Reluctant Users Slow O Take Up Videoconferencing Essay

The humanity relations executive was enthusiastic on the phone. The IT attach to he represent had started installing greens data centres and energy-efficient computers. Would I like to fly to atomic number 20 to see for myself? That would be a 2 viosterol mile round trip from my nursing home in Midwestern Canada. According to the online calculator from Terapass, the trip would release 1,1232 pounds(ab out 500 kilos) of CO2 into the atmosphere. If youre really into green technology, couldnt we do a videoconferencing instead? I asked. Sure, said the PR person. We atomic number 18 totally into green issues.He promised to arrange it. Months laters, nothing had happend. The high-tech industry is quick to measure the benefits of flexible communication, but videoconferencing is one area where things have failed to live up to the hype. Videoconferencing has not significantly displaced travel, say Frank Modruson, CIO for global technology consulting flying Accenture. As the IT secto r continues to push its green values, this mismatch between palaver and reality is becoming harder to ignore. So why are relatively fewer people using videoconferencing?Andrew Davis, managing partner at online collaboration market research firm Wainhouse, says the technology is let down by usability. For many peple, videoconferences are just too difficult to set up. This is why Nortel is emphasizing the function side. The barrier isnt the technology. Its the services around that technology, says Dean Fernades, the companys General Manager of Network Services. Nortel is one of several companies acquiring into a relatively new segment of the videoconferencing market called telepresence.Specially outfit rooms enabled people to appear as if they are sitting crossways the table, with life-size video representations of remote colleagues in high-definition video. Customers pay to use Nortels facilities, which can in like manner handle video filming, enabling the room to ternary as a production facility for corporate TV, for example. Nortel will also handle post-production tasks such as editing. Accenture, on the other hand, opted for the capital enthronisation route. Mr Modruson said it is installing rooms in Chicago and Frankurt, and hopes to roll out another 11 cities in the next few months.