18 Dec 2008

Productivity services offer business benefits, expert says

Businesses have been encouraged to embrace new communications solutions which could potentially provide new trading opportunities.

Martin Warner, co-founder of TalkBizNow.com, argued that productivity services, such as webinars and voice conferencing, can help companies benefit more from networking on the web.

Compared to traditional networking, such technologies can encourage firms to not only share information and communicate, but also conduct business on an online basis, Mr Warner noted.

"Once you have connected with these people and are actually talking to them, sharing information and communicating, then you will maybe trade business on that basis," he said.

Mr Warner's comments come after a report published in October argued that virtual networking has changed the face of business during the last decade.

The Network Citizens: Power and Responsibility at Work study by think tank Demos, in collaboration with Orange, stated that encouraging staff to network on both social and professional websites can have an impact on their business' profitability.