International Video-Conferencing
Lets Companies Save Time, Money
by Reducing Travel

PC Expo Daily

06/25/02

Adam Zeitsiff, CEO of IVCi, addresses some recent trends in video conferencing solutions.

PCXD: Who is using video conferencing today?

AZ: Videoconferencing is a business tool used by thousands of organizations each and every day. From the largest Fortune 500 companies to the smallest sole proprietorships, videoconferencing has been accepted as a cost-effective and efficient way to communicate with colleagues and clients around the world.

PCXD: What are some of the benefits afforded videoconferencing users?

AZ: Perhaps the most obvious benefit is cost savings. By allowing companies to avoid some of their business trips, videoconferencing can generate significant savings on airfare, hotel and meal costs, ground transportation and entertainment expenses. Recent surveys show that a traveler can save $1,300 each time they convert a traveling meeting into a videoconferencing. The more people who use videoconferencing, the more money saved.

Another benefit is time savings, because videoconferencing users avoid flying and traveling time, waiting in line for ticketing and security, and sitting in the terminal waiting for their flight to depart.

Furthermore, companies are turning to videoconferencing to address employee safety concerns relating to business travel.

PCXD: how fast can an organization expect a payback on their investment in vide oconferencing?

AZ: The answer depends on the type of equipment they purchase, the location of the offices they travel between, and how frequently they use their videoconferencing systems. However, many companies enjoy a full return on their investment in videoconferencing in less than six months.

PCXD: There has been a lot of hype about running videoconferencing over IP networks. Is this possible today or is this a future capability?

AZ: Although business-quality videoconferencing over the public Internet is not yet ready for prime time, videoconferencing over private IP networks is both affordable and efficient. For example, our IntelliNet solution offers unlimited IP videoconferencing with guaranteed performance and quality for a fixed monthly price.

So my answer is that IP videoconferencing is possible, but only over networks that can handle this kind of traffic.

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