Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2010. The idea that virtual meetings were a young, untapped market that companies were reluctant to adopt no longer holds: videoconferencing became mainstream, especially from 2020 onwards.
With new technologies, the arrival of remote work, the push to cut business costs and, above all, the need for innovation in business, virtual meetings (meetings 2.0) will start to take over sooner than we think. The problem for companies is that setting up the space and the equipment to make them possible is complicated.
As a new business idea, we suggest specializing in this kind of service. We know it will be hard to win over this reluctant market because of today’s mindset, but as we’ve said before, specialization can be our best calling card.
If companies knew how easy it is today to set up a meeting with their sales reps spread across different provinces, without them having to travel to head office, they wouldn’t hesitate for a moment.
Multi-party videoconferencing, or the meeting 2.0, isn’t just more convenient for everyone; it also saves on travel expenses and even time. If the boss needs to meet with employees while thousands of kilometers away, a virtual meeting lets him organize it so that it’s as if he were in the room.
There are already a few companies that specialize in setting up these meetings, but the market is still very young, and demand will grow as companies become aware of it.
So if you’re good with new technologies, know some electronics and have contacts for innovative supplies, you may be looking at a business that will end up moving billions of euros, and the first to get there will no doubt take advantage of it.
We’ve all seen these kinds of meetings in the movies, and sometimes they’ve looked a bit surreal. Well, in the United States that’s normal, and this kind of meeting has been in place for years at medium-sized and large companies.
Here, even though we’re somewhat behind, it’s only a matter of time. Seize the business opportunity.
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