From the President

We are honored to be on this year’s Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing private companies again.

Inc. magazine’s Inc. 5000 list is their “most complete portrait of the universe of growing private companies ever assembled” and we are grateful to have been twice recognized. 

More importantly, however, is that we recognize you, our clients, as being the reason for our continued success. We know that you have a choice and we are very appreciative to you for allowing us to serve you. 

Since our inception over two decades ago, we have been constantly vigilant about providing what you need and on a daily basis continue to search for ways to improve our service to you.

As always, I invite your suggestions on how we can better serve you and welcome submissions on content matter for this e-newsletter.

Best regards,
Sheila Atkinson-Baker

Videoconferencing: Making a Strong Comeback in a Weak Economy

By Barbara Lynch, Staff Writer

During the discovery process, when people can’t be in the same location at the same time, videoconferencing is a very convenient way of communicating while still being able to observe facial expressions, mannerisms, and body language.

According to an article last month in Portland’sOregonian newspaper, big businesses like Cisco and Hewlett Packard have reduced their travel budgets immensely with Cisco saving $5 million annually and HP slicing 30% off their travel expenses because of, for the most part, videoconferencing technology.

In the article, John Boudreau comments on how big businesses are crediting videoconferencing as the reason they can cut back so much on their outgoing travel expenses.

“Just a few years ago, Advanced Micro Devices executive Linda Starr racked up a million air miles a year in business travel. Now she logs a mere 100,000 miles per year, thanks to sophisticated videoconferencing technology,” he wrote.

“In a trend that could transform the way companies do business, Cisco Systems has slashed its annual travel budget by two-thirds – from $750 million to $240 million – by using similar conferencing technology to replace air travel and hotel bills for its vast work force.”

Focusing on cutting travel expenses and saving traveling time isn’t new to businesses, but it has become more commonplace over the last few years. This trend isn’t just prevalent in big Fortune 500 companies, but the legal industry and law firms of all sizes are also looking at ways to trim their own budgets in this way and are doing so successfully.
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