In lieu of the meetings and conferences canceled due to Covid-19, businesses the world over have turned to virtual meetings and videoconferences, leaning on Google Hangouts, Webex and GoToMeeting, among many others. The situation also has spurred meeting technology providers, such as Cvent and Aventri, to introduce their own virtual meeting solutions, and Intrado and other videoconference providers to upgrade their technologies.
Zoom's rise symbolizes the evolution of virtual communication in business travel. The virtual meetings tool historically has been perceived as an upgraded phone call. Now, the tool has become so popular that it doubles as a verb for connecting with someone virtually. Total daily meeting participants on the platform's paid and free services jumped from nearly 10 million last year to over 200 million today, according to the Wall Street Journal.
With explosive growth, however, came privacy and cybersecurity concerns, long overlooked. "Zoombombing," in which people with unauthorized access disrupt a meeting with inappropriate behavior, became a common term. The company has promised to address these gaps with recent upgrades and improvements. "I really messed up as CEO, and we need to win their trust back. This kind of thing shouldn't have happened," Zoom CEO Eric Yuan told the Wall Street Journal.
At least five months in since the pandemic started, the industry still is adapting to Zoom and other virtual meeting platforms. According to American Express Meetings & Events' 2021 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, which is based on an August and September survey of more than 560 meeting and event professionals, 40 percent said a lack of knowledge or experience in using virtual meetings platforms was one of their top challenges in using the technology, while 32 percent noted technical issues and 18 percent cited lack of engagement.
One thing is for sure: Companies will use virtual communication as a substitute for business travel more than they did before the pandemic. About 56 percent of travel managers expect more than one-quarter of their travel volume to be diverted to videoconferences in 2021, according to BTN's 2020 State of the Industry survey.