Slowdown sees increasing demand from small and medium-size businesses
Slowdown sees increasing demand from small and medium-size businesses
The ongoing slowdown is forcing medium size companies to chose video conferencing over air travel for communication between senior executives across India and even abroad.
Not surprisingly, compared to last year, sales of video conferencing equipment to small and medium-size businesses, have gone up by about 40 per cent, while air transportu00a0 bookings suffer.
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Global air transport volumes are expected to shrink by as much as three per cent in 2009, according to the International Air Transport Association.
Sagar, manager, Cosmos Business Machines, dealers in video conferencing equipment, says, "Mid-scale businesses are going for low-end VC equipment, which can be installed on existing computers.
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It is easy to install and does not require dedicated TV sets or a separate VC room. Moreu00a0 companies are using the technology to save costs in these cash-strapped times. It certainly beats traveling by air out of the city for business interactions."
Sachin Jain, director, SK Solutions, a trader of video conferencing equipment, confirmed that many small and medium size companies were benefiting from installing VC systems.
Kedar Podnis, head, IT department, Behr India says, "We have managed to cut our costs 20 per cent by undertaking various cost cutting measures. Our decision to install VC in our company was a big step in the direction."
The demand for VC by doctors is also on the rise. "In last two months, we have sold about 10 VC systems to doctors in rural areas like Sholapur, Kolhapur and Tuljapur," confirmed Jain.
What's videoconferencing?
It is a set of interactive telecommunication technologies that allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously.
It has also been called visual collaboration and is a type of groupware. It differs from videophone in that it is designed to serve a conference rather than individuals.
Also, videoconferencing can be used to share documents, computer-displayed information, and whiteboards.
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