In an effort to save on travel expenses in a down economy, a Richmond-based financial company is trading in their boarding passes for the board room.
Genworth Financial, a Fortune 500 company, has used recent advances in videoconferencing to replace the costs of domestic and overseas air travel.
Perry Lombard, a company manager for Genworth, was put in charge of researching how much the company could save by using videoconferencing for meetings in lieu of travel. After investing $500,000 in the switch, the company saves $1 million in travel expenses annually and expects an additional 10 to 15 percent savings this year, according to NPR.
Lombard credits improvements in technology with the ease of the switch.
From NPR :
In the past, Lombard says, Genworth had used some videoconferencing, but it was difficult to use and the quality not very good. “Now, it’s so good and so simple that [employees] don’t even realize that they are using technology in their meeting. That’s really what we’re trying to accomplish,” he says.
These advances allow meetings to be recorded and viewed later, which has changed the way Genworth trains its employees, said Lombard.
In an effort to save on travel expenses in a down economy, a Richmond-based financial company is trading in their boarding passes for the board room.
Genworth Financial, a Fortune 500 company, has used recent advances in videoconferencing to replace the costs of domestic and overseas air travel.
Perry Lombard, a company manager for Genworth, was put in charge of researching how much the company could save by using videoconferencing for meetings in lieu of travel. After investing $500,000 in the switch, the company saves $1 million in travel expenses annually and expects an additional 10 to 15 percent savings this year, according to NPR.
Lombard credits improvements in technology with the ease of the switch.
From NPR :
In the past, Lombard says, Genworth had used some videoconferencing, but it was difficult to use and the quality not very good. “Now, it’s so good and so simple that [employees] don’t even realize that they are using technology in their meeting. That’s really what we’re trying to accomplish,” he says.
These advances allow meetings to be recorded and viewed later, which has changed the way Genworth trains its employees, said Lombard.
Perry Lombard sounds like they went on the cheap end of the Video Conferencing scale. You still have to add the ISDN lines or the T1 that makes conferencing possible. They also charge for usage and trust me that is not cheap. IP lessens the price for larger companies but they have to have a dedicaded Network exclusive for Video Conferencing.
If you have the stuff it is worth spending more time in front of it but if you are diving in for the first time beware.
I’d be interested to know what vendor Genworth is using for it’s videoconferencing needs.
Jeff,
My company can help you with your Video Teleconferencing needs. We have been serving the Richmond VA area for over 22 years.
Shoot me an email if you need some help.
If you are looking for installation of VTC stuff Boitnott Visual Communications is a local Company that can install Tandberg, Polycom or can recomend other systems kinder on the purse strings. Ask for Pat . If you want some one who sets up already established systems nationwide IVCI is a company that one Major Company in Richmond uses to connect nationwide and they do it all over IP connections they set up. I worked with IVCI when they first arrived and was impressed with how they included us and 100 other sites across the country. No longer working with IVCI… Read more »
Local companies, whether users of such technology or not, remain robust users of air travel services. Technology can help with trips that may be “on the margin” (“Do I really need to go?”) but nothing beats face-to-face meetings.
Video Conferencing is a joke. It always has been and will never succeed. People DO NOT want to be filmed while brainstorming and negotiating, which are the typical business meeting activities. In fact, we’ve gone the other way towards email and txt which give people the chance to think and compose before hitting send. I’d short any company promising a video conferencing future.
Not only do we use video conferencing instead of travel (we have partners in France as well as the West Coast), we use it locally since all of our employees work at home. Obviously, home based employees don’t have high end video conferencing equipment, but we find that we do just fine with simple PC-based services such as GotoMeeting, Skype, etc. These technologies provide a stunning bottom line effect. Obviously, we need to have face-to-face meetings sometimes, but for most of our interaction with customers, suppliers, and employees is strictly over the wire.
Petrol prices are increasing all the time and show no signs of stopping. This will help bring the rise of video conferencing.
Met this guy at a stock holder meeting. Little on the strange side . What a waste of cash and effort put into yesteryears technology. It will save gas sure but will it lose deals that would have been made over dinner or golf? This guy is trying to make a convienent local technology and make it global. Really? In charge of webcam technology not to mention this ridiculous Expense report IT team he travels with. He loves to spend to save !!! Great employee in times like these ! Got Stock?
DC