The early days of videoconferencing were all promise and no delivery. The idea of saving hundreds of thousands of pounds on international travel and accommodation thanks to technology that lets you hold a face-to-face meeting without leaving the office was immensely popular.

But in practice, the user experience failed to live up to the hype: expensive technology delivering disappointing, slow and jerky images that did little to improve communication between the participants.

Initial bad experiences have cast a long shadow over the idea of saving money on travel by linking up with people in offices around the world remotely.The mention of videoconferencing often brings a sneer to the face of business people. They complain that the subtleties of people’s interactions are lost: there is no handshake, no polite chat about how things are going. Social and cultural cues are missed. All these things add to the sense that meeting participants have shared a common experience.

But decades on from those early rudimentary videoconferencing systems, the technology finally looks like a serious business tool.

Videoconferencing is out and telepresence is in. Telepresence systems are also designed to let companies hold meetings across the world without the time and expense of arranging travel and accommodation.

But unlike the large computer monitors deployed in the videoconferencing of old, users of telepresence systems sit in a room looking at a virtual version of the other half of that meeting space.

However, exciting new technology comes at a price. Telepresence systems use dedicated technology and can typically cost £400,000 over a three-year period.

Still, now that cost rather than basic usability is the only barrier to adoption, it’s only a question of waiting for the price to drop.

How soon will it be before your company scraps business travel and introduces telepresence technology instead?