However, when it came to business travel, the company needed a way to lessen its impact on the planet while being able to have critical face-to-face contact. This is when Esurance turned to the world’s largest conferencing service provider, InterCall, to set up audio, video and Web conferencing for its employees.

This one initiative alone has already prevented more than 18 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. And the solution was simple - holding video or audio conferences instead of driving.

Esurance isn’t the only company turning to conferencing to reduce their carbon footprint and business travel. In just the last year, the conferencing industry grew nearly 16 percent. Certainly, as the green movement expands, so is the conferencing industry. Power users of conferencing have also found an additional benefit. Traveling less allows employees to spend more time at home..

New technology lets workers choose which technologies their colleagues use to communicate with them. For example, mobile executives can use this to ensure that others e-mail them when they’re at the airport, launch a Web meeting when they’re working from the home office, or to send an instant message during a conference call.

This technology is called Unified Communications, and it’s the big discussion in corporate IT departments. Not only do workers find that it helps them become more productive and efficient, businesses are learning that it promotes information sharing, and can significantly speed up the decision-making process.

• Nearly 60 percent of North American businesses provide cellular handsets and service, or reimburse their employees for wireless service, according to a recent Frost & Sullivan study.
• Information workers receive 100 messages per day in up to 7 different places according to a survey by Harris Interactive.

AAMOF (As a Matter of Fact), instant messaging has evolved from a social application for teenagers and college students to a method of coordinating group work online.

Because most workers are AATK (Always at the Keyboard), IM-ing has also become a first-choice method for having a private conversation.

It’s a polite way to get your .02 MY (Two Cents Worth) to another colleague during a conference call.

Individual P2P (Peer to Peer) dialogue also helps workers get clarification on an issue, answers to a question, and information such as who’s speaking next.

Also, using instant messaging on conference calls means never having to say EMFBI (Excuse Me for Butting In).

And let’s face it. To CSG (Chuckle, Snicker, Grin) in a face-to-face meeting would be rude.

However, when you’re on a conference call, you can tell other people you are RME (Rolling My Eyes) without hinting at the opposite.

If we haven’t loaded you down with TMI (Too Much Information), we’d be glad to connect you to experts in collaboration technologies

THNQ (Thank You) for your attention.

But now with new simple Web conferencing platforms, users are able to reap the productivity benefits of collaborating virtually without fighting with technology. Products like InterCall Web Meeting enable users to join Web conferences with the single click of a button. There’s no need to remember lengthy dial-in codes because the virtual meeting calls you, right on time. To make remote meetings more personal, a simple plug-and-play Web cam enables users see each other in real time.

So while learning a new technology can seem scary at first, the ease-of-use of new Web conferencing platforms makes virtual collaboration easy and accessible for everyone. In fact, according to a recent InterCall study, 93 percent of people who have tried Web conferencing for the first time see their company having a future need for it.

If you’d like to learn more, we can provide a demo of these capabilities or case study in your area.

Flexible work arrangements, such as job sharing, custom work schedules, compressed work weeks, and telecommuting allow hotshot workers to be the CEO of their own lives. It’s simple enough. Let employees leave early on Fridays, have them work with managers to set their own hours, or work from home. But the key to making this work is figuring out to keep productivity up.

The answer, of course, is technology. According to Bob Wise, vice president of marketing and strategic development for InterCall, “The genius of new collaboration technologies is that they allow workers to customize their work-life balance.” The way employees are creating their own work-life balance is as clear as Gen X and Y.

• Gen Y workers who can’t unplug might launch a group IM session on their smartphones instead of preparing an “Interoffice Memorandum.”
• Family-minded Gen X road warriors may want to get a few hours back by doing a Web meeting, which can now be launched with a single button.
• Senior executives can podcast an announcement in lieu of an all-company meeting. The mp3 can be recorded from their office, or the golf course.
• To learn more about other ways technology makes flexibility possible, please contact us. We’d be glad to connect you to our experts.
  

