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Collaborative Tools, Web Conferencing Transform Global Workplace

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TMCnews Featured Article


October 23, 2009

Collaborative Tools, Web Conferencing Transform Global Workplace

By Amy Tierney, TMCnet Web Editor


As more and more organizations become global, employees are turning to state-of-the-art technology tools, such as Web conferencing and VoIP, to stay efficient, a new report found.

 
The “Meetings Around the World II: Charting the Course of Advanced Collaboration,” report by Frost & Sullivan found that about 61 percent of organization said they use collaboration technologies to cut the need for business travel. The report also found that more than half of responses think using conferencing tools - such as an audio conferencing, Web conferencing or video conferencing - is a good alternative to making in-person office visits.
 
In the Asia-Pacific region and U.S., for example, conferencing is a good option to face-to-face meetings. But in Europe where people often work in the office, employees prefer in-person meetings and business travel, the report said.
 
With the economic downturn, companies are increasingly using conferencing solutions from The Conference Group, a full-service Delaware-based audio, video and Web conferencing company. The company’s ReadyShow Web conferencing solution, for example, provides a feature-rich full Web collaboration service. With ReadyShow Web conferencing, users can make choices to tailor the Web collaboration services to meet their specific needs.
 
The Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) study, which is sponsored by Verizon Business and Cisco, measured the impact of using collaboration technology on business performance and established a model to measure a return on collaboration. In addition, the report identified emerging business technology adoption trends and attitudes across the globe and found that collaboration tools are playing a crucial role in work life today. It also revealed that attitudes about the technology vary by region.
 
 “The Meetings Around the World II study confirms that collaboration is the next phase of the Internet and at the center of this phase is the network as a platform,” said Carlos Dominguez, senior vice president for the office of the chairman and CEO, Cisco (News - Alert), in a statement. “Having the right collaborative platform helps enable enterprises and organizations to speed decision making, increase productivity and improve interactions with their customers and partners, all designed to give them a competitive edge.”
 
Some  47 percent of respondents said they have a formal telecommuting policy in place. But less than a third telecommute at least once a week, and 22 percent telecommute on a daily basis. Another 61 percent of respondents said they like to work from anywhere, the report found.
 
India is the most telecommuting friendly country, with 59 percent of its organizations having a formal telecommuting policy, and 48 percent telecommute daily, followed by Hong Kong with 54 percent of its businesses having a formal policy, and 26 percent of its workers using it on a daily basis. In the U.S., 47 percent of organizations have a formal telecommuting policy with 25 percent of U.S. workers telecommuting daily. While 64 percent of Chinese organizations have a policy, just 21 percent of Chinese workers telecommute daily, the report said.
 
Despite the cultural differences, organizations across the globe understand the benefits of conference call solutions, the report said.
 
“This latest research shows adopting progressively more advanced unified communications and collaboration tools can help organizations achieve a corresponding return on collaboration and improvement across all business functions,” Brian Cotton, vice president for information and communications technologies for Frost & Sullivan, said in a statement.

Amy Tierney is a Web editor for TMCnet, covering unified communications, telepresence, IP communications industry trends and mobile technologies. To read more of Amy's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Amy Tierney







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