In Light of Higher Gas Prices, Consider This

I received a pitch this morning to speak with a company in the Web conferencing space, and unfortunately I’m facing a whole series of cascading deadlines, and I will have to pass. However, it was still a successful pitch (IMHO) chock full of interesting stats regarding the Web conferencing market. Also it was couched in terms of the recent increase in fuel prices, i.e., “As gas prices continue to rise, people are looking for alternatives to business travel and long commutes.”

In the interest of sharing, I thought I’d include the statistics, which are compelling enough on their own, but really paint a picture when grouped together.  Thanks to Courtney Riley over at Ogilvy for reaching out to me, and sorry I can’t take the briefing with your client.

Here are the stats:

Web Conferencing
~ According to a 2004 study by Frost and Sullivan, Web Conferencing revenues will exceed $2 billion in 2009, up from $1 billion in 2005.

~ Average of 44% of 2004 IDC survey respondents planned to increase their conferencing usage by 100% in the next 6 months, up from 28% in the 2003 survey

Travel
~ According to In-Stat/MDT, 44 million workers will have telecommuted in 2004, and the number of remoter workers will reach 51 million by 2008

~ By 2010 more than 70% of work will take place at a different time/different place or same time/different place

~ 82% of workers collaborate with people in other locations

According to Wainhouse Research
~ More than 40 percent of people in the U.S. workforce are taking fewer trips

~ More than 70 percent are interested in alternatives to travel

~ 63 percent rate access to collaboration technology (such as voice, web and video conferencing) as very important, as opposed to 44 percent prior to Sept. 11

Conferencing & Collaboration Over IP Summit
Also, if you’re looking to learn more about the conferencing and collaboration market, you would do well to consider spending some time at the upcoming Internet Telephony Conference & EXPO taking place in Los Angeles — at the LA Convention Center — this October 24-27. The first day of conferences (10/24) will feature a day-long Conferencing & Collaboration Over IP Summit. It marks a great opportunity to learn more about this fascinating space.

The Summit will feature speakers from Microsoft, Yahoo!, Viack, Interwise, IPUnity, Alcatel/eDial, Inter-Tel, and more.