March 2019. The editorial team of BIT magazine reached out with a question that felt provocative back then — and feels even more relevant today: do face-to-face meetings still matter in business, or have digital channels replaced them entirely?
The article was titled “Online? Offline? Omnichannel?” — a hot topic at the time. The editors gathered expert opinions from across the market, and I shared the perspective of KYOCERA Document Solutions Russia.
My stance was clear then, and hasn’t changed since: face-to-face meetings are irreplaceable. Not because I’m old-fashioned, but because real conversations are where you actually hear the client. Pain points, doubts, genuine needs — none of that comes through clearly in an email chain. You can write a beautiful email. In a meeting, there’s nowhere to hide.
That said, I’m not against omnichannel. A call, an email, a meeting, then another email to lock in what was agreed — that’s a perfectly healthy working rhythm. But the format should always suit the client, not be imposed on them. Some people say “let’s hop on a call,” others say “send it to my inbox” — and that’s a signal worth listening to.
That, really, is what smart communication comes down to: not bombarding clients across every channel at once, but sensing where and how to reach them.