Video Conferencing is Changing the Face of Business Travel | PhoCusWright FYI

The very idea of video conferencing has the potential to change the future of corporate travel. What would happen if business travelers could make it to their sales meeting without leaving their home office—skipping their flight across the continent and a four-star hotel reservation? Video conferencing, Webcasting, Web conferencing and telepresence technology are all enabling collaboration between individuals at different locations around the world. The idea that business can be done "face-to-face" while not "in-person" is highly disruptive to business travel transactions' volume and spending. Video conferencing was rated as one of the seven major trends reshaping the U.S. corporate travel landscape in PhoCusWright's U.S. Corporate Travel Distribution Fourth Edition.

Video conferencing technology has been hovering on the horizon for years with the promise to change how people connect. While the evolution of video conferencing technology has experienced setbacks and failed attempts over the years, today's business, economic and social climate now position it as a viable alternative to business travel. PhoCusWright believes that the capabilities and utility of videoconferencing is increasing to position it as another tool in a company's arsenal. In fact, Frost & Sullivan project video conferencing usage to grow by 20% annually over the next five years to become a more than a US$2 billion industry. The cost of video conferencing technology is coming down, precisely at the time when the economic cost of traditional business travel is being questioned. In its early stages, video conferencing holds the greatest value for non-client facing, non-revenue producing, intra-company interactions like telecommuting.

The growing importance of video conferencing presents not only competition for business travel, but also potential for partnership and profit. Some major travel suppliers have already positioned themselves as facilitators of video conferencing as a benefit to their clients. Major hotel chains, for instance, can bear the cost of expensive cutting edge video conferencing systems that could potentially create an ancillary revenue stream. Travel companies that recognize this growing corporate travel trend now have the best opportunity to leverage it to their advantage.

PhoCusWright's U.S. Corporate Travel Distribution Fourth Edition is available for $1,295 and includes a recording of The Changing Face of Corporate Travel Webinar (July 29).

Global Edition subscribers have immediate access to PhoCusWright's Corporate Travel Distribution Fourth Edition at www.phocuswright.com.