Many people are choosing to meet via the comfort of their computer monitor, according to 573 enterprise conferencing administrators who participated in Framingham, Mass.-based IDC's 2001 conferencing survey. IDC is a global market intelligence and advisory firm that helps clients gain insight into technology and ebusiness trends. Regardless of industry or company size, online meetings are becoming the preferred meeting style. The telecommunication, business consulting, and retail sectors are expected to be the biggest Web conference users, where between 77 percent and 100 percent of survey respondents anticipate greater conferencing use in the next six months, says the report.

Reasons for the Web trend include cutting travel costs and general acceptance of the new technology. Convenience and security were also sited as main reasons for moving to online meetings.

For more information on IDC’s survey results, contact Cheryl Toffel at (508) 935-4389 or ctoffel@idc.com.