Originally posted by Jena Tesse Fox on International Meetings Review
The recent promotion of "virtual meetings" as an alternative to spending federal tax dollars on government travel seems to be having a positive effect on businesses specializing in video and teleconferencing.
According to the Washington Post, providers of virtual-meeting technology have noticed an increase in federal demand for their services, and expect it to increase as budgets continue to tighten.
For example, the article notes that demand for AT&T's video and teleconferencing service has increased about 20 percent over the past six months, according to Rajesh Natarajan, executive director for federal technology solutions. AT&T's federal clients include the Defense Department and various civilian agencies.
A year ago, Mobile Work Exchange's research found that if half of all federal government workers used videoconferencing, they would achieve an average productivity increase of 3.5 hours per week, shave about $4.95 billion from annual travel costs, and in total save an estimated $8 billion per year, VentureBeat noted..
And about a month ago, Pennsylvania Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick introduced H.R. 2643, popularly called the "Cut the Waste, Stay in Place Act of 2013." The act seeks to cut the $15 billion in travel expenses incurred annually by federal agencies through the increased use of videoconferencing.
Of course, the question of what types of meetings can become virtual remains, and industry insiders have noted the benefits of face-to-face contact that may be lost if virtual meetings become the norm. Just last week, Congressman John Mica, R-Fla., spoke at the first GMITE Meets Site NY Metro gathering, and cited the recent GSA and IRS scandals as reasons to monitor how federal agencies spend taxpayer dollars. While defending government travel and government-sponsored events, he said that certain restrictions are necessary. For example, in one year, the IRS dropped its travel spend from $50 million to $5 million. On the other hand, he agreed that government travel dollars support local communities.
