Four-Dollar Fuel and Video Conferencing

There was an occasion when touring was affordable and fun. With four-dollar-plus per gallon fuel that is no-longer the case. Add to that the appallingly weak dollar, and it is no surprise that costs are up over the board inside the hotel and travel industries, no matter what-the official inflation figures say. Business must go on, naturally, and fortuitously there are numerous new technologies that enable us to conduct business minus the cost of travel. Video conferencing is one, and it generates a lot more sense.

I remember times earlier on in my career once the firm I worked for pretty much expected employees to drive to local offices and clients if they were less-than 300 miles or therefore away. Even with a gas guzzler, the 600-mile roundtrip cost less-than $50 in gas, and if you decided to stay over, it was another $30 approximately for a good hotel. That same roundtrip would now run over $150 in gas despite having better gas mileage, and lower rate cycle motels now repeatedly charge $60 to 80 per night. Get up-scale a bit and it’s $150 per night, $10 for a glass of wine, and $50 for dinner. To get different viewpoints, please consider checking out: energy risk management strategies. If you pick up the bill for dinner with clients, it may really add up. No wonder many organizations tend to be more conservative in approving business travel.

Now I am absolutely not saying personal contact isn’t important. Shaking arms, sharing a meal, or doing a round of Golf remain great approaches to build relationships, develop trust, and close deals. Dig up new information on the best by visiting our fine article directory. But it’s no more the only way to do business, and in this very day and age it is become an ever more high priced way to do business. To-day, you will find a great number of other ways to connect and remain in touch without losing time away from the company and spending a king’s ransom in the act.

All in all, it is a matter of choosing the best production tools and staying clear of traps. Cell phones are wonderful ways of remaining in touch all the time, but when we become slaves to them, production falls the drain (and let’s not talk of Blackberry addiction!). Email remains a terrific means of communication, but unless you handle your address( es) carefully you both spend hours sorting through junk mail or risk losing important communications in every the various spam filters that remain between you and whoever you speak with. Instant messaging is a good way to easily get answers or resolve issues, but not in the event that you let conversations pull on or let yourself get interrupted by pals with a lot of time on their arms.

Then there is video conferencing, a tool that combines the warmth and immediacy of personal contact with the performance of digital communication. You begin to see the individual on the other end, conversation is in real-time, and yet you can do everything on your own personal computer or in a conference room. A well-run video conference provides almost all the benefits of private meetings in a small fraction of the price. What’s more, video conferencing technology is currently so that you can make presentations, income pitches, conduct seminars, or have one-on-ones with spreadsheets and multimedia while seeing and speaking with your business partners or customers in real time. In English contains additional info about where to study this hypothesis.

With today’s transportation and lodging charges it generates less and less sense to visit needlessly. Just routine a video conference, save, and access it with business.. For one more perspective, consider having a gander at: the infographic.