Are we there yet? Each year promises to be THE year that technology will replace the need for face-to-face business meetings, and therefore travel. Was 2004 THE year? Not accord- ing to industry analyst Carol Daunt, who doesn't think 2005 will be THE year either. wean neon zveees CH)RTUAL TRAVEL THE TRAVEL TERROR of the past few ‘years seems to have faded and busi ness travellers are retuming to the skies. However, technology is making its mark with conferencing technolo- ies continuing to grow steadily. Voice conferencing continues to be the outstanding performer with min. utes of use rising while price per minute falls. The plummeting prices in In large companies, frequent trav. llers seem to be embracing technology to stay in touch with colleagues while they're on the road. It has become second nature to fit meetings i ‘busy travel schedule. Some hire video: conference facilities in whatever city they find themselves, but many simply Use the telephone to dial in, They can do this from an office, from home or Grow enormously. It currently repre. ‘ents only 1% to 2% of business for the sorvice providers, but has become ‘much bigger within enterprises that have implemented it as an in-house managed service. With the entry of Microsoft into the industry, we'll see web-conferencing used in new markets ~ business-to- consumer and consumer to-consumer. the United States of 3 cents per minute have not been reached in Australia, but the trend is downwards. Services offering free voice conferencing, such as freeconterence.com, are providing over 1million minutes per month and have now spread their wings to Europe. This will eventually have impact in Australia. Already, many Australians are using the cheaper US-based services combined with a phone card to achieve very cost ‘effective conference cals. Video- and web-conferencing continue to grow and move into brosder markets. Polycom, a major video-conference system manufacturer, reported @ 28% increase in revenues for third quarter. WebEx, a major web-conterencing provider, reported a 31 revenues for third quarter, A study released by major confer encing provider MCI found that three- quarters of US business traveller surveyed had participated in a web: conference within the past 12 months. ‘The study also found business profes: sionals now take a blended approach to meetings: travelling for some, using technology for others. (C82) ewsimiss ranver monty from their mobile phones anywhere in the world. Managers realise that staff need 10 have a certain amount of face-to-face ‘contact with customers and organisa tions outside the company, but try to minimise travel by using technology 3 @ substitute. Developments in 2005 ‘The industry is divided in its predic tions for the year ahead. There are those who think that web-conferenc ing will not become mainstream, and ‘others who believe it will overtake video-conferencing as the meeting technology of choice. Elliot Gold of ToleSpan USA predicts that a ‘lite’ web-conferencing service will be offered a8 an add-on to voice: conferencing. He sees fullblown web- conferencing as a value-add, but believes that most attendees don’t care for it and the smart operators will be providing ‘lite’ services for “a penny a minute” Current usage certainly shows thi most web-conferences do not use the many features offered by the service. | think we'll see web-conferencing Microsoft's entrance will increase competition and decrease prices, and, if it decides to bundle wed-conterencing ‘as 2 free solution with Microsoft Office, this will turn the industry upside down, ‘A major development tipped for £2005 will be integration of VoIP {Voice ‘over IP) technology with wob-confer. fencing. Current systems provide the audio via telephone because it is reliable and clear. Voice integrated into the wob-conferencing system is avail able ~ but not yet the common delivery method. With improved ease of use and improved bandwidth, we can expect 10 see these two technologies quickly evolve into the common format Is it likely that video-conferencing will begin to deliv promises? The move in this arena is also to IP and this will provide cheaper calls. Large organisations are already using their internal networks to deliver video-conferencing worldwide at a fraction of previous costs. Systems are all being manufactured for use over IP ‘and ISDN will gradually fade from the though this will take five to ‘on its manyHere are some of the differences between audio- and video-conferencing. Audio-conferencing ‘An audio-conference differs from a telephone conver ‘sation in that i involves more than wo people in at least two locations. Audoconferencing may require speciol equipment or special services. Special equip- ‘ment can be as simple as 8 speakerphone or as elab- ‘orate as meeting room microphones, speakers and multi-point “bridge” technology. Advantages: 1, Basic technology and services are commonly evai- ‘able. Anywhere there's a telephone, people can par ticipate in an eudio-canference. 2. Femilerty. Most people are comfortable operating tale [Phone equpment and have expenence understanding ‘and using conversational pretaccls on the telephone. 3. Availablity of special technology. Special technology for supporting lenge groups and rooms hes become increasingly avaiable. Disadvantages: 1. When many people comerse without the benefit of visual cues, t is difcut to menage turtaking. Iertting the speaker can also be a problem. ‘Successful autiocorferencing requires. participants to folow protocols ke announcing who's speaking ‘and asking if anyone else has something to say. 2. Potential for teeing excluded. When many people are \Video-conferencing \ideoconferencing alows remote porticports to see and ‘near gech cther: Less corrmmon then auocorferencing, \deo-conferencing technology is repidy becoming stardard- ‘cod. Many large and mid-size orgenisetions now use video" ‘conferencing, and affordable Group video-conferencing sys tems are now within reach even for small companies. Advantages: 4. Ue, moving pictures. Obviously, video-conferencing Provdes participants access to the visual date we ‘rely on 80 much for nonwertal cues in communica tion. This is particularly useful during team formation ‘and when dealing with senstive or divisive issues. 2. Seeing more than the people. Conferees can also — [pintiy view and discuss images from 8 document — camera or computer, meking the videoconference much more Ike @ face-toface meeting, Disadvantages: 41, Requires specialised equipment. Availabilty of stan- dard end/or compatible video-conferencing equip- ment st all conference sites is not as likely as that ‘of phone equipment. 2. Cost of services. Usuall, the better the picture ‘exchanged, the more bandwidth will be required. Instead of paying for one call between points, you may have to pay for multiple or upgreded phone in the same room conferencing with individuals in ‘eS to gain acceptable image quality. ther places, those in the same room have the bs rica advantage of beng abe to see each other. Unless. ‘thes imbalance is carefuly mentored, remote parte ‘parts may fee! Tet out” of the group. ‘The biggest move will be in conver- Predictions for the Future scenario is on the horizon and ‘gence of technologies. Voice, video ‘and web-conferencing are already converging onto a single system that is dolivered via the desttop computer. ‘This willincreese the use of conferencing technologies. With wireless solutions, ‘we'll become much more portable and you'll see people attending meetings from cafes, sirports and other public places - if you haven't already! Well also see increased uptake of video-conferencing for mobile phones. ‘As smart phones continue to make ‘their way into the business stream and networks expand, now business uses will evolve. Just as SMS began as the domain of teenagers for fun use and then moved to being a legitimate business tool, the same will evolve for mobile videoconterencing. Where to for the future? All of the above will be trends that lead us to ‘more mobile conferencing. The PDA will become the business tool of the future that will hold all that it does ‘row, as well as replacing your phone ‘end computer. ‘Already wo've seen the invention of “podcasts. These are audio shows that ‘2utomatically uplosd to an iPod. As these mobile devices become more sophisticated, we'll be able to create voice. video- andlor web-conterences ‘hat people will receive on their mobile ‘device’. This will not have @ negative fffect on travel. On the contrary, it allows us to be more mobile, 90 we can combine travel with meetings ‘eround the world. However, the ‘Beam me up, Scottie" advanced conferencing technologies ‘are already being developed. We're ‘on the verge of virtual reality confer encing where we'll be teleporting images of ourselves into other rooms and walking into virtual meeting rooms with our colleagues. Now that will have an offect on travel - but that's at least 10 years away in my book.