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  • Reduce costs, improve resource efficiency
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• Re-thinking commuting
• Re-thinking business travel
  • Business travel basics
  • Travelling more sustainably on business
  • Using ICT to reduce business travel
    • Communication tools
      • Face-to-face meeting
      • Video-based tools
      • Audio-based tools
      • Text-based tools
    • Top tips for successful virtual meetings
• Measuring and monitoring carbon impacts
• Creating your ways2work plan
• Creating a healthy workplace

Communication tools

Here we review the principal communication tools available in today's workplace. Most of these are based on ICT, but we deliberately include the face to face meeting as a communication tool. That way we can assess its usefulness alongside other tools. The tools we assess here are listed below.

• A face-to-face meeting
• Video-based tools
  webcams, video conferencing, telepresence
• Audio-based tools
  telephone, audio conferencing and web conferencing
• Text-based tools
  instant messaging, email and discussion forums

Full descriptions of each tool, together with other terms involved in teleworking and remote working, are presented in a "Virtual Glossary" by Knowledge Ability Ltd.

These toolsets are deliberately presented in this particular order to represent three aspects:

• Cost broadly decreases from 1 to 4
• Complexity (and thus the likelihood of things going wrong) decreases from 1 to 4
• Carbon footprint decreases from 1 to 4

Thus, to reduce the cost, complexity and carbon footprint of meetings, a simple method is to consider the toolsets listed above in the reverse order 4 to 1. Ask:

• "Do I need to use anything more complicated than a text-based tool?", and if the answer is yes, ask:
• "Do I need to use anything more complicated than an audio-based tool?", and if the answer is yes, ask:
• "Do I need to use anything more complicated than a video-based tool?", and again if the answer is yes,
• You will have made an informed choice to hold a face to face meeting.

This method could be instituted as organisational process. Someone making a travel request could be required to justify that travel is necessary by assessing their need to travel against the alternatives.

Business Travel
Information from the 'Essential Guide to Travel Planning'