Video conferencing services and web conferencing have become a vital part of many American and international companies. Video conferencing and web conferencing are convenient and lower operational costs.

Because of the millions of dollars that videoconferencing services have saved U.S. firms, the web conferencing and online collaboration industry expanded by about 30 percent in 2007. In 2008, the total income of all audio conferencing, video conferencing and web conferencing technologies is expected to hit $8 billion and is forecast to further increase to $10 billion by 2012.

Although videoconferencing services have been around for several years, during its early years early adopters of the technology claimed that in many cases the video quality was so poor or too choppy, and would often opt to meet important clients in person. New advances in high definition video conferencing services have remedied the issue.

Installing high definition videoconferencing services can be a major investment, with initial expenses for software and hardware averaging $200,000 and maintenance costs of 15 percent a year. However, with the ever-rising costs of fuel, and the related increase in travel, video conferencing technology can quickly pay for itself. Video conferencing also lowers the carbon footprint that companies create while using conventional travel.