Video Conferencing Helps Businesses Deal With Swine Flu

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In the last year, video conferencing and telepresence have gotten a lot of attention as a quick fix to reduce travel expenses, one of the first budget items to be slashed in the tough economic climate. However, those companies who wisely invested in the technology are now finding that having video conferencing in place just might give them an advantage when it comes to developing business continuity plans for dealing with the H1N1 Swine Flu outbreak.

Back in May when the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico shut down Mexico City and was on the cover of every newspaper and the featured story on the evening news, BusinessWeek reported on how two companies with offices in Mexico City, TANDBERG and Dimension Data, were able to maintain business as usual. TANDBERG, a video conferencing and telepresence manufacturer encouraged all employees in Mexico and any other at risk locations to make use of the company’s own technology to telecommute or replace travel to partners or clients with face-to-face video conferencing or telepresence calls. Likewise, according to BudinessWeek, Dimension Data asked its 36 employees in Mexico to take client meetings and internal meetings via videoconferencing whenever possible.

Business continuity is a critical abet of video conferencing that is now more pertinent than ever with the CDC’s recent prediction that up to 40% of the population will be impacted by Swine Flu and an estimate that more than 90,000 will die from it in the coming months. The CDC has recommended that people who have symptoms of the Swine Flu, or have been exposed to others with symptoms, stay home.

In preparation for dealing with mass absences, companies of all sizes are exploring how to best implement a telework program. While telework has historically drawn mixed feelings from managers who don’t want to lose control, and employees who don’t want to lose face-time, businesses are finding that video conferencing solves these concerns by enabling workers to instantly interact face-to-face as easily as making a phone call, and without spreading germs. Coupled with the advanced content sharing abilities of today’s business quality systems, workers are able to maintain the same level of collaboration and productivity as if they were in the office.

It is fairly simple to get plot up with video conferencing. From free consumer web conferencing services like Skype, all the intention up to high-quality immersive telepresence like the TANDBERG Telepresence T3, there are video conferencing solutions to meet every budget. To see how others are using video conferencing and telepresence in innovative ways, check out the blog Stories From the Telepresence & Video Conferencing Community.