so has use of VC.
“If we can travel sensibly, we can keep costs down for clients and also for the business,” says the firm’s business travel manager, Will Hasler. PwC set environmental targets in 2007 to cover five years to June 2012, which included air travel. Sustainability is written into travel policy and the organisation’s travel champions network – largely secretaries, who do the lion’s share of bookings – challenge unnecessary travel. PwC’s VC hours increased by 27 per cent over the financial year 2010/11 – with 900 hours in February alone – but so did air miles travelled (22 per cent). However, by the June target date, the firm will
Ironically, as business has picked up and travel has increased, so has use of VC
have reduced CO2 emissions by at least 38 per cent per head for non- chargeable travel, with chargeable travel “impacted favourably”. One obstacle to VC is that the offices containing the equipment are often taken up with other meetings.
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However, says Hasler: “We continue to increase the number of rooms available for VC – our More London office [near Tower Bridge] has 24 rooms that permit it, and several offices have mobile equipment, which can be used in a number of rooms. In addition, there is increasing use of other collaborative tools such as Microsoft Live Meeting to share documents or presentations.” Hasler recently did a presentation via Live Meeting from Leeds, to the travel-champion community. He had around 20 people in the room with him and the rest joined online. “We all know each other very well and there was no client involved, so it was less of a risk,” he says. “Live Meeting allows you to show anything on your desktop via the internet, so you can walk through a project plan with a client, for example. People need to choose the appropriate medium for the level of engagement.” The last word goes to managing director of business travel service ABT UK, Cilla Goldberger. “We know that the majority of corporates have stipulations in their policies about ensuring that videoconferencing is an option before approving any sort of travel,” she says. “I don’t see it as a danger to our industry – at the end of the day, you still need that face-to-face meeting and handshake to close the deal.” ■