Union strikes, volcanic ash, A380 engine failures and total ticketing system failures in the news these past 2 years alone doesn’t inspire one to plan and grow a business around travelling interstate and overseas. Regardless of the latest Qantas union/industrial/corporate action the reality is that air travel is becoming riskier – not so much due to safety, but due to loss of productivity at an economic scale and to business. (I won’t weigh into the debate about Qantas here though most can probably glean my point of view from my Twitter or LinkedIn feeds).
I believe that when problems are presented that technology has a solution and whilst most of us in business agree there is no substitute for a face to face, a lunch, a handshake and a look in the eye to seal the deal – the reality is we may all need to think differently about how we engage one another if flying becomes any more prohibitive than it is now.
For some businesses this will mean a fundamental change in technology and perhaps a cultural change from the top down to encourage the use of converged communication (voice, video and data) to communicate with prospects, customers and employees alike.
Although it may be tempting to just set up a Skype account or encourage the use of GoToMeeting, the only way to truly change behaviours will be to make an investment in the infrastructure so that it is easy and fluid to communicate this way. Much like a grounded aircraft, it will be hard to maintain confidence in particular technologies if they are constantly suffering from outages, poor performance and poor customer service.
This is a common story today amongst businesses who were early adopters or semi-adopters of voice and video technology. Without investing in adequate services such as dedicated Internet services for voice over IP and video over IP calls and without rolling out adequate facilities at branch offices and campuses to meet the voice and video needs of the organisation – the technology has gone stale resulting in a fall back to costly flights and out of town stays.
The question today is, will the current action by Qantas and the general discontent that customers have with airlines ultimately be a catalyst for businesses to change their travel behaviours and meet and collaborate online instead?
I think yes. More importantly, how can a shift to online collaboration be successful?
Think tank First, there needs to be a time investment by businesses in looking at the ways employees, customers and suppliers interact with one another. Rather than the aforementioned setup of Skype (almost a reflex reaction that most businesses have when there is a travel or budget crisis) it will require engagement with all parties to decide what the typical organisation and inter-organisation meeting looks like and how it can be achieved online.
True Investment Once the framework is established for how the organisation will communicate, there are many investments that will need to be made. The obvious ones will include the actual software or cloud service used to communicate (e.g. GoToMeeting) but also an analysis of network as well. Unbeknownst to many, even to some in the IT industry itself is a dramatic improvement in networking technologies that support converged (meaning voice, video and data) and can ensure that all employees can communicate at a first class level.
Supply Chain and Customer Engagement If the organisation successfully designs or implements a way to communicate with the outside, it would be prudent to even set up some meetings (online perhaps?) that demonstrate to your supply chain and your customers that this is in fact a lower cost and equally or more profitable way of doing business.
It’s undeniable that with the state of the economy, the state of airlines such as Qantas and the need for businesses to adapt and move rapidly that we’ll see more dependence on conference calls and online presentations – but for most businesses it will require a sound strategy and a little more than 3 hours notice.
Happy travels.
