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05-03-2002, 01:00 AM
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Holding ’Virtual Meetings’ for Just One Day Helped Latitude Save $30,000 in Travel, Downtime, and Nearly 500 Gallons of Pollution
Newstream 90 Employees Held 180+ Remote Meetings; Avoided Driving Almost 3,000 Miles, Generating Potential Annual Savings of Over $40,000 per employee
On April 22, Latitude (Nasdaq: LATD), the leading provider of secure, integrated voice and web conferencing solutions, invited its employees, based in the United States, United Kingdom and Singapore, to run, bike, take mass transit, telecommute or find other alternate transportation to work, for Earth Car-Free Day, an event introduced by the Earth Day Network. In addition, the company asked its 225 staff members to hold their meetings "virtually" using MeetingPlace, the company’s voice and web conferencing technology. "Given that Latitude, with under 250 employees, realized significant savings from operating virtually, the costs and downtime that a global 2000 company can save by reducing travel is sure to be far larger," said Matt Cain, vice president, Web and Collaboration Strategies, META Group. "As a remote worker myself, I believe in the productivity increases that web conferencing technologies can bring about. Certainly, if greater adoption of these tools also helps the environment through reduced emissions, everyone wins." Cost Savings in One Day Totals Over $30,000 Ninety Latitude employees avoided driving 2,993 miles and held 188 virtual meetings on Earth Day. By avoiding driving to work, they reduced nearly 400 gallons of emissions, based on a formula1 provided by Dr. Alan Gertler, research professor, Division of Atmospheric Sciences Desert Research Institute. They reduced another 91 gallons by working with customers, coworkers and others online on MeetingPlace. One hundred seven meetings were held with other employees worldwide, 44 with customers, 14 with prospects, 14 with partners, and nine with vendors. If participants had traveled to the external meetings, driving to two-thirds of them and flying to the rest, then Latitude realized the following savings by operating virtually:
"Considering that ground-level pollution aggravates allergies and serious lung conditions including asthma, it is noteworthy when a company finds ways to reduce just one gallon of emissions, let alone 500 gallons," said Dr. Alan Gertler of the Desert Research Institute. "The fact that Latitude’s virtual meeting technology can also help save on significant travel costs makes MeetingPlace particularly attractive to diverse organizations." 10-Meeting Marathoner, Clear Air Heroes, Rollerblading Commuter Latitude also recognized four employees for their participation in "Earth Car-Free Day," including Jordan Creglia, Paul Montalvo, Aleks Tan and Marty Hollander. Creglia, who held the most meetings on MeetingPlace that day, held 10. In addition to meeting with 10 groups in a day - something that he couldn’t have done if he had traveled - he saved the company $2,8105. Tan worked from home to avoid driving 70 miles each way, reducing the most pollution at 12 gallons. And Montalvo was cited for reducing the most pollution on a regular basis, at 2,724 gallons year-round, by riding a train 136 miles each day. Choosing rollerblading to commute seven miles each way, Hollander was recognized for the most unusual mode of travel. On Earth Day, Latitude also introduced MeetingPlace Web 3.0, the next generation of its tightly integrated voice and web conferencing solution, and MeetingPlace.Net, an immediately accessible single flat-rate voice and web conferencing service. With just a telephone and a browser, people can collaborate using MeetingPlace voice and web conferencing from anywhere in the world. So, they spend fewer hours traveling - and more time, perhaps, enjoying hot tubs. About MeetingPlace MeetingPlace, the leading integrated, secure voice and web conferencing solution, helps organizations to work better through real-time collaboration. MeetingPlace integrates with standard communications infrastructures enabling people to share and edit live documents to work together productively from any location. The result: Faster sales, reduced costs and improved communications. To simplify meeting scheduling, MeetingPlace integrates with standard groupware applications such as Microsoft Outlook and Lotus Notes. MeetingPlace, available as a hosted service or on-premises conferencing platform, is provided by Latitude Communications (Nasdaq: LATD). For more information, visit at www.meetingplace.net or call 800-999-7440. About Latitude Communications Latitude Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:LATD) is the leader in providing secure voice and web conferencing solutions. Companies such as Aetna, Agilent, AOL/Time Warner, Charles Schwab, Cisco, Deloitte & Touche and Hewlett-Packard are using MeetingPlace to collaborate in real-time to speed corporate decision-making. Based in Santa Clara, California, Latitude has direct sales and support offices or distribution partners in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and India. For information, visit www.latitude.com or call 800-999-7440. MeetingPlace is a registered trademark of Latitude Communications Inc. All other product and company names are trademarks of their respective holders. 1. Dr. Alan Gertler, who studies the environmental impact of motor exhaust, says that for every mile we drive, we generate 307.44 grams of pollution, the bulk of which is carbon dioxide (300 grams of CO2, six grams of carbon monoxide, .8 grams of oxides of nitrogen, .6 grams of hydrocarbons, and .04 grams of particulate matter). City driving and using trucks and sport utility vehicles produce even more pollution, Gertler says. For more information, email Gertler at alang@dri.edu or call him at (775) 674-7061. 2. Assumption: Each trip averages 20 miles, for a total of 1080, and $454 for car operation, according to AAA estimates; $6,000 in downtime based on $50 per hour; and 91 gallons of pollution 3. Assumption: Flights average two hours, at $500 round trip each, with seven hours downtime, totaling $13,500 in airfare; $1,350 in car rentals, and $4,050 per diem including lodging, at $150 per day per person; and $9,450 downtime 4. $34,804 divided by 225 employees = $155 savings per employee per day. Multiplied by 260 business days, the average employee saves $40,300 per year in travel-related costs. 5. Eight of his meetings were with customers and prospects and two were with coworkers. If Creglia had had to drive to six meetings, at 20 miles roundtrip each, he would have traveled 120 miles, costing $50 for running his car, $600 in downtime and 10 gallons of pollution. Assuming that he flew to the other two external meetings, he would have incurred $1,360 ($1,000 for flights, $60 car rental, and $300 per diem for two days), plus $800 downtime, totaling a savings of $2,810.
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May 2002 (Newstream) -- How big is 500 gallons? It’s enough water to fill a luxury hot tub that holds seven people. And it’s the amount of smelly, toxic pollution that Latitude Communications avoided emitting on its "Earth Car-Free Day" last week. 
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