Polycom Inc, the world's leading provider of unified collaborative communications solutions, today previewed highlights of a commissioned survey conducted by leading IT market research firm IDC that has found there is significant scope for Australia's senior executives to improve their productivity, and for their organisations to be more environmentally responsible, through an increased use of video conferencing.

The IDC survey* which examined the travel habits of 93 Australian enterprises with more than 500 employees, revealed that, on average, 28 per cent of all executive meetings could be conducted using video conferencing because they are conducted in rooms where the technology could easily be deployed. Not surprisingly, the survey also found that a higher proportion of senior executives travel, with over one-third travelling for business, compared to only 17 per cent of non-executives. Senior executives also typically travel more frequently, recording an average of 9.2 business trips per year, against only 1.6 trips for travelling non-executives.

* "Australian videoconferencing: collaboration is key to our future" developed in March 2008

The survey also quantified some of the ROI benefits organisations in key industry sectors could realise by replacing their non-essential business travel with meetings conducted over video conferencing. Examples include:
-Government organisations which on average spend A$1.3 million in travel costs per year,
could save A$505,156 (37% of the cost)
-Education organisations which on average spend A$1.4 million in travel costs per year,
could save A$415,058 (29% of the cost)
-Healthcare organisations which on average spend A$1.6 million in travel costs per year,
could save A$748,985 (44% of the cost)

David Cannon, Program Manager, Telecommunications at IDC Australia, commented: "The video conferencing market in Australia grew 35% last year. We will continue to see double digit growth in this market for the next five years as telecom bandwidth and video conferencing hardware costs drop, and as users increasingly realise that today's video conferencing solutions – such as telepresence – offer a far superior meeting experience than traditional video conferencing."

"Domestic and international business travel has been on the rise in Australia, which is increasing cost pressures for organisations, and disrupting the work/life balance of key decision-makers," said Michael Chetner, Country Manager for Australia and New Zealand at Polycom. "With the introduction of telepresence, organisations now have an efficient and effective alternative to business travel – enabling the stress on senior executives to be minimised and their productivity to increase, whilst driving true business and environmental benefits.

In addition to sharing the survey results, Polycom for the first time in Australia showcased its fully immersive Polycom RealPresence™ Experience High Definition (RPX™ HD) solution at its newly established "Customer Experience Centre" in Sydney. The luxurious, customised telepresence suite offers unprecedented high definition video in a cinematic view, extraordinary StereoSurround™ audio and high-resolution content for the ultimate remote meeting experience. The "Customer Experience Centre" enables Polycom's Australian customers and partners to experience its market-leading voice and video communication solutions in real-world Unified Communications environments.