It's a given that more companies are trying to find ways of cutting travel costs and linking up execs (because of the growing tide of virtual offices and remote workers, not to mention the so-called global market, See PRN, Sept. 8, 1997) through voice teleconferencing, but just how catching is this trend? According to communications giant (and teleconferencing provider) Bell South, very.
If you're exploring voice conferencing trends, here's some Bell South data worth storing:
- One out of three businesses use teleconferencing at least once a month (out of approximately 10 million businesses in the U.S., more than 3 million use teleconferencing monthly);
- Telecommuting by Fortune 500 companies is rising 10 percent per year, of which 50 percent of employers rely on teleconferencing for communications;
- Eighty percent of business-to-business face-to-face meetings for large-scale initiatives follow up with teleconferencing;
- The average cost of an audio conference with five participants in five different states for one hour is $75. The average cost to travel to a meeting site from four different states with hotel and food for four people is $2,500, including air fare; and
- Per-worker productivity increases 200 percent using teleconferencing for five multi-located participants. (Bell South, 404/927-7435)