10 Reasons Why Web Conferencing is a Must-Have Technology During a Recession

Updated: August 21, 2012

As the recession deepens, businesses are tightening their belts. In these tough times, travel is out and virtual meetings are in. Web conferencing can help businesses reach out to the world while keeping employees working productively at their desks. Here are 10 reasons why your company should embrace Web conferencing now:

1. Spend less on travel. The biggest and most compelling reason for adopting Web conferencing is the ability to slash an array of major travel expenses, including airline, car rental, dining and accommodation costs. The technology also spares companies from lost productivity as employees don't lose work time moving from place to place.

2. Extend your company's reach. In today's challenging business environment, Web conferencing helps organizations work with new customers in global markets to augment sagging local and regional sales. At a relatively modest price, the technology provides a powerful and persuasive sales tool that allows conference participants worldwide to interact; deliver or view presentations; swap documents and files; and perform a variety of other meeting tasks as quickly and effectively as if everyone were sitting in the same room.

3. Increase internal business process efficiency. Web conferencing enables on-site employees to be more productive. Departments ranging from HR to marketing to product development can use the technology to interview jobs candidates, hold sales meetings and interactively collaborate on projects in a fraction of the time it would take to organize an in-person meeting.

4. Encourage brainstorming. New ideas lead to innovations that can help a business prosper in any economic environment. Web conferencing lets any company hold interactive meetings with idea-generating experts in fields such as marketing , technology and finance regardless of their location or availability to travel.

5. Enhance customer satisfaction. With a growing number of companies watching sales nosedive, customer satisfaction and retention is becoming an increasingly important business goal. Web conferencing helps keep customers happy by providing personalized sales, training and technical support — all at the same quality level regardless of the distances involved.

6. Unite geographically dispersed work sites. Employees working at satellite sales offices, remote manufacturing facilities and other off-site locations often feel left out the loop when it comes to participating in mission-critical meetings. Web conferencing has the power to put all stakeholders on equal footing without driving up travel costs or upsetting work routines. Regular Web conferences can lead to a more motivated and productive remote work force.

7. Speed project completion. Discussion and planning are vital to all business projects. Yet important initiatives can drag on without resolution as in-person meetings are scheduled, canceled and rescheduled, and as important participants miss vital sessions due to other commitments. By eliminating scheduling conflicts and enabling participants to replay past meetings and distribute documents at any time, projects can get planned, approved and set into motion faster.

8. Spread important news and information. Web conferences allow businesses to inform sales prospects, train employees and customers, introduce new products to the world and even hold income-generating Webinars without requiring anyone to leave their office. All of these capabilities lead to increased customer satisfaction, better educated employees, a higher company profile and potential new revenue for businesses that are willing to share their knowledge with interested parties.

9. Close deals faster. Web conferences tend to be more productive than in-person meetings, where key stakeholders may be unavailable to render important decisions. Busy managers and executives have fewer reasons to miss a virtual meeting, since the event is literally delivered to their office. This means that agreements can often be finalized on the spot, rather than delaying action until a missing decision-maker finally signs off on the deal.

10. Provide fast IT support. Employees with malfunctioning computers clearly have diminished productivity. Some Web conferencing vendors offer tools that allow IT support experts to remotely access user desktops and fix a wide range of computer problems, including virus infections and misconfigured software, without wasting time traveling from office to office.