Businesses choosing web conferencing over meetings

Companies are choosing web conferencing software over face-to-face meetings in a bid to cut costs, according to the latest report from Ovum.

The report, entitled The Future of Audio and Web Conferencing, also found that industry is investing more wisely as it emerges from recession and is seeking to reduce global travel.

Spending on web conferencing equipment is likely to double in the next five years from around $1.2bn (£747m) in 2010, but will hit $2.7bn (£1.68bn) in 2015 as more firms choose to travel less.

Richard Thurston, Ovum senior analyst and report author, said that web conferencing is changing the way that meetings are carried out without affecting productivity.

"Web-based meetings enable enterprises to communicate effectively with customers, colleagues and business partners without leaving their office. This means a radical scaling back of face-to-face meetings and therefore corporate travel," he said.

"Web conferencing is growing rapidly in popularity among companies of all sizes, meaning they can hit their cost and carbon reduction targets, while increasing worker productivity and decreasing time to market. Business executives are increasingly recognising these benefits."

The trend is clear to see in the UK, where the web conferencing market is expected to grow from $82m (£51m) in 2010 to $185m (£115m) in five years' time. The US and India are also expected to increase their use of web conferencing over the same period.

"We are seeing a revolution in workplace communications, and at the heart of this is video-based web conferencing," added Thurston. "We expect rapid growth in web conferencing to occur over the next five years."