The "virtual meeting" is rapidly establishing itself as a major 21st Century operational procedure, says Regus Southern Africa, local subsidiary of a global leader in office outsourcing.

Office outsourcing entails the provision of office suites on a needs-driven basis without a client company taking on any long-term commitments.

However, a growing aspect of the business is the provision of infra-structure for virtual meetings. The relevant core technology is video conferencing software and recording and transmission hardware via ISDN telephony or satellite uplink.

"In Asia, the trend has been spurred on by the outbreak of SARS," says Kevin Rawnsley, CEO of Regus Southern Africa.

"Chinese executives are now wary of face-to-face meetings. As a result, video-conferencing facilities are fully booked in Regus offices in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. Special local factors may soon drive the development here."

Rawnsley provides two scenarios to support this claim:

- Technical and managerial resources are at full stretch in a national  company where human capital has been cut back.

Regional operations rely on senior teams sent from headquarters. But hours of travel represents huge downtime for expensive personnel. Meanwhile, travel costs spiral.

- A South African company has formed an alliance with an American group which promises access to cutting-edge "intellectual capital". When the local company sends its people to the US to tap these resources, the rand costs are huge. The global company finds it difficult to send out a full top team to SA. 

As a result, the local company cannot derive optimum benefit from the relationship.

"In both scenarios, video conferencing is the answer. It is the most affordable means of leveraging human and intellectual capital - across the country or around the world," says Rawnsley.

Savings can be substantial. The cost of a three-hour meeting in New York for two SA executives could top R45 000. The video conferencing cost would be less than R4 500.

Regus Southern Africa regularly facilitates video conferencing between Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, New York, London and Tokyo. - The Star