How video conferences meet the needs of the crunch

Dec 2 2008 By Harriet Alexander

business travel, she said that there would always be a need for that meeting in the plantation.

“You can’t escape the need to meet in person, shake hands on the deal,” said Jane Wrin, of Eyenetwork. “But we believe that it is not essential to fly around the world every time you need to meet. Once, yes – but every fortnight, certainly not.”

Though video conferencing professionals say that they are not trying to be a substitute for all business reunions, there is no denying that video conferencing has become increasingly prevalent as a business tool.

Simple analogue video conferencing has been around ever since the invention of television in the late 1920s. Two closed-circuit television cameras were joined by a cable, enabling primitive virtual conferencing.

But quality was poor and the expense was prohibitive for most companies. NASA used a system of video conferencing for their early manned spaceflights, using radio frequencies, but usage was not widespread.

Films such as Flash Gordon and 2001: A Space Odyssey showed video calls from outer space, but the reality was far more mundane. The 1964 movie Seven Days in May showed Burt Lancaster talking over a video link in his office to fellow members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but real government and business usage had to wait until the 1990s, with the advent of video compression technology that delivered reasonable quality video over commercially available data circuits.

Since then, progress has been made steadily in quality of image and ease of use.

In 1998, during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics at Nagano in Japan, video conferencing was used for a conductor to control five orchestras in five continents simultaneously.

And now teachers regularly give lessons to several classes of pupils at disparate locations; doctors consult about best operating procedure in surgeries thousands of miles apart, and judges hear witness’s testimonies from the other side of the world.

In business, the benefits are obvious. Less time and money is spent on travel, while the reduction in air miles cuts carbon footprints. Executives spend less time travelling to and from meetings, and more time discussing proposals.

And yet, despite the increasing popularity of video conferencing, most businesses admit there is no substitute for actually meeting in person – at least once.

The man from Del Monte may be making many of his agreements in cyberspace, but he hasn’t hung up his Panama hat just yet.