Friday, September 12, 2008
By Margaret Harding, The Columbus Dispatch
Rocky VanBrimmer gets camera-ready from his couch.
The Delaware real-estate agent goes from loungewear to work wear by simply throwing on a business shirt over his white T-shirt and torn jeans. After all, he needs to look professional only from the waist up.
Instead of hopping in a car or boarding a plane, VanBrimmer uses an online video-chatting system called ooVoo to do business with other agents across the country.
Videoconferencing is on the rise as businesses struggle to keep up with soaring travel costs on tight budgets.
Worldwide in 2007, videoconferencing grew by 29 percent from the year before, and it is expected to grow by about 21 percent each year until 2012, Frost & Sullivan analyst Krithi Rao said.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH , RENEE SAUER
From his couch in Delaware, Minister Realty agent Rocky VanBrimmer uses ooVoo, an online video-chatting system, to speak with Todd Wailer (left on the computer screen) in Ann Arbor, Mich. VanBrimmer said the system is cheap and easy.
That's a change from $1.6 billion worth of videoconferencing in 2007 to an expected $4.2 billion in 2012.
She credits the growth to high travel costs, increased interest in reducing a company's carbon footprint and more workers who are comfortable using video, among other factors.
"It's a perfect combination of a perfect storm," she said. "The technology has been advancing over the last couple of years. It's hit the point where it's really acceptable to businesses."
VanBrimmer, who works for Minister Realty, also finds ooVoo's price acceptable. The service allows a user to video-chat with two people for free. Its premium service, for $10 a month, allows a user to video-chat with five people and offers other features.
While VanBrimmer uses online conferencing to expand business, other companies are using video and Web conferencing to keep travel costs in check.
A National Business Travel Association survey found that 50 percent of travel managers said their organizations are encouraging less air travel and 75 percent are reporting at least a 5 percent rise in Web and teleconferencing in lieu of travel.
That trend is in evidence among large local employers.
At any given minute, three videoconferences are going on at Nationwide, said Dennis May, manager of live events for the company.
May said 2,025 had taken place by July this year, nearing the 2,112 mark for all of last year.
"The growth each year is just exponential," he said.
Nationwide has about 87 videoconference rooms and another 65 desktop units that can be used for that purpose. The company uses the conferencing for training, broadcasting big events and interviewing.
"The vice president in the Florida office was interviewing someone in Des Moines for a position down in Florida," May said. "We can reach anywhere in the world."
The practice cuts costs and improves efficiency, he said.
"Now you have an executive whose time is very valuable only being gone in a meeting for an hour instead of two days," May said.
He said the company is buying new units with high-definition capabilities.
"The quality has gotten very good. It's like sitting in the same room with someone," he said.
As the technology improved, prices have gone down, said Ken Velten, the senior vice president of marketing and corporate development for ConferencePlus, based in Schaumburg, Ill.
"Remember when people used to be concerned about (the cost of) making a long-distance phone call? That's changed for conferencing as well," Velten said.
He said ConferencePlus, which offers phone, video and Web conferencing, saw a 70 percent increase this year from last in what it calls "Webinars."
Use of these online seminars can save a company money on hotel, airfare and other costs associated with a large conference, Velten said.
"It's a fraction of the overall cost to do it virtually," Velten said.
Research nonprofit Battelle relies on video and Web conferencing to reduce travel costs, especially in the international offices, spokeswoman Katy Delaney said.
Battelle has 20,000 employees in 120 locations, including new offices in South Korea, Japan, India and Malaysia.
"That is really where we're seeing the spike in videoconferencing," Delaney said. "You're talking travel expenses -- those are big."
Part of the increase in video and Web conferencing is the changing mind-set of workers, said Rao, the analyst.
"There's also an unconscious mental barrier that's going away because of a new generation of workers," she said. "They're used to video. They're used to YouTube."
VanBrimmer, who discovered the online chatting system this spring, said ooVoo and other social-network media have changed how he does business.
While he could use e-mail or the phone to develop contacts, he said, using video replicates a face-to-face meeting and brings a new comfort level to the arrangement.
"Although that person's not there physically in front of me, they're in front of me," he said. "The only thing you can't do is shake their hand."
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