Virtual Meetings Cut Travel Costs
By Monte Enbysk
Reprinted with permission from the Microsoft Small Business Center at http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness

The travel industry has taken its hits in recent years, and I hate to add to it. But in good times or bad, your business needs to scrutinize its travel budget to find ways to cut costs.

This isn't about safety. The skies are much safer these days. This is about economics. With today's "virtual meeting" technologies, you can boost your business's productivity and avoid extended trips and unnecessary travel costs.

"A majority of companies simply have higher travel expenses than they need," says Alisa Jenkins, a Tampa, Fla., area business and marketing consultant. "This doesn't mean you have to cut out all travel. There are still many cases where meeting face to face is best. But there are also good ways to meet virtually that can make many of your business trips unnecessary."

Alternatives to business travel — videoconferencing, Web conferencing, teleconferencing and online collaboration tools — continue to improve with advances in Internet and related technologies. Each will be addressed in detail below.

But first: When do you absolutely need to meet? Here are some scenarios mentioned by experts:

• You are meeting a new client.
• You are introducing new people — perhaps your replacement — to an ongoing but important business relationship.
• You are attempting to close a significant sale or cut an important deal.
• You are delivering a product that you must demonstrate.
• You need to resolve a controversial or complex problem, or discuss top-secret matters such as an acquisition or merger.
• You need to meet with an attorney to discuss legal matters.
• You need to solicit money from an investor.
• You are making sales or training presentations and your materials are best presented in person.
• Your competitors are meeting face to face with a client you want.

Perhaps you could add other scenarios specific to your company or industry. The point is, meetings remain critical to the success of your business.

However, there are many meetings where technology can substitute for travel easily and effectively.

"You generally need to find the wherewithal to make that initial contact face to face," says Diane Parks, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Zones, a Seattle-area information technology products reseller. "But once you have established a relationship, technology can save you time and money for your later meetings."

"It depends on the level of importance and whether deal-making is involved," adds Bruce D. Phillips, senior fellow for regulatory studies at the National Federation of Independent Business. "This is a year that many professional meetings, like conventions in Las Vegas, may be dispensable."

With increased airport security and the time it takes to get through airports now, the "quick trip" — where you fly to and from a meeting on the same day — isn't so quick, or practical, anymore, Parks adds.

"Virtual meetings" may not be as much fun, but they can allow you to get a lot of work done at less expense. Here's a rundown of the alternatives:

Videoconferencing
What it is: An interactive use of video, computing and communication technologies to allow people in two or more locations to meet — either one-on-one or in groups of up to a dozen people or so — without being physically together. Video can be streamed over the Internet or broadcast over television monitors.

Pluses: High-end videoconferencing systems (such as those owned by many larger corporations) can bring together large groups of people in disparate locales to hear speeches and presentations in a broadcast-quality setting. But videoconferencing today also can be done on the cheap, with inexpensive Webcams and free or low-cost software. Market leaders include Polycom.com. For small businesses trying to avoid buying or renting new equipment, there's FedEx Kinko's. More than 150 of FedEx Kinko's U.S. stores offer videoconferencing services to any location. The stores use TV monitors but also provide Internet access for document sharing.

Minuses: Unless you go to FedEx Kinko's or another videoconferencing center, audio and video equipment must be purchased. Most videoconferencing providers charge by the hour, so you may feel pressured to end on the hour and leave business undone.

Costs: Equipment costs vary from a few hundred dollars for low-end, add-on components to a PC system to several thousand dollars for an elaborate system with TV monitors. Software costs are minimal. Videoconferencing meetings can cost as little as $125 per hour. FedEx Kinko's charges $225 per hour for videoconferencing from one of its stores to one other location; the rate goes up when you add additional locations to the meeting, or if a conversion is required to connect videoconferencing equipment that is incompatible.

Web conferencing
What it is: Videoconferencing without the video — or, put another way, teleconferencing with the addition of the Web for interactive presentations, using PowerPoint, Excel or other documents. Audio can be transmitted by telephone and/or PC microphones.

Pluses: All you need is Internet access and a phone. You can make presentations at once to as many as 2,500 people in different locations. You don't have to e-mail the PowerPoint slides or other documents to your audience ahead of time — you use the visuals and highlight points in real time. Other participants can also use drawing tools to make points or take control of your presentation as well. Among the leaders in the space are Microsoft Office Live Meeting and WebEx. Both allow single-time use as well as by subscription.

Minuses: It's certainly not the same as meeting in person, and you miss out on people's facial expressions and body language, unlike videoconferencing. But for straightforward business-plan reviews, sales meetings, software demonstrations and customer presentations, it works — and brings a lot of people from far and wide together for one meeting.

Costs: Most providers base costs on length of call and number of participants, and offer a single-time service and/or subscriptions. Microsoft Office Live Meeting, for example, offers a pay-per-use rate of 35 cents per minute by each participant, as well as monthly rates (five participants for $350 a month and 10 participants for $750 a month, each with unlimited usage).

Teleconferencing
What it is: Teleconferencing services are offered by long-distance carriers or independent service bureaus using sophisticated call connection "bridges" to join many different phone calls into a single conversation. Four basic types of calls are available: operator-assisted (the easiest, but not the most flexible), 800 meet me, toll meet me and reservation-less conferencing.

Pluses: Calls can be set up quickly and easily, at relatively low cost. All you need is a telephone. Accompanying documents can be faxed, e-mailed or shipped overnight by the U.S. Postal Service to meeting participants in advance, if necessary.

Minuses: Teleconferences work well for simple information sharing and straightforward decision-making that require no visual presentation. But they are not a suitable way to discuss more-complicated matters, which could be presented better via Web conferencing. Teleconferencing also is not a desirable way to begin or even further an important business relationship. But, in a pinch, it can accomplish a lot.

Costs: Conference calls on average have at least eight people and last about 50 minutes; such calls can cost as much as $200. But you can save up to 25% on your conferencing bills by comparison-shopping to find the best deals among phone companies and other providers.

Online collaboration tools
What are they: While e-mail remains a key business tool, this discussion will focus on extranets — private Web sites that allow you to share files, documents and use message boards with selected customers or partners. Providers include Microsoft's Windows SharePoint Services.

Pluses: Having an extranet per se won't take the place of a long-distance meeting using one of the alternatives above. But it can, over time, reduce the need for some meetings by allowing you to have ongoing communication and document-sharing. Parks, for example, regularly collaborates on documents with Zones' public relations firm, located 1,000 miles away. That cuts her phone bill and saves her business trips, although she still makes a point to visit the PR office about six times a year.

Minuses: You can communicate in real time using chat or instant messaging, but most communication is not interactive. Extranets, however, effectively can turn a teleconferencing session into a Web conferencing one if all of the participants have access to the private site.

Costs: Costs vary per solution provider. Windows SharePoint Services is an intranet/extranet solution that can be hosted through Microsoft, and is available for $39.95 a month for up to 30 users. An intranet is a private Web site restricted to a company's employees and management. SharePoint can be configured to be restricted access to within a company or to a combination of employees, customers, partners and other authorized users.