The Cost of Business Travel

The cost of business travel is an unfortunate necessity in today's business climate. Travelling back and forth across the country, or frequently going from country to country on short trips or intercontinental flights for that all important face-to-face meeting is increasingly being seen as a chore rather than benefit.

The cost has inevitably risen in most cases, but it is not only the increasing financial cost but also the hassle factor that is causing more and more business travellers to think again. The glamorous days of jet-set travel are long gone. Road congestion, inconvenient rail connections and having to park miles from terminal building are just a few of the issues faced before arriving at an airline check-in. Add to the pain, the extra time needed because of the necessity for increased security checks, often crowded terminals plus the threat of yet more industrial action and is it any wonder why so much time is being spent on investigating more efficient alternatives to business travel? Many organisations are citing cost savings, health & safety and corporate social responsibility as good reasons for cutting down on the journeys made by staff.

Despite the global nature of the modern business world, frequent business travel is often not truly necessary. As a result of widespread technological developments, geographical distances no longer present the same barriers as they used to. People don't need to be in the same location to establish strong business relationships and communicate effectively. In fact, with web and video conferencing services and solutions, users can greatly reduce their organisation's travel costs while still enjoying good business relationships and achieving the company goals.

With cost-cutting still high on most corporate agendas, business travellers can ensure that they contribute personally and allow travel budgets to stretch further. Switching from first-class or business- class travel to low-cost carriers such as Ryanair and easyjet tends to bring a frown to many travellers' faces. Of course, it would be great if business travel by road or rail was reliable and a cost-effective alternative to flying but it simply isn't plausible.

Traditional video conferencing is expensive and requires a dedicated room to install it in. Whilst in the majority of cases the video conferencing endpoint is installed in the boardroom or an existing meeting room, this will often restrict its availability to senior management only. Nefsis, on the other hand, is the modern-day equivalent to room-based video conferencing systems, but with the advantages of significantly lower cost plus extremely flexible and intuitive use. Nefsis works with virtually any Windows compatible audio/video peripheral. This means that you can use anything from a laptop built-in microphone through to auditorium-grade audio systems, plus any camera you like from webcam to HD cameras.

Using Nefsis you can mix-and-match configurations so that a boardroom meeting can be attended by any number of participants, from anywhere else in the world. All they need is a PC and Internet connection. Nevertheless, dynamic team meetings with all participants joining from their own desks can also greatly improve team effectiveness. Nefsis does all the rest: providing our firewall and proxy compatible real-time communications software, parallel processing for faster multipoint conferencing, cloud computing infrastructure and a secure video conferencing service.

To see Nefsis from your own desk you can schedule a live demo anytime it fits your schedule. There is nothing to install and no equipment to buy, just watch a live demonstration with any or all of the capabilities mentioned above. This can take as little as 10 minutes or as long as you like to answer any questions you may have.

You can also take a free trial right now and test Nefsis web and multipoint video conferencing with as many employees as you like — you'll be conferencing in minutes!