Use of video conferencing has been one of the ways in which the NHS in West Kent has been making financial and environmental savings, reports The Kent News.

The primary care trust (PCT) has been running a new carbon management scheme, encouraging staff and colleagues to make use of reduced carbon methods when facilitating meetings and training sessions. 

Video conferencing has been used to negate the need for time consuming and carbon emitting travel, following a conference on how the NHS could tackle climate change.

NHS PCTs in Sussex and Surrey are following suit after the event, held during Climate Week, highlighted their commitment to incorporating sustainability into all aspects of NHS activity without compromising levels of patient care provided.

Many companies are now turning to video conferencing as a way to more conveniently and cheaply liaise with colleagues and clients both nationally and internationally. Lately, use of video conferencing in the medical profession has been publicised, where patients in remote areas can still visit their doctor without leaving their own home.  

Dr Caroline Jessel, sustainability lead at West Kent NHS told Your Sevenoaks: “NHS West Kent is at the forefront of this work as our Carbon Management Plan looks to embed a process of engagement and culture change to enable instinctive carbon management by all”.

Video conferencing and telepresence markets are expected to double in size by 2015, reports zycko.com.

A new report from Infonetics Research stated that annual enterprise video conferencing and telepresence revenue increased 18 per cent last year – to a global total of $2.2 billion. The firm expects the markets will likely reach $5 billion in 2015.

The company notes that the “highly versatile” multi-purpose room systems will represent the highest growth in the market. However, “immersive telepresence systems” are predicted to see the highest growth among all video conferencing equipment.

Matthias Machowinski, an analyst at Infonetics Research, said to tmc.net: “Communicating via video continues to be one of the top trends in telecom, as evidence by strong growth in the enterprise video market. Businesses worldwide are looking for richer means of communications with their employees, partners, and customers, and enterprise videoconferencing and telepresence solutions are a natural fit.”

“The biggest winners in the enterprise communications market will be those who offer solutions that are multi-modal, visual (e.g. video based), and support the collaboration requirements of globally distributed organisations,” he added.

Infonetics Research made the revelations in a new report which details “market size, vendor market share as well as dedicated video conference infrastructure and endpoints.”

Norfolk business owners are urging other companies and members of the public to keep our planet green and, in the long term, save money, reports eveningnews24.co.uk.

Methods of saving the environment can include solar panelling, introducing video conferencing to cut travel costs, property insulation and more. Making these changes can be essential to keeping a business afloat, says the winner of the eco-hero award Joe Ray. Mr Ray won the award at the Norwich Eco Awards this year.

“It’s about changing the mindset of people,” said Mr Ray. “For example, if staff appreciate small things and the effects of wastage, then that’s going to make a difference. It’s about getting people to look at things differently and see what can be done with the things they already have.”

Video conferencing, solar panels and other green methods have been given the thumbs up by Lee Rose, winner of the eco small business category.

“We’ve been lucky to make a real contribution. Norwich is a great place to live and I think it’s nice to be able to have something that acknowledges eco achievements.”

Leftfootforward.org notes that green technology like video conferencing should be eligible for “tax breaks” as they save professionals “many time-consuming journeys.”

A telepresence expert has claimed that mobile phones and landlines are becoming obsolete.

Bob McCandless, who is the CEO of an independent telepresence organisation, made the statement ahead of his speech at this year’s Annual Telepresence Conference.

Thousands of businesses are realising the rewards of hiring video conferencing facilities; such as reduced travel costs, and more efficient, faster communication. In fact, McCandless expected the majority of businesses to be reaping the benefits of face-to-face communication technology in the near future.

He told PR USE: ”With over 500 million users talking over VOIP, phones and landlines are becoming obsolete.”

However, McCandless was also keen to point out that there were some bugs to iron out of video conferencing services before they could become the primary communication tool for the masses.

He singled out the quality of bandwidth as a particular stumbling block during a recent interview, and confirmed: ”While telepresence and video are unifying voice with video and data, there are still setbacks.”

It is thought McCandless will host a session titled ‘Using the Evolution of Voice as a Model for the future of Telepresence and Video Conferencing’ as part of the 2011 Nab Show. Business Review USA described the two-day conference as the premier event for content professionals who share a passion for bringing content to life on any platform.

A London school has saved over £4,500 by using video conferencing facilities.

