Last week, Skype released the results of some research into how video and conference calling are being used by small businesses across Europe.

Small businesses make conference and video calls more often than I’d thought — and I should know, working for a small business myself. Depending on the size of the business (and we’re talking companies with between one and 250 employees here), and out of those of them who made conference or video calls, 11–30% of them made conference calls at least once a day, and 8–30% of them made video calls at least once a day. If we move up a bracket, 55–66% of the companies surveyed made video or conference calls at least once a week.

When asked why they made conference or video calls, many of the responses were as you might expect — to reduce travel or environmental impact, for example.

What’s interesting, though, was the fact that many organisations, particularly the smaller ones, said that they use conference or video calls as a way of working with colleagues while they’re are on the move. It’s not necessarily just about travel, either — I’m equally happy joining in calls from halfway across Europe as I am taking them in my pyjamas on a working-from-home day. Conference and video calling allow for much more flexible working patterns full stop — just don’t forget about the rules for meetings if there are going to be lots of people on the call.

Again, all of this is perhaps unsurprising, but with carbon footprint reduction very much in vogue, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that conference calls can have their benefits even if you’ve just hopped off an emissions-spewing flight to New York.

Not, of course, that I’m recommending you ditch the regular Skype conference call for a weekly return to JFK. Neither the atmosphere nor our marketing people would like you very much if that happened

Update: I almost forgot — as it’s that time of year again, check out Phil’s solution to Britain’s curry crisis