Avoiding road to BIA, virtually AIRPORT COUNTDOWN

Avoiding road to BIA, virtually AIRPORT COUNTDOWN
Anshul Dhamija & Mini Joseph Tejaswi | TNN

Bangalore: Bizarre, but true. The opening of the Bengaluru International Airport and the closure of the HAL airport, is putting additional pressure on the travel desks of tech and BPO firms in the city.
With just three days left for the opening of the new airport, IT/BPO firms are busy tinkering with their travel budgets, to factor the additional air and ground movement expenses they might incur while flying senior employees and clients in/out of Bangalore.
However, the recipe that leading blue-chip firms are going to adopt is straight out of their own backyard — virtual reality. To offset the impact, they are in the process of scaling up their telconferencing, video-conferencing and telepresence infrastructure.
“We currently have telepresence facilities in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. We will introduce that technology in Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune. Telepresence offers a real, face-face meeting experience,’’says Varghese Thomas, head, corporate communication, Cisco Systems. Cisco conducted a test-drive to BIA from its office on MG Road, and found that the twoand-a-half-hour trip would increase their expenses.
According to industry estimates, over 5,000 mid-level and senior IT and BPO professionals fly in and out of the city every day.
“A large number of fly-by-day corporate visitors to the city, who come in the morning, attend a meeting and fly back in the evening, will have to switch to virtual meetings,’’ said Varghese.
IT major Infosys Technologies is already in the process of revisiting its employee travel policy and budget allocation. “The rising cost of aviation fuel, transportation cost to reach BIA and user development fee have forced us to relook our policies on air travel. We are looking at alternative modes of travel, as travelling to BIA is going to increase our expenses and waste time,” said T V Mohandas Pai, head, education & training, Infosys Technologies.
Small and medium IT companies, too, are worried. “The distance factor is going to put additional stress on us and we are looking at alternative means of commuting and communication using technology,’’ said Paarol Prema, head, logistics, of a medium enterprise.