To avoid traffic, work from home.  That’s the memo which more and more employers are sending to workers.  The technology that makes this possible is Web conferencing, which emulates a face-to-face meeting from anywhere you are.  The newest generation of software now makes it easier than ever for colleagues and customers to connect from remote locations.  With one click, teams, colleagues, and customers can start a Web meeting.

In this climate, businesses that get to work more quickly have the edge over those that are still trying to get to the office.  Even if conferencing doesn’t have the power to shovel your driveway, the point is that maybe you won’t have to shovel it at all.

Arrange an interview with an expert on how companies are beating winter weather with conferencing.  We can also provide case study examples, and send you a Web cam and software so you can experience why workers and businesses are embracing this technology.

• $78 billion in productivity is lost in commuting each year.(U.S. Census Bureau)
• The average American will spend 38 years of his/her life waiting in traffic.  (U.S. Census Bureau)
• In 2008, 41 million global employees will work from home at least once a week.  (Deloitte)

Employees across the nation are also mindful of the time they waste each day commuting to and from work. Americans spend $3.9 billion a year in fuel and time equal to 470,000 jobs, according to the 2005/2006 National Technology Readiness Survey (NTRS).  With gas prices climbing past $3/gallon and with work-life balance a powerful incentive, employers are offering today’s workers the option to telecommute.

If you’re interested in this subject, we can line up local examples for you.

New conferencing technology helps eliminates waiting on both ends.  In the past, when you were on the phone with a colleague and wanted to invite one more, you’d have to put one person on hold while you fumbled around for contact information on the other.

What if you could simply look up a name in Microsoft Outlook, and click to conference them in?  Not only can you click to conference another person in, you can click to turn that audio conference into a Chat room, a video conference, or a Web conference for sharing documents.

Instead of loading software applications and looking up phone numbers or screennames, a single click can do it all.  One-click conferencing even makes it possible to throw out the phone book.

If you’re interested in this subject, we can line up local examples for you.

Considering that Americans go on more than 405 million business trips every year, it’s no surprise that greenhouse gas emissions increased 16.3% from 1990 to 2005.

Environmentally conscious businesses are recognizing that they have the power to shrink their carbon footprint by cutting back on traveling.  Instead of booking a flight or renting a car to make a presentation, they’re using Web conferencing instead.

Web conferencing has become a viable option to traveling because of the development of features like real-time application sharing.  This allows employees to share documents, make presentations, and collaborate on projects without being in the same room.  And with the addition of high-definition video conferencing, virtual meetings are becoming more and more like the real thing.

It’s little wonder why employees are asking for some of their money (and mind) back through telecommuting policies.  According to research conducted by WorldatWork, the number of Americans whose employers allow them to work from home at least one day per month increased from 9.9 million to 12.4 million in 2006. 

In the past, one of the major hurdles to telecommuting has been the lack of face-to-face interaction.  The conferencing technology of today encourages teamwork and allows workers to have useful interactions that can replace in-person meetings.  Telecommuters can participate in sales meetings, project updates, and contract reviews without being in the office.

If you're interested in learning more, we can arrange a demo and provide case study examples.

The typical second-home owner spends about 5 weeks on a vacation property, and telecommuting allows a person to enjoy the summer investment more. With gas prices high and continuing to rise, this is a cost-effective alternative to driving to and from a vacation home on weekends. Employees considering a move to their summer home should make sure there are reliable connections for web and audio conferencing. If a wireless connection isn’t available, it may be necessary to have a high-speed landline installed. Once the connection is established, the telecommuter needs just a computer and a phone, and is an easy point and click away from the office.

If you’re interested in this subject we can line up “real-world” examples in your area.

Today a new technology called Relay Conference Captioning (RCC) is giving the deaf and hard-of-hearing a voice on conference calls. Participants see the text of the group’s comments as they scroll up their computer screen and a live “captioner” takes the comments sent from the RCC participants and reads them aloud to the group.

Conference captioning has been available for the past several years and it works like TV captioning services. This was called One Way Text Streaming and used by those with hearing loss but could still provide their own voice. The addition of “Relay” service gives them full participation in the conference call.

If you’re interested in this subject we can line up “real-world” examples in your area.