Business travelling is not uncommon in all kind of businesses.

It is deemed to be
necessary as it helps to run a business significantly and boosts sales figure. Today, business
travelling might be an option to many as the technology advancement has allowed us to replace
the function of business travelling by having video and web conferencing.

1. "One consulting firm has predicted that video and web conferencing will make business
travel extinct. Do you agree? Why or why not?"
In general, web conferencing means conducting meeting over the internet (ReadyTalk, 2015).
Statistics show that video and web conferencing have indeed lessen the burden of many firms
having to spend a huge amount on travel expenses. In the past decade, the cost of travelling had
been painfully high due to the importance of business travelling and it was inevitable. Many
organizations have been looking for alternatives to reduce business cost especially during the
2007 global economy recession. In 2008, Lohr reported that Accenture, a technology based firm
had installed approximately 20 videoconferencing rooms. The company estimated to have saved
240 international flights and 120 national trips in a year by using virtual meetings. Since then the
company had been saving millions of dollar and hours of tiring travel for its employees. Smith
(2016) also mentioned that on average companies that have used web conferencing averagely
saved 30% of their travel budget. The survey also showed that 70% of the employees much
prefer to have video meeting than having to travel down to meet clients in person as it was not
necessarily more productive than the other.
This is because employees work smarter with web and video conferencing. According to
ReadyTalk (2015) based on an online survey conducted by Microsoft Office in 2005 it was
evident that workers spent an average of 5.6 hours each week in meetings and 69% said that
meetings were not productive. In the U.S., approximately 25 million meetings take place
everyday and a lot of productivity is lost. This is where web conferences can help by providing a
structure that pushes good meeting practices such as beginning and ending on time and sticking
to the subject. Users have complete control over the content shared through the web
conferencing and execution of the meeting. As such, through video and web conferencing
business partners can accomplish more tasks in less time. "Perhaps the biggest productivity
improvement from web conferencing is the meetings that wouldnt have been held otherwise.

Ad-hoc and collaborative meetings can be called nearly instantaneously, bringing key players
together from a variety of locations to address critical issues, solve immediate problems, or
discuss unexpected opportunities".
Besides, video and web conferencing also enable talent acquisition to be cost-effective and
efficient. According to Aberdeen Group (2009), there were external pressures influencing talent
acquisition: 35% due to intense competition for top talent amongst organizations, 34% due to the
lack of required skills in available talent pool and 34% on budget cutbacks. Statistic shows that
many organizations had increased the usage of web-conferencing on recruitment between 2008
and 2009 from 21% to 43%. This is because firms have sought to maximize their reach into a
geographically dispersed talent pool. The need for visual communication has increased in this
case. The usage of video conferencing can also promote teamwork and speed up problem-solving
processes. For instance, companies are always looking for managers that are willing to be
relocated to manage their expended businesses in different locations especially international
based firms. Managers that are hired in a specific location may understand the local cultural
background better. With the availability of video collaboration, not only the time needed for a
firms managerial employees to travel to have in-person meetings can be reduced, work issues
can also be discussed in air.
As such, I do believe with the never-ending technology advancement web and video
conferencing could drastically reduce the need for business travel. However, some may argue
that in-person meetings are more effective than visual communication. Siegel (2012) mentioned
that many clients work in cubes and private video conference would not be possible. This could
have resulted in missing out many important information the clients could be sharing in person
such as their unique team dynamics and their executive's personality quirks which could make or
break the business deal depending on the skills and expertise of

the employees. These

information are important as they could help business ventures to strike a deal as a Chinese says
"if you know your enemy well enough you could win every battle" which in this case you need
to understand your clients well enough to close every deal with them. Hence, meeting in person
can help to achieve that by building a relationship with the clients. Siegel (2012) also said that
the power of small talk cannot be underestimated. Small talk about favourite beer and football
team could help to build trust between clients and employees.

Therefore, to say that web and video conferencing will make business travel extinct is
unlikely. Certainly, business travel has been and will be much reduced in future as the
abovementioned shows that there are indeed many benefits of using web and video conferencing
instead.

2. "Provide an analytical review, what is the distinction between videoconferencing and

telepresence?"
Telepresence is a remotely-controlled robot used by human operators experiencing a
sense of being in a location similar to virtual reality although the human operators are very far
apart from each other (Rouse, 2015). Whilst, video conferencing is simply just "a tool allowing
two or more people from different locations to hold a live conference over the internet" using
TCP or IP connections (Technopedia, 2016). Both telepresence and video conferencing can be
used by users remotely to partake in group meetings through video and audio links. However,
generally telepresence is said to be a simplified yet more elaborated functionality of video
conferencing (DeGennaro, 2015).
There is a difference between the operability of telepresence and video conferencing. The
ultimate goal of both technologies is to create a stimulated boardroom or face-to-face
environment however both have used different approaches to establish that. Video conferencing
gives users a better range of deployment options which could minimize distractions whilst
telepresence software can be used to schedule calls which initiated by third parties without
having the users to do it themselves (DeGennaro, 2015). However the adversity is that many
telepresence software producers do not support compatibility with their competitors. For
instance, the functionality becomes limited when user of telepresence software produced by A is
trying to contact other user who happen to have telepresence software produced by B. Such
shortcoming is unlikely to be seen with video conferencing software as most of the developers
have enhanced the compatibility. Even so, video conferencing software is still no match to the
functionality of telepresence in general such as simplified interface and ease of use.
In terms of performance and call quality, telepresence software has gained a better
reputation in the market than video conferencing software. As the case study mentioned that

