Thame, Oxon, UK: 29 January, 2013 – Following the news that the UK is half-way to a triple-dip recession coupled with reports from Davos that some business leaders are optimistic about the world economy, businesses need to ensure they are ready to survive a seemingly endless tough economic climate, at the same time as meeting the business opportunities that even a slight improvement in the economy may deliver.

"We all know now that latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the UK economy shrank 0.3% in the last quarter of 2012 and if growth in the first quarter of this year continues to be negative then we will fall into a triple-dip," said Steve Gandy, MeetingZone's CEO. "But perhaps the outlook is not all doom and gloom if the optimism surrounding the outlook for the economy emanating from Davos is not just based on hope."

Antony Jenkins, Chief Executive of Barclays, quoted in The Sunday Times (27 Jan) said, "It's not so much that business leaders see the glass as half full, it's that they are now more confident that there isn't a big hole in the bottom." He continued, "I think they generally agree that we are headed for a sustained period of subdued growth, but the fear of imminent collapse has receded."

Triple-dip recession or a sustained period of growth, however small, drives the need for senior executives in large enterprises, owner/managers of SMEs and success hungry entrepreneurs heading up start-ups to put business strategies in place which will help them meet the challenges of both.

"One way in which businesses of all sizes across all sectors can successfully overcome the challenges of a deepening recession or take full advantage of new business opportunities arising from any growth in the economy, is to ensure that they are benefitting from today's business communications tools, such as conference calling, which can play a pivotal role in helping them improve levels of productivity and efficiency," explained Gandy.

The often cited benefit of deploying conferencing and collaboration tools to reduce business travel has shifted to their ability to improve productivity and efficiency and this is backed up by the results of an online survey carried out by AV Magazine - see latest issue Jan/Feb 2013.

Respondents were asked what they considered to be the main benefits of collaborative communications. Overwhelmingly 2.8 out of 5 concluded that the main benefit was 'faster/better decision making' closely followed by 'increased productivity' (2.2 out of 5) and 'improving communications' also scored highly (2.1 out of 5).

"So to be sure that your business is ready to survive a triple dip recession or is in a position to grow as the economy improves, look at deploying today's business communications tools that exactly suit your businesses' communications needs," advised Gandy.

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