The wired world has reduced geographical distance and made it possible for people physically dispersed to interact. Small and medium sized businesses have managed to expand and reach a wider market segment with the assistance of the internet, telecommunication technologies and social media platforms. In light of the recent economic conditions, organizations increasingly turn to new innovations rather than face-to-face meetings to reduce running costs and maintain their business process. By factoring in current market conditions, several factors emerge that give support to the premise that the outlook of physical meetings is blink.
Current economic conditions and the difficulty in fulfilling monetary and policy plans is making it difficult for the effects of the recession to diminish. Moreover, deregulation of the global market implies that economic issues facing a region affect the rest of the world instantaneously. Therefore, this ripple effect will transcend for a long time, until a balance is found within the international market. For these reasons, organizations seeking to maintain their position in the business world will continue to find ways, to sustainably manage business processes. One of the business processes that will face more scrutiny in the future are meetings. This translates to a reduction in the number of physical meetings carried out within a fiscal year in the future. To manage operational costs, more organizations will turn to virtual meetings, rather than physical meetings.
Virtual meetings will be preferred more in the future because like the large physical meetings, they also facilitate networking and allow an exchange of information. Additionally, virtual meetings are less expensive as compared to large physical meetings since transportation costs, accommodation, shipping, packaging and hiring of large conferencing facilities are not included. Virtual meetings further offer organizations the advantage of reduced time costs. Therefore, virtual meetings will take precedence in the future for organizations seeking networking, and information exchange. Looking at the direction of communication and organizational needs, it is evident that virtual meetings will be the choice for future meetings. Large physical meetings will not be preferred since, they consume a lot of time in planning, budgeting and hosting. Mean while, virtual teams offer increased productivity, are cost effective and are very convenient for businesses.
Moreover, there is increased need to incorporate social media within the business process. Organizations are more and more aware of the rise of social media amongst staff and clients. Therefore, to reach these stakeholders, businesses are increasingly targeting social media platforms as an important communication tool. Consequently, the number of organizations using social media is increasing rather than reducing. While physical meetings offer an opportunity to interact, observe bodily reactions, virtual meetings are increasingly becoming interactive due to new technologies. The future of telecommunication and information technology is leading the world towards increased interaction, faster speeds, better data transfer and cheaper communication costs. Therefore, in the future, virtual meetings will be more interactive, clearer, faster and cost effective than physical meetings. Thus, social media coupled with new and innovative communication technologies, will make it easier for organizations to continually and effectively monitor and control business processes.
In the end, large physical meetings will reduce in the future, as organizations turn towards technology, social media and virtual meetings. The need for continued monitoring of resources, manpower and finances to reduce running costs, implies an increase in the use of virtual meetings. Since virtual meetings will offer opportunities to communicate information and offer increased networking, physical meetings will be a thing of the past.