Telepresence To Reduce 21 Percent Corporate Travel

Telepresence (type of teleconferencing using high definition video and audio and which creates the illusion that meeting participants are in the same room) could lead to an aggregate reduction of 21 percent in corporate travel according to Bernstein Research.It could replace 70 percent of internal travel and 10 percent of external travel over the next 10 to 15 years.

The US telepresence or virtual meeting market will be worth US$ 30 billion in the next decade or within 15 years and almost half of that will be spent by small companies. As part of this shift, major hotel chains such as Marriott and Starwood have started offering telepresence suites in heavy business markets such as Chicago and Hong Kong.

Forrester Research has found that 17 percent of US business travellers have used either videoconferencing or virtual presence in 2009 to reduce business travel. 30 percent of the estimated 6 million to 8 million conference rooms in the US will be telepresence –enabled over the next five years.