Engayne School in Havering is a lead school for London in the National Outstanding Primary Schools’ SCITT (School Centred Initial Teacher Training) programme.

As a result, it holds regular meeting with its counterparts in the surrounding area, as well as 11 trips to Nottingham University annually.

In travel costs and supply cover, the school has saved over 2,700 travel miles and 66 hours of teaching time by using the technology. This equates to a saving of over £4,500.

Head teacher at Engayne School, Suzanne Ship, spoke to AVInteractive.co.uk about the situation: ”All six head reps from the different regions over England met three times a year using video conferecing.”

“The use of this technology means I can be in my school for the meetings and not have to travel or stay overnight in a hotel. Without video conferencing it would have made projects and meetings with the SCITT program much more difficult for us all.”

Speaking to Video Conferencing for Learning, Ship added that the school had seen other benefits than just those related to money; such as the time it saved, approximately 6 school days each year – or 48 hours.

She claimed this was time that could be spent liaising with students and staff. 

A survey has found that commuters are spending almost a fifth of their annual take home pay just to get to work, reports HR Magazine.

Analysis by Virgin Media Business found that the average person driving to work spends £3,782 annually, translating to about 20 per cent of their net salary. 

The results were based on an average journey of 19 miles per day at the nation’s average petrol price of 129p per litre. To cover those annual commuting costs, Virgin calculated that someone making the journey must work for two months, seven days, seven hours and ten minutes each year, says HR Magazine.

Astonishingly, this means that means the moment that commuters stop paying for their annual travel fees is at 5:10pm on 10 March. Of course, those travelling by train often pay considerably more for monthly or annual season tickets.

The survey of 5,000 companies found that 14 per cent already give workers the option to work remotely and make use of video conferencing technology.

Mark Heraghty, MD at Virgin Media Business said to The Grapevine: “The thought of spending a fifth of your salary on commuting to work is enough to drive most people up the wall, but every year millions of us are doing just that.

“The idea that to do work you must be in the workplace no longer rings true. [Saving] staff a small fortune while offering a far greater work/life balance is an added bonus.”

Increased costs of travel and security threats in Africa have driven growth in the video conferencing market, All Africa reported.

Falling internet costs have also driven growth of conferencing services, as well as a government which is slowly embracing information communication technology.

Ahmed Ben Bella, an industry insider, noted that the industry has seen a rapid rise in the region due to these factors: ”Kenya has become a hub for multinationals and international organisations operating in the East African region.”

“There are important installations that need enhanced security and this is driving demand for CCVV cameras and other security equipment,” he said.

In the last few years, companies have become more appreciative of the importance of telepresence, video conferencing, broadcasting equipment and a variety of digital communications.

Bella believes that video conferencing will be the basis for the “next big fight for market share.”

This news followed a report in Greenwise Business, which confirmed companies are cutting back on flying to clients in favour of using video conferencing. Over 150 companies were surveyed in the report, all of which are among the 500 largest in the UK.

David Norman, director of campaigns for the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) UK, made a statement confirming the motivation behind the results; claiming: ”Many have found that cutting business flights can be both good for the planet and good for business.”

With the recession, mounting pressure on climate change and better video conferencing facilities available for hire than ever before, businesses are making permanent commitments to fly less, a report has suggested.

The study, undertaken by the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF), surveyed over 150 of Britain’s biggest businesses, in a bid to understand how the global drop in business flights had been reflected in the UK.

The report found that 47 per cent of respondents had reduced their business flights over the last two years and of these, 85 had no intention of returning to the old levels they’d experienced.

A further 86 per cent were actively reducing their carbon footprint or had schemes in place to do so; and a further 63 per cent had a policy to reduce business flights or were intending to develop one.

Industry expert, Matt Key, spoke to Business Green about the results, giving his predictions for the future: ”Developments will see consumers help fuel the demand for video conferencing, prompting businesses to adopt it more widely.”

“We’ve already seen first-hand the growing interest companies have for video conferencing and we expect this trend to continue.”

Talking to Greenwise Business, WWF UK director of campaigns, David Norman, also spoke it, claiming: “Businesses get it – they can fly less and still be profitable and competitive.”

“Government should support these findings by investing in high speed broadband, backing tax incentives for video conferencing and improving and investing in the rail network. The notion that people have to fly more to grow their business has been firmly grounded.”