Conference Call Audio Web

In tough climates – of both economical and ecological varieties – “green” is the hottest buzzword for enterprises that strive to spend wisely and reduce their carbon footprint.

 

Just ask the hundreds of folks who attended Technology Marketing Corporation’s ITEXPO (News - Alert) West – an event that will be held in Miami during  ITEXPO East 2010 early next year - where a number of session panelists rhapsodized on the importance of energy efficiency, power supplies, smart grids and saving money.

 

One of the easiest ways to keep those green dollar bills in-house while saving the earth is swapping business trips for teleconferencing. Like cell phones or the Internet, the quality of teleconferencing technology, as well as mediums like video-conferencing, has come a long way over the last few years.

 

Still, many companies don’t realize the extent to which teleconferencing fits in with their environmental goals, and, in turn, saves thousands of dollars. In a detailed blog on the topic -- “Will Videoconferencing Kill Business Class Travel,” -- green-business advocate and “Green Recovery” author Andrew Winston made a note of the savings achieved by companies that made “a concerted effort to reduce business travel through a combination of high-end telepresence systems and everyday technologies” like WebEx.

 

“British Telecom calculated that it was saving $330 million per year on avoided travel costs and time saved, and Microsoft (News - Alert) pegged its savings at $90 million,” Winston said.

 

Feeling green with envy?

 

Enterprises, too, can get on the path to greener pastures by working with companies like Eagle Teleconferencing. The Manhattan- and Bangalore-based provider of full-service conferencing services – including Web-, video- and audio-based conferencing – is armed with solutions that will keep jet-setting businesses in the green and in the black.

 

A subsidiary of EagleNet companies, Eagle Teleconferencing provides facility-based teleconferencing services, including IVR and voicemail. With a capacity of more than 10 billion minutes annually, the company can connect groups or individuals any time, and any where – even if a company needs to conduct last-minute conference calls.

 

Winston said that although airline companies might continue to push the benefits of face-to-face meetings, the number of companies adopting teleconferencing technologies is increasing. That means companies won’t be viewed as being overly frugal – just environmentally savvy.

 

 “Until the economy tanked last year, there was a healthy share of companies looking to do the carbon footprint thing,” Krithi Rao, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) who covers teleconferencing, told TMCnet. “They are interested in being green, not just showing it off to shareholders.”