Press Release - State of the Modern Meeting Vol 2 - aus

New study finds visual collaboration improves business relationships as modern meetings become virtual, mobile and productive

• Video collaboration is resulting in better quality meetings… unless they’re with the boss!
• Aussies avoid late nights and opt for breakfast meetings
• One in 10 video calls in Australia now made from mobile devices

Jan 14, 2014— Sydney, Australia – Blue Jeans Network’s second bi-annual State of the Modern Meeting Report has found that Australian businesses are not only continuing to embrace video collaboration but we are actually starting more meetings early, if not on time thanks to the technology.

More than 20 percent of Australian video meetings now start at least five minutes earlier than scheduled. However, the data has also revealed that it’s the C-suite holding things up. While 42 percent of meetings begin on time, CEOs, CTOs and founders are most likely to arrive late.

Tools of the trade

Access to video conferencing as a service has meant that Australian businesses are now connecting to video calls across a variety of devices. The report found the majority of meetings occur on desktops/laptops (59%), followed by conference rooms (18%), video enabled mobile devices (9%) and telephones (8%).

Commenting on the findings, Blue Jeans Network chief commercial officer Stu Aaron said: “There has been a monumental shift in the way meetings are being conducted. If an in-person meeting is not an option, more than half of business professionals prefer a video meeting over an audio-only meeting.”

“This new way to collaborate means that budget cuts, local holidays and a geographically scattered team are no longer threats to business productivity, as you can easily conduct face-to-face meetings with nearly any browser-based device – from any location.”

Aussie appetite for breakfast meetings

Comparing our meeting habits with those overseas, it appears UK workers meet for longer hours than Australians, starting meetings as early as 7am each day and only winding up at 9pm. Meanwhile, the data has found the majority of Australian meetings, 39 percent, are most likely to occur between 8am and 11am.

Looking at the gender divide, women are the queens of the modern meeting – attending 14 percent more meetings than men (up from 11 percent six months ago) and are 12 percent more likely to attend meetings on weekends than their male counterparts.

Compiled using data from more than one million Blue Jeans customers in 177 countries and a U.S. survey of 391 business decision makers, the Blue Jeans Network, State of the Modern Meeting Report benchmarks trends in collaboration and demonstrates how technology is reshaping meetings throughout the world.

Other key statistics from the report include:

• The Meeting World Is Flat: Companies and professionals are collaborating across the globe most frequently between Singapore, San Francisco, Prague, Dubai and New York. Australian companies have connected with 79 countries and 1,051 cities, with the top cities including San Francisco, Singapore, Zurich, Chicago, Beijing and Hyderabad.
• No Face Time, No Deal: Nearly three quarters (71%) believe they lost a deal due to the lack of face-to-face interaction and six per cent have admitted to falling asleep during an audio-only meeting.
• Skip Skype with the Web: Desktop and laptop business users are increasingly skipping proprietary solutions like Skype for the ease and ubiquity of the web browser thanks to technology advancements like WebRTC. Today, 90 percent of Blue Jeans desktop/laptop participants use a browser.
• Meeting the Holiday Hangover: While there is a 60 per cent reduction in meetings the day before a holiday, the meeting bill comes due with a 118 per cent increase in meetings the day after a holiday. Q1 2014 is poised to be the busiest meeting season of the year with the post-holiday spike and 25 per cent more meetings taking place in February than any other time of the year.
• No Travel, No Trouble: More than 6,500 participants have saved 216 million miles of travel to and from Australia since launch in September 2013.
• On average Australian business meetings last 41 minutes with almost five participants.
• Aussie professionals are taking back the lunch hour with a 10 per cent decline in meetings from noon to 1pm.

For more information about Blue Jeans Network and the State of the Modern Meeting, including an infographic on the data, visit https://www.bluejeans.com/modern-meeting/au.

About Blue Jeans Network
At Blue Jeans Network, our mission is to make video communications as easy and pervasive as audio communications, enabling more effective collaboration at work, at home, and on the road. Our cloud-based conferencing service makes this possible by enabling customers to connect with each other seamlessly any time, anywhere, and from practically any device. The Blue Jeans Network extends high quality video communications beyond the traditional boundaries of specialized conference rooms and into the mainstream, allowing individuals and employees throughout an enterprise to interact more effectively with each other, and with their customers, partners, suppliers, family, and friends. Blue Jeans Network is a private company headquartered in Mountain View, California. For more information go to: https://www.bluejeans.com or follow the company @BlueJeansNet

About the study
The report was compiled using data from more than one million Blue Jeans customers in 177 countries and a survey of 391 business decision makers in the U.S. conducted on behalf of Blue Jeans Network by Instant.ly in November of 2013. The report benchmarks trends in collaboration and demonstrates how technology is reshaping meetings throughout the world.

Media Contact
Andrew Burton or Seamus Horan
Fuel Communications
+61 2 8217 6500
bluejeans@fuelcommunciations.com.au