Whether you own, manage or work within a mining company, there are certain things that you come to expect from your role – a dispersed workforce, being based in remote sites or even considering a plane journey as a commute to work.

However, in an industry synonymous with travel, a new study released last month is predicting that the Australian mining workforce are set to see a reduction in business travel – while it’s predicted that by 2015, business travel spending will increase by 5.4% in Australia*, the mining sector along with the wider resource industry is set to tightened its purse strings on expenses.

With these shifts on the horizon, managers must now look to new collaborative technologies in order to find ways of conducting business nationally and internationally, without compromising employee time and company budget.

Employees are now working across multiple devices and time zones and businesses must now look towards enabling a more mobile workforce as the solution to enable cost reduction and maintaining employee satisfaction. By providing access to connected applications, professional video conferencing and secure methods of sharing information, organisations can achieve the same lever of business productivity with having to book that last minute flight.

These days, collaborative technologies are a must for businesses looking to offer flexible and productive environments for their employees, especially as the average size of a corporate meeting continues to grow. By next year in Australia, the average meeting size is expected to grow by 0.75%, the cost of each person in that meeting rising by 2.5%. The average cross-country meeting has shifted from needing only the senior executive present, to needing the team in each region present – meaning businesses can either foot larger travel expenses, or find another way to collaborate. Cloud based video collaboration technologies such as GoToMeeting or GoToMeetingFree provides a professional and secure forum allowing for additional follow-up, idea generation and relationship building anytime, anywhere with anyone.

Given the nature of the mining sector, it’s not only teleconferencing which can be useful to manage disparate and remote workforces. For example, in an industry such as mining which requires consistent and stringent training and compliance, virtual training solutions allow managers to reach over 200 employees at once, without compromising on the face to face, interactive environment. This allows businesses to deliver consistent and controlled training for employees, no matter where they’re based.

As many mining companies also handle sensitive and private information, secure online sharing tools such as ShareFile provide a private portal for documents to be shared, edited and reviewed internally, regardless of remote locations providing peace of mind for both employers and employees.

While the mining sector is perhaps feeling the pinch more than other industries in 2015, future predictions reveal that if the industry embraces a more virtual workforce, it is in fact ahead of key changes to the way business will be conducted in Australia. By 2030, 40% of the Australian workforce will be engaging in a mobile work structure, allowing for communication across national borders.** This doesn’t come as a surprise given the rising cost of business travel, with the average price of elements such as hotel rooms set to rise by 3.6% next year.

It’s not just about the cost either, as business travel can be affected by an array unavoidable interruptions such as a geopolitical crisis and or natural disaster.

At the end of the day, businesses are always looking for ways to reduce costs and boost productivity, and the mining industry is no exception. Through harnessing collaborative technologies, businesses can achieve both desired outcomes. The remote nature of mining sector is a perfect fit for embracing this approach, so now it’s just a matter of accessing the tools to enable it. The wide range of companies already accessing these tools show the potential of this future way of work now it’s time for our mining companies to find more ways of ensuring their business is running faster, thinner and more productively in 2015 and beyond.

*2015 Global Travel Price Outlook – Prepared by the Global Business Travel Association 2014

**How Work Will Work in 2030 report – prepared by Citrix with contributions from Australian industry experts