Communications in the Year 2009 – Not Your Grandmother’s Telephone!

The days of schlepping cross country, sitting in traffic, and running through airports to catch a flight are over. Travel budgets are being cut yet companies still have to communicate with and effectively train geographically diverse employees, customers, and suppliers.

The solution is videoconferencing and videocasting. “I tried videoconferencing and it didn’t work,” is a frequent response. Today’s videoconferencing is light years ahead of where it was even 5 years ago. The software is free. Communicate with up to 20 people on the Internet, share documents, and use your laptop or PC with a camera/microphone combination that costs less than $150. Pay only for time used which is a miniscule fraction of an airplane ticket!

Videocasting is the solution for companies who need to communicate with large groups of geographically diverse people. Videocasting is analogous to two way Internet TV. You can take questions, show videos during your program, and talk with hundreds of thousands of people. A division of a Fortune 500 company needed to get new product information out to their customers throughout the US and Canada. Ribbon videocasted a 90-minute program with 1100 sites and approximately 1500 people watching and interacting with the presenters. The program was archived and could be watched later for those who missed the live presentation. All the viewers need is a dial up Internet connection to watch the high-quality program.

For businesses who must comply with EEOC regulations and other government rules, videocasting is the most cost-effective way to comply. Ribbon recently saved a company more than $25,000 and six weeks of time in travel and employee costs to train their employees in 23 branches.

So, the next time you’re sick of waiting in airports, sitting in traffic, or hearing your travel budget is cut, try videoconferencing and videocasting. These tools are easy to set up, easy to use, and helps you cost effectively stay connected to your employees, customers, and suppliers.