Greater efficiency combined with less time spent in TSA lines, cars and airplanes, not only lowers your expenses… it also helps the planet as your organization becomes a little more sustainable. That’s a WIN-WIN for everyone!
The impact of corporate travel on the environment
The future of travel has been hugely impacted by the pandemic, but it’s a given that corporate travel will slowly return as case numbers decrease. It is our responsibility to find ways to keep corporate travel down even as the pandemic eases; the environment has never been happier to see a reduction in business travel. Let’s keep it that way!
Here’s a striking example: employees of the software company Salesforce generated 146,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions due to travel in the year 2019. To put that into perspective, that’s the same amount of carbon dioxide generated by 17,500 homes in a whole year. Insane!
Business travel is usually associated with air travel. Air travel is a sector that is responsible for a growing quantity of emissions per year. From 2013 to 2018, air travel emissions grew by 32%. Some estimates hold that air travel will be responsible for 25% of all carbon emissions by the year 2050.
And that’s just the emissions.
If you factor in all the other environmental impacts such as single-use utensils and plastics from all the take-away meals and coffees, the picture becomes pretty bleak & unsustainable.
What is the need for corporate travel?
I think most of us can agree that video meetings just aren’t the same as an in-person meetings. The energies aren’t the same, it’s not as natural, and sometimes ideas just don’t seem to flow as well as they do in person, but this doesn’t have to be the case (go on…).
So, if you’re meeting a big executive, working to close a big deal, or meeting with your team to work on an intricate project, you may feel that you need to meet in person to get the full experience.
Sure. On the surface level, this makes sense, but with the right apps, software and setups, you can achieve very close to the same experience in a video meeting as you would online.
In this new world, these types of in-person interactions just aren’t needed as frequently. Instead, everything can be done online, saving cars and planes polluting the air with their emissions.
Reducing the need for corporate travel with IT
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that many businesses are still able to function quite well without directors, managers, and employees attending to things in person.
A robust IT setup can help reduce the need for business travel. It may not completely eliminate it, but it can certainly reduce your dependence on travel.
Here are some of the IT technologies you’ll need
It may feel daunting to transition away from corporate travel towards virtual solutions, but don’t worry! All of the technology you need has already been created, you just need to use it to your advantage.
Virtual Meeting Software
Virtual or hybrid meetings are the easiest way to start reducing corporate travel. If even one of your meeting attendees can join virtually instead of in-person, you’re taking a step in the right direction!
Zoom is, by far, the most well-known virtual meeting software. The premium version of Zoom allows for unlimited time in meetings, breakout rooms, and more. It’s great if you need to host professional meetings with a lot of attendees.
Gather Town is another option, which is especially beneficial if you want to create community in your meetings or conferences. The spaces are fully customizable, so you can create virtual interactions that feel more human.
When you’re in a virtual meeting, you can also make use of technology like virtual whiteboards to make the meeting more successful. Mural is an online platform that allows for easy visual collaboration. Use the Mural boards for anything from brainstorming to interactive client engagement sessions to help ensure everyone is on the same page.
Electronic Signature Software
Sending and signing contracts has never been easier to do virtually than it is right now. There are so many different options for e-signature software that you’ll have no problem replacing your in-person contract negotiations with a virtual substitute!
Panda Doc is a software that allows for e-signatures, templates, custom fields, approval workflows, and much more. You can use the software for proposals, quotes, contracts, forms, and more!
DocuSign is another popular e-signature software. You can also use their suite of applications and integrations for contract lifecycle management, document generation and negotiation, and contract analytics.
Conclusion
While it may be tempting to depend on multiple 3rd party applications in conjunction to run a virtual workspace. The DeepNet solution takes care of all of the above challenges. Ensuring peace of mind that your teams can meet digitally in support of all business functions.
Now let’s go save the planet!
