Webinar Wire

Bad Economy Is Good Business

Posted by Ken Molay August 27 2008 10:21 PM EST

2 comments

Web conferencing and web events seem to be enjoying a fantastic surge in usage and press mentions as we suffer through a "perfect storm" of annoying business conditions.

The economy stinks, gas costs too much, and companies are looking for ways to cut costs wherever they can. Rising travel costs and the expense of putting on auditorium-based events has put both items on the chopping block.

Traveler frustrations are climbing as fast as the fees that airlines raise each week. There's nothing I like better than paying steadily more for a steadily worse customer experience.

Email spam is epidemic. There's no way to tell a serious story to your audience in an email message. You might be able to get them to glance at a quick headline though. Ergo, use email as an introduction and invitation... Save the real information for a webinar where you have an attentive audience.

Environmental concerns are driving companies to revise long standing business practices in favor of processes with less negative impact. Want to call the concerns hype and overreaction? Fine, I don't care. Let's say that companies are only responding to PR pressure. The effect is the same... Business is getting greener all the time.

Add in the fact that audiences are getting more accustomed to remote presentations and communications and you have built yourself a textbook case for the widespread adoption of web conferencing.

Business and mainstream media are picking up on this. I have recently seen these articles:

IT Escapes Cuts to Business Travel - "If I have a meeting and if I can do it via conference call, or PlaceWare [a Web conferencing tool], they'd prefer that I do that."

Web Conferencing: Preventing My Annoyance, Er, I Mean Saving the Earth - "I am in love with web conferencing."

School heads organisation cuts travel costs with web conferencing - "Between April and June 2008 the college held 378 meetings, which saved £54,000 in travel expenses and 408 days in time, as well as 57 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions."

Cisco WebEx Shines as Travel Costs Skyrocket - "Thanks to rising gas prices, skyrocketing air travel expenses and other budget-crunching developments -- businesses are scaling back on travel."

High gas prices drive businesses to Web conferencing - "With travel becoming more expensive, and workers more time-strapped, Web conferencing products are taking off."

2008 WebMetrics Survey Indicates Rising Energy Costs Are Fueling a Surge in Use of Conferencing & Collaboration Technologies - "2/3 of panel organizations are responding to recent rise in energy/gas prices through green/telework programs and expanded or new conferencing & collaboration technologies."

So if you can't get me on the phone, you'll know why... I can't keep up with all the new business!