This is a real question with a real answer, and the answer is not « it depends ». Some activities transfer to video calls almost perfectly; others degrade sharply.
What works remotely
- Identifying candidates, reading licences, comparing quotes, first contact.
- Specification work and sample review, if you are disciplined about photographs and measurements.
- Ongoing coordination once a relationship is established and working.
- Most digital work, obviously.
What degrades sharply
- Qualifying a supplier you have never met. Video calls show you what someone chose to point the camera at.
- Negotiating anything difficult. The concessions that matter tend to happen in the room, often after the formal meeting has ended.
- Recovering from a serious problem. Presence during a crisis is worth more than presence at any other moment.
- Being taken seriously as a small customer. Distance reads as optionality, and priority follows.
The middle option people forget
You are not limited to travelling yourself or doing nothing. A representative who visits, speaks the language and is known to come back produces most of the effect of your own presence, at a fraction of the cost and without the calendar problem.