Follow our step-by-step guide to videoconferencing and you’ll reduce a percentage of your travel spend, says Gillian Upton

THERE is an entire raft of reasons why video/web conferencing hasn’t ever taken off in this country – from technical glitches to high call charges – but today, the reasons to implement it have never been stronger, not least to reduce your company’s carbon footprint, circumvent airport tax and congestion charges and satisfy duty of care issues.

“There were many teething troubles and they’ve largely been resolved,” asserts Jocelyn Lomer, managing director of datacom conferencing, an end-to-end video, audio and web conferencing solutions company. Videoconferencing solutions today are far more robust, less expensive and more user friendly. Lomer reckons that calls are 80 per cent less costly now than in recent times.

One company who has been using videoconferencing in an effort to reduce travel costs and improve communication for several years is ConstructionSkills, formerly known as the construction industry training board. Head of Business Support, Geoff Hogg initially rented the equipment, and then purchased the units. Some are stand-alone units to accommodate the company’s need for one-to-one meetings, while others are multi-user type, to satisfy the demand for meetings from multiple offices.

The benefits are clear, he says. “With multiple sites across the UK it allows us to have appropriate meetings with the staff involved and enables us to be more inclusive. It has become part of our ‘Simpler, Faster, Closer’ culture. Savings have been made by better use of staff time and the elimination of travel,” says Hogg.

STEP 1: Ask whether it will suit your company. If you have multiple sites throughout the United Kingdom or across a region, or a high percentage of remote workers or external teams, it is ideal.

Videoconferencing can also be arranged to serve a virtual ‘team’ from three or four different companies or countries.

Up to 12 people can share a screen, an Excel spread sheet, white board or PowerPoint slide on the new-fangled and much cheaper laptop solutions that are launching over the next few months.

“It’s ideal for a weekly sales meeting for six people and it doesn't break the bank,” says Lomer.

STEP 2: You must appoint a person to administer/manage the videoconferencing; to communicate telephone numbers, ISP addresses, check availability, and so on.

One-to-one calls are relatively easy to deliver and manage but video ‘bridged calls’, where more than two people are connected, require management.

ConstructionsSkills has its video-conferencing facility on its email system and users can book usage of it just as they would with a meeting room.

STEP 3: Problems with the hardware in the past have revolved around after-care service. Make sure that you retain the services of a videoconferencing management company for emergency back-up when things go wrong, or for a management service to check the system remotely and to book all the rooms.

Bear in mind that there is a cost to this. “We experienced teething problems,” said Hogg. “We had issues when it wasn’t working and we didn’t know whether it was the line or the equipment that was causing problems, and it’s a hassle trying to find out what it is,” he explains. The company therefore opted to retain the services of datacom conferencing for back-up support.

STEP 4: Train staff if any of them are technophobes, otherwise the costly equipment you have bought will not be utilised. ConstructionSkills had no need to train staff, as its system was intuitive.

“It just takes common sense,“ says Hogg, “and we have detailed instruction cards in each of the rooms.”

STEP 5: Get buy-in from the top echelons of the company and market the service to all your employees.

“Videoconferencing is often seen as the preserve of the board and no one else is allowed to use it,” says Lomer. “You must ensure that the equipment is tested and that it’s easy to use.” Hogg adds: “It helps if you have a champion at a high level.”

STEP 6: Consider incentivising employees to use the system, if necessary, in order to get acceptable adoption rates.

“It’s been quite well received,” says Hogg. “The question we put to staff is, ‘Do you want to travel two hours in a car or sit in an office for half an hour?’“

Hogg’s advice to first-time users is to try it. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s best for short meetings,” he believes.

The network and systems providers
Arel Live Meeting: www.arelcom.com
Datacom conferencing: www.datacom.uk.net
BT Conferencing: www.conferencing.bt.com
ConferencePlus: www.conferenceplus.com
Network-i: www.network-i.net
Wire One Communications: www.wireone.com
ACT teleconferencing: www.acttel.com

VIDEO HARDWARE SUPPLIERS
AUDEO: www.audeo.co.uk
City IS London: www.cityis.com


WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER VIDEO-CONFERENCING
It will cut overheads such as airfares, hotel bills, meals and taxis, and will lessen staff ‘downtime’ by reducing the number of days out of the office. The average business meeting involves six hours out of the office, for a meeting only two hours long.

It will reduce your carbon footprint. The average company-owned car travelled just under 21,000 miles in 2004. Every 6,000 miles a car travels, it produces its own weight in CO2 emissions.

It will enhance staff welfare and reduce levels of stress and risk from travelling. Over 14,000 people are killed or injured each year while undertaking ‘at work travel’. Over 70 per cent of business trav-ellers are stressed by business travel, and work-related stress costs 12-16 per cent of the payroll.

COST COMPARISON
No one is suggesting that videoconferencing can replace all meetings, but if there is a need for six people from six offices to meet say, four times a month, physically, for an hour each time, it will be cost effective.

The travel outlined above would cost £2,000 per month (taking in travel time, petrol etc and based on 53p per mile and a 100-mile two-way trip per attendee). By comparison, a room-based video conferencing set-up would cost nearer £800 per month, reckons datacom conferencing. If you add to this the cost of hotels and lost time travelling, then the cost saving is far more significant.

Furthermore, if you were to compare costs of a videoconference meeting with a business trip to Hong Kong for three or four days, by a high-ranking executive costing £500 per hour, then the savings really accrue. The cost of the executive’s time is £12,000 over three days, and that’s without adding in the cost of flights and hotel accommodation and the physical wear and tear.

BACK

PROFILE
Geoff Hogg
HEAD OF BUSINESS SUPPORT, CONSTRUCTION SKILLS

Geoff Hogg is Head of Business Support at ConstructionSkills. He has over 30 years procurement experience and has been with the compnay for the last 15 years, responsible for all ConstructionSkills procurement.

Jocelyn Lomer
MANAGING DIRECTOR, DATACOM

Jocelyn Lomer is MD of datacom conferencing 
(ww.datacom.uk.net), a specialised audio, video and web systems solutions provider and consultancy. He founded the company in 2000, after 20 years experience in communications, including a role as senior product manager with Cable & Wireless. He is a chartered engineer and member of the Institute of Engineering and Technology