telepresence system showcase high-definition TV images. In contrast, video conferencing system

tends to be unreliable and inconsistent with their call quality. For instance, people reported to
have been facing such issues with video conferencing company, Skype in early 2010. Skype is
known to be the most popular VoIP (voice/video-over-internet protocol) application in the
current spectrum. A study on the company's video conferencing performance was conducted by
Asiri and Sun (2012). The research found that the performance of the video conferencing is
solely based on the network condition. It was found that when the network condition is bad
Skype tends to reduce its sending rate significantly. The result also showed that Skype users can
only tolerate a maximum 8% of video call quality loss. However, improvement is made ever
since to close the gap.
However, although telepresence is known to be a better performer than video
conferencing some businesses still hesitate to use it as they are concerned about the high cost. In
such manner, video conferencing seems to be a better choice for the budget-conscious businesses
though its performance may be less reliable (DeGennaro, 2015). As many video conferencing
companies offer basic services with zero charges, companies can still be benefited from the
advantage of not having to physically travel down for business meeting but still getting work
done without spending much.
All in all, neither telepresence nor video conferencing is better than one or the other.
Companies need to select such technology based on their needs and financial capabilities.

3. "Critically discuss what are the ways in which videoconferencing provides value to a
business? Would you consider it smart management? Explain your answer."
In order to understand how videoconferencing has added value to the business the general
business communication process needs to be understood. The general business communication
process is as such (Business Communication Coach, 2015):

The figure above describes the loop of information exchanged between sender and receiver.
"The sender first has a thought, he then encodes the thought. The sender then transmit the
message via media in the third step. Later, the message is decoded by the receiver in which
allows the receiver to understand" and able to respond sender's message by sending out feedback
(Business Communication Coach, 2015). As the figure suggests, the flow of messages between
two parties maybe interrupted by noise. Hence, it is foreseeable that timeliness and extra costs
would be associated with such issue. In such situation, videoconferencing can be adding value to
the business as it helps to simplify the communication process. There are a few noticeable
positive changes when business communication process is shortened.
The general business communication process describes communication tools such as e-mails,
phone calls and letters that are homogeneously used by many organisations. The main problem
of using these tools is that users are not able to see each other face-to-face. The fact that
videoconferencing allows face-to-face communication helps clients and employees to establish a
better relationship as compared with using the general ways of communication although the
result may not be as efficient as meeting in-person (Siegel, 2012). An establishment of a good
long-term relationship with potential clients is the key to any business success that is clientdriven. The elements to the longevity of all business relationships include honesty, trust, fairness
and respect (Kokemuller, 2016). It is extremely difficult for a business person to trust someone
they know only through phone calls let alone trusting someone being honest and fair,
videoconferencing helps to overcome that issue by allowing users to meet each other on the
screen.
In conjunction, videoconferencing also allows users to communicate directly instead of
having to go through the lengthy and problematic way of communication. The problem with

phone calls is that important details may be left out during the conversation ( Asir and Sun, 2012).
This happen especially when information such as financial figures and business plans convey
better through vision. Such issue is deemed to be inevitable as message receivers need to process
the details to make business decision. The developers of videoconferencing software have
overcome this issue by allowing users to utilize the information sharing features in the software.
Users are able to impress potential clients or business partners by showcasing their creativity as
business proposals can be displayed vividly on screen through videoconferencing.
On the other hand, using videoconferencing also helps users to save time. Timeliness is
extremely crucial to any business. The problems with the email loops are it may takes time for
the receiver to respond and important details of the message might be missed out as receiver tend
to simply skimmed through the email without second glance. This gives rise to a huge
disadvantage to the business as there is a saying "the longer you wait, the easier you forget",
(Fear Average, 2015). When potential business clients take too long to reply, they tend to forget
about your business proposal. As this puts your business at disadvantage it gives your
competitors competitive advantage. This phenomena is very obvious amongst financial industry
where their businesses are entirely client or customer-driven. VideoCentric (2016) says that
"financial services are dependent upon making quick decisions, responding immediately to
fluctuations in the market and staying on top of constantly changing financial policies abd
regulations whilst improving customer loyalty and service". Many financial IT managers have
decided to adopt videoconferencing to address the challenges mentioned.
It is undeniable that videoconferencing also helps users to save cost. As mentioned earlier in
question one, travelling cost is a burden for many budget-conscious businesses. Besides the
obvious fact that videoconferencing can almost achieve what face-to-face meeting can
accomplish in terms of getting work done, it can also helps to avoid hidden and sometimes
undetectable business costs due to poor project management (Hardy-Vallee, 2012). A study
conducted by Gallup (Hardy-Vallee, 2012), found that project failure or delays could not be
prevented by quality control, budgeting and scheduling. Instead, employers should focus on
emotional commitment and performance from the employees as it boosts business performance.
To achieve this goal, management should focus on building relationships with employees as well
as with the clients. Perhaps that is why many companies have started to use videoconferencing
not just to communicate with clients but also to discuss business matters with the employees
(Karagheusian, 2007).

