May 14, 2009 - VIRTUAL MEETINGS COULD SAVE BRITISH BUSINESS BILLIONS
Today, almost half a million businesses are expected to participate in Virtual Meeting Day and show how the British economy could save billions of pounds.
The day, organised by Work Wise UK as a part of Work Wise Week, is expected to have around ten per cent of businesses taking part. They will be replacing traditional face-to-face meetings with audio, video or web conferencing, avoiding travel and subsistence costs and the waste of employees’ valuable time.
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, said: “In these straitened times, holding virtual meetings represents a great opportunity to cut costs and boost productivity. If every business aimed for just ten additional virtual meetings a year, they could save a staggering £14 billion collectively.
“There are also the economic benefits of reduced congestion, while cuts in emissions would amount to a massive saving of 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the 4.7 million small businesses in the UK alone.”
Holding just one virtual meeting typically saves organisations at least £298, 247 miles of travel and at least three hours travel time, according to research from BT Business.
One of the day’s supporters, BT Business is offering organisations an opportunity to take part with a free trial of its WebEx virtual meeting service, available at http://www.conferencing.bt.com/product_services/webservices/webex.jsp
Work Wise UK, a not-for-profit organisation, promotes smarter working practices, such as flexible, remote and mobile working, and working from home. This is the fourth year that Work Wise UK has run Work Wise Week, which involves a series of themed days, starting from Tuesday, May 12 to Monday, May 18, demonstrating the benefits of smarter working. Supporters of the initiative include BT, the TUC, TfL, CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce.
Further information about Work Wise UK can be found on the website (www.workwiseuk.org).
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Issued on behalf of Work Wise UK by Chelgate Limited
Notes to editors:
- BT Business Source – ‘Conferencing at BT’ – a report by University of Bradford and SustainIT, April 2007.
- Virtual meeting case study – for more information contact Kina Kara in the BT Group Newsroom on 0207 356 5369.
- Work Wise UK is organised by the IT Forum Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation.
- Supporters of the Work Wise UK campaign include the CBI, TUC, the British Chambers of Commerce, BT, Transport for London, Equal Opportunities Commission, Scope, the RAC Foundation, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, Technology Means Business, Henley Management College and the Association for Commuter Transport.
- A dedicated electronic media centre has been established for journalists to obtain further information, to download print-quality materials, and to register for media updates about Work Wise UK. This can be accessed either through the main website or directly at www.workwiseuk.pressrooms.net
- Further information about Work Wise UK can be found on the website www.workwiseuk.org.·
For further information and images, please contact:
Roy Turner,
Chelgate PR
020 7939 7939 or 07970 522232 or
rt@chelgate.com
Michael Hardware,
Chelgate PR
020 7939 7939 or 07775 925 274 or
meh@chelgate.com