Although I touched environmental issues in my last post, it seems I can’t take my mind off the subject. Did you know that a flight spanning about 2,500 miles (c. 4000 km) for a single person emanates about 760 pounds of Carbon dioxide – that’s equivalent to roughly 5% of the electricity an average U.S. home uses in an entire year?

Add pricey travel tickets, endless waits at the airports, cost of accommodation related to business travel, and accompanying stress that comes with travelling – those are a lot of reasons for choosing not to travel, at least not when you can do it another way. How do you communicate with your team that works on varied locations all over the world?

These are situations where I like to say “embrace technology and work smarter”.

Using Web Conferencing
I’ve always wondered how the power of ‘synchronicity’ works and then web conferencing came along. With web conferencing, each participant sits on their own computer and connects with other participants through the Internet.

Apart from live talking, presentation sharing, note taking and other tasks that you can do when you meet online, modern web conferencing software also allows you to record or archive sessions for future references or to publish these web conferences where needed (Intranet, membership sites, etc). At any point in the future, participants can listen to the speakers, view slide notes or presentations, watch demonstrations or access resources shared.

Why Go Green with web conferencing?
Saving costs and expenses: The apparent reduction in operating costs due to web conferencing is appealing, to say the least. Web conferencing immediately cuts your costs down and allows you to save on your business expenses.

Increased revenue: Reduced costs boost the profit part of the equation. Also, companies that go green immediately gain patronage of consumers who are environmentally conscious. Products and services can be priced at a premium with the added tag of being eco-friendly. Not to mention the flexibility to meet online whenever the need arises, that is with your co-workers, partners, and even your clients or prospects.

Profits from Carbon Trading Markets: Investing in renewable energy products or purchasing carbon credits inevitably gain value in the form of assets that can be sold off later for profits. New opportunities in “Carbon Trading Markets” make for a profitable, smart, & eco-friendly strategy for companies.

Enhanced employee productivity and morale: Going Green by using web conferencing is a new way of doing things at work. Going virtual, allowing remote work, reducing pollution, and adopting best practices make it easy for employees to work and hence make them more productive.

While this post dwells on the why, the second part of this post follows up with some helpful tips and specific information on how to go green using web conferencing technology.
Can you think of other reasons why web conferencing helps a business with the green initiative? Let me know in the comments.