A business management that is effectively and efficiently managed is considered as smart

management. Thus, I would say that it is a smart management to have adopted
videoconferencing in business management as there are more benefits in adopting the
technologies than harm.
4. "If you were in charge of a small business, would you choose to implement
videoconferencing? What factors would you consider in your decision?"
Based on all of the evidence above mentioned, there are more benefits than harm for a
business to implement videoconferencing. Nevertheless, if I were to be in charge of a small
business I would have to consider several factors before deciding whether to implement
videoconferencing or not.
Firstly, the nature of the business would be the major consideration factor in which it
would determine the usefulness of videoconferencing to the business. Videoconferencing
technology caters to the needs of business industry that is fast paced and highly competitive. The
best example to this would be sales-based business. As mentioned earlier, businesses in financial
sector cannot afford to be a step behind of their competitors as that would mean losing customers
and billion of dollars (VideoCentric, 2016). As communication is the main strategy to ensure
business continuity, it is only logical for such companies to invest in videoconferencing. Not
only videoconferencing is proved to be much more effective than emailing and phone calling, it
is also the better way to maintain and establish a relationship with clients without physical
contact. "The single most compelling reason to install technology is to be more productive," as
Lifesize (2015) explains the importance of having videoconferencing to accelerate the speed of
business. According to Dirk Robberechts, a manager from Toshiba TEC, technical trainings are
no longer repetitive in every office as Toshiba now uses videoconferencing for all company
trainings which take place at the same time in all countries. The manager also emphasised that
with the usage of video conferencing, the company saves time on job training and have more
time focusing on dealing with other business issues.
Secondly, videoconferencing comes in handy if the nature of my business requires
countless of business travels. Accounting industry, event management industry and regional
sales-based companies are some of the most common businesses that keep their employees or

business owners themselves frequently in train, planes and any automobiles (BBC, 2011). For
instance, event managers need to constantly move around to plan and stage large events. It is also
part of their job to scout out event locations including restaurants and hotels. In this context,
event managers could have multiple videoconferencing sessions with different management team
of varies hotels. This could help them to get the best price and location within a short period of
time. As good businesses for event companies mean all successful events conduct under budget
(BBC, 2011). Accounting firms that are engaged by big firms also require their accountants to
travel around to complete their audit work. As part of the audit procedure, site-seeing is required
for the auditors to properly analyzed and prepare audit reports. In such case, videoconferencing
could assist auditors in clarifying simple tasks such as clarifying cost figures with clients and
understanding a client's business operation.
Thirdly, it is important to remain close contact with my business partners and suppliers.
As such, I would consider using videoconferencing if the vendors are located worldwide. This is
to ensure efficient work productivity as time is a major factor to travel from one country to
another. According to DistanceFromTo (2009), it takes 17 hours to travel with an airplane from
Malaysia to United States. This has not included the time needed for an individual to travel to the
airport and time spent at custom. In an article written by Kinghorn (2015), it was mentioned that
China, the U.S., Philippines, Indonesia and India are countries that are known to be constantly hit
by natural disaster. The irony is that businesses in these countries are blooming worldwide. In
recent years, China and U.S. are both popular for having worldwide business relations. As such,
it is extremely crucial for business partners to adopt web conferencing. As Livesize (2015)
mentioned, natural disaster can have an impact on the longevity of the business. It was reported
that "80% of the business either never reopen or close within 18 months", (Livesize, 2015). Mr.
Sanchez Jr. From Houston TranStar commented that it was great that videoconferencing allowed
them to see their business partner's face when making crucial business decision in a time of
crisis.
Much with all of the benefits of using video conferencing, the most important and
practical question is whether or not my business could afford the cost of setting up a
videoconferencing system. Highfive (2016) one of the many videoconferencing companies offers
basic cloud conferencing software from $99 U.S. dollars to professional usage of which $199

U.S. dollars per annual. However, based on the flight rate quotation on KLM website, the
average cost for a Malaysian business person to travel down to the United States one time would
be about $2000 U.S. dollars. You do not need simple mathematics calculation to know that the
cost of setting up videoconferencing is much more affordable than a flight ticket. As such,
despite the size of my business I personally think it is a wise decision to invest in installation of
videoconference system. The low cost of the system installation also looks good on the book and
appealing to the investors.