More companies turn to conferencing as part of conservation efforts
CHICAGO, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- In a recent survey where individuals were asked what their companies are doing to reduce the size of its carbon footprint, the top response was providing conferencing tools to cutback on travel (66%). The poll of over 900 workers, released by InterCall, investigated the steps companies are taking to increase environmentally-friendly practices.
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"Businesses are an important group to target with green issues," said Carolyn Campbell, senior director of marketing for InterCall. "Avoiding travel by using conferencing is a change businesses can make that is immediate and easy to implement. They can easily reduce their footprint without expensive changes to their product or processes ... it's simply a change in behavior."
Just how involved are the employees in their companies' quest to be green? The survey found:
-- To collaborate with remote teams while cutting down on travel, the main
technologies used are phone conference calls (76%), Web conferences
(63%) and video conferences (50%), which significantly cut down on
business trips.
-- Seventy-one percent of survey respondents said their companies enable
employees to telecommute on a full or part-time basis. Of those
supporting telecommuting, 25 percent say their companies actively
encourage the practice.
-- With conferencing tools being utilized more, 72 percent of people said
that they take zero to three business trips per year that require
flying.
-- A mere 5 percent of respondents said their companies are doing nothing
to address their environmental footprint.
-- Other popular responses for how companies are becoming "green" in the
workplace include recycling (61 percent) and working with
environmentally-friendly vendors (29 percent).
When it comes to awareness of green issues overall, only 31 percent of employees know their company's carbon footprint and another 31 percent reported that their company is planning to complete a carbon footprinting project within the next year.
"This survey shows that while companies are all at different phases in their green missions, environmental initiatives are certainly on everyone's radar these days and reducing business travel has become a major focus of many corporate efforts," says Campbell.
The InterCall survey, which was administered in January 2008 at http://www.greenconferencing.com, generated more than 900 responses from workers across the country.
About InterCall
InterCall, a subsidiary of West Corporation, is the largest service provider in the world specializing in conference communications. Founded in 1991, InterCall helps people and companies be more productive by providing advanced audio, event, Web and video conferencing solutions that are easy-to-use and save them time and money. Along with a team of over 600 Meeting Consultants, the company employs more than 1,500 operators, customer service representatives, call supervisors, accounting, marketing and IT professionals. InterCall's U.S. presence is bolstered by a global reach that extends to Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. For more information, please visit http://www.intercall.com.
SOURCE InterCall
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