Teams have relied on Web conferencing for almost a decade - and for more than the obvious reduction in travel. In fact, a recent Wainhouse Research study reveals that teams using Web conferencing have been realizing an impressive range of unexpected hard and soft benefits.
Based on in-depth interviews with Web conferencing users, this new Wainhouse Research white paper explores the value of Web conferencing for catalyzing team interaction and collaboration.
WHITEPAPER
Enabling Efficient,
High Output
Teams through
Web Conferencing
Discovering the Value of Visually-Enabled Collaborative Meetings Andy Nilssen & Alan Greenberg March 2010 Study sponsored by:
Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................1 Overview: The State of Virtual Team Meetings ...........................................................................2 Research Methodology ...............................................................................................................2 "Hard Dollar" Returns for Teams .................................................................................................4 Reduced travel costs ...............................................................................................................4 Schedule gains, ability to meet deadlines ................................................................................5 Faster meeting process, with all participants "on the same page" ............................................5 "Soft Dollar" Returns for Teams ..................................................................................................6 Higher quality communication by using visual materials ..........................................................6 Increased interactivity, less focus on the "Presenter" ...............................................................6 Reduced email attachment clutter and version control confusion.............................................7 Higher quality output due to expert involvement ......................................................................8 Greater team member satisfaction ...........................................................................................8 Why Very Few Organizations Formally Track ROI ......................................................................8 What to Look for in a Web Conferencing Solution for Teams ......................................................9 Closing Thoughts ........................................................................................................................9 About the Authors .....................................................................................................................11 About Wainhouse Research ..................................................................................................11 About Citrix Online.................................................................................................................11
Enabling Efficient, High Output Teams through Web Conferencing Page i
Executive Summary Web conferencing has been changing the way many people work for over a decade. While the technology has several applications - general business meetings, Web seminars, and on-line training to name a few - one that is often overlooked is the team meeting. By nature, team meetings are collaborative affairs where a repetitive group of participants present data, introduce their ideas and perspectives, wrangle and reach consensus, and then often produce some sort of deliverable. Almost all teams are facing increased time pressure, heavier workloads, and tight operating cost constraints. As the globalized economy continues to evolve, the need to involve team members independent of their location is also increasing. With all of the pressures being faced by teams, has the role of Web conferencing changed? What are the values that teams are realizing - and can they be quantified? To find out, Wainhouse Research conducted a series of a dozen in-depth interviews with individuals who use Web conferencing as a member of a team. While the traditional values are once again mentioned, we were pleased to find a number of new values are being realized as well - many of which indicate a "maturation" in the role that Web conferencing plays to enable and catalyze the team meeting process. In particular, the interviews reveal the following "hard dollar" returns that certain respondents attempted to quantify: . Reduction in travel costs . Helping to meet or improve on schedule deadlines . Shortened duration of meetings by keeping all participants "on the same page" Perhaps as compelling are the following "soft dollar" returns that, while they cannot be easily quantified, indicate Web conferencing is achie... [download for more]
