A recent ANZ survey revealed that 88 per cent of the company’s staff believed the number of meetings they are forced to endure is on the rise, while 66 per cent are finding that those meetings have little or no value.
The negative aspects associated with the rise in meetings is fast becoming known, as proven with the 67 per cent global ANZ staff average who believe meetings often add no value to productivity.
Around 3 hours every week is lost in attending meetings, which amounts to an average of 5 ½ days every year. This is per employee, so the accumulated reduction in productivity would undoubtedly be very high for larger businesses.
A 2014 Ovum and join.me study by LogMeIn has revealed similar figures, these pointing to the detrimental effects delayed meetings have on business productivity. Executives were found to waste over 10 minutes waiting for each meeting to get started, which adds up to almost 3 hours every week. In monetary terms, the amount of time wasted by the average mid-sized organization translates to over $5 million.
Yet, the fact remains, meetings are essential for growth. Communication regarding business objectives, internal agendas and structural management is imperative, which is why more business leaders are embracing the evolving need for meetings and are looking for new ways to ensure productivity does not suffer.
“Our study found that meetings aren’t inherently unproductive. The number and growth of meetings is not the problem,” a LogMeIn representative told Dynamic Business.
“The problem is the value of each meeting. With the right attendees and the right tools, they’re the essence of the connected, collaborative economy, proving a valuable resource for generating ideas and plan execution.”
The Ovum and join.me study found 39 per cent of corporate buyers are actively looking for new collaboration solutions to replace traditional web conferencing tools. ANZ corporate buyers are aiming for a “better user experience,” while 18 per cent are highlighting cost reduction as the second most important driver.
It comes as no real surprise to learn just how big the global web conferencing market has become. A 2014 report by Frost & Sullivan revealed the market grew by 10.5 per cent in 2013 to a healthy $2.0 billion in revenue, which was attributed to wider deployments and growing user cases.
And it’s only going to get bigger. Web conferencing software and services are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8.8 per cent from 2013 to 2018, with revenue expected to hit $3.05 billion by 2018.
The need for more agile and easy-to-use web conference tools has seen a variety of new collaborative services rise in the online sector, an area in which LogMeIn continues to be a prominent leader. LogMeIn’s join.me has become one of the most widely used secure online meeting apps in the market, with the system’s focus on speed and ease-of-use pushing it to the forefront of the pack.
“Join.me’s disruptive focus on simplicity, speed and usability has helped to attract millions of users and thousands of businesses – including 90 per cent of the Fortune 500,” a LogMeIn representative said.
“Among the top ten countries are North America, Australia, UK, India, Germany, France and Spain. Locally, our customers have noted join.me’s easy to deploy, easy to use offering that provides crystal-clear resolution rates and provides simplified scheduling capabilities. Not only this, the software’s ability to enable business scalability, reduce travel and time costs for employees, as well as increase customer interaction, has been highlighted as a clear business benefit.”
Find Out More:
Tooling up for Collaboration. Virtual Meetings that drive Business Results.
The following report combines quantitative research sponsored by join.me by LogMeIn and a range of other prominent research firms with qualitative analysis conducted by Forbes Insights. We hope it delivers an array of useful insights you are able to apply to your organization’s collaboration practices.
Download report here
Customer Satisfaction with Collaboration Solutions.
This report examines the underlying factors that determine an end user’s satisfaction with their online meeting tool and which tools rank the highest.
Download report here
Unshackling Online Meetings for Business Users
This whitepaper guides you through solutions to help you and your business avoid technology frustrations that sap productivity.
Download whitepaper here
Death of the Web Conference (As We Know It).
The following independent research paper, written by Ovum in collaboration with join.me by LogMeIn, examines survey results used to measure evolving employee needs, behavior and expectations in the workplace.
Download report here
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