Trips to the gas station have turned into quite painful experiences lately. I used to hate riding bikes and walking places but now it is becoming a necessity. The horse and buggy is becoming more appealing every day.

It isn’t just your car you have to worry about. Airline ticket prices are on the rise. You almost have to create a budget just so you can have the money to get to work. This presents a problem for a global workplace.

This week’s New York Times highlights Accenture’s move to into videoconferencing and telepresence. The technology consulting firm estimates that it has avoided over 240 international and 120 local business trips so far. Their goal is to have 35 videoconferencing rooms set up in their firms across the world by the end of this year.

“These technology tools are going to change the way corporations think about travel and work in the long run,” an analyst at Forrester Research, Claire Schooley, said.

Although videoconferencing cannot replace the important face to face contact that is needed in many circumstances, it can be a great tool to save time and money.

The article also mentions, Darryl Draper, the national manager of customer service training for Subaru of America, who estimated that her reach went from 220 to 2,500 people and her cost dropped from $300 a person to 75 cents a person.

That beats the horse and buggy. As companies like IBM, Mircosoft, HP and Cisco continue to make improvements on the technology we will see more and more company leaders heading to their local boardroom rather than the airport for their next overseas meeting.