There are many reasons why business professionals should be looking for ways to use online conference calls instead of traditional phone calls to engage with clients or colleagues or attend meetings with them.
Online conferences allow you to communicate more effectively by providing collaboration tools that would not otherwise be available over the traditional telephone system.
What is an Online Conference?
All meetings could technically be considered online conferences, including face-to-face meetings because all parties are not necessarily in the same location at once.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an online conference "is a method of holding a meeting that allows participants at different sites (as of a company or organization) to interact with one another simultaneously through electronic communications (such as interactive video)."
The positive aspects of holding meetings via telephone or video conferencing far outweigh its negative aspects, including:
● Limited personal contact between meeting participants.
● Certain participants may not have the necessary equipment to participate.
● There is less spontaneity when compared to face-to-face meetings.
Top 10 Advantages of Video Conferencing for Businesses
1. Cost Savings: The primary benefit of online conference calling is that it offers the same benefits as traditional conference calls without expensive phone bills.
When long-distance rates are factored in, costs for online conferencing can range from 50 to 80% less than regularly scheduled telephone conferences. You will save on both per minute phone charges and costly equipment costs related to maintaining a voice conference line.
2. Quality Audio: With traditional telephone conference calls, participants must make special arrangements for high-quality connections, which is sometimes impossible due to poor cell service or additional fees involved with calling in through an operator.
By using web conferencing exclusively over the internet, you can communicate with anyone anywhere in real-time over a high-quality voice network.
3. Flexibility in Accessibility: In addition to not paying for long-distance phone service, there are no time restrictions when using online conferencing. Traditional conference calls require participants to be present at a particular time and place for the duration of the call, or they risk missing information that other members are discussing on the call.
With an online conference solution, you can access your audio conference from anywhere with an internet connection, giving you more flexibility when scheduling your calls.
And if someone's availability changes at the last minute, another individual can quickly join or drop out of an active meeting right from their desk without disrupting current proceedings or inconveniencing others on the line.
4. Collaboration Tools: The ability to easily share information with other participants is only one of the many collaboration tools provided by an online conferencing solution.
Whether you share a PowerPoint presentation, whiteboard drawings, or websites, individuals on the audio conference call can instantaneously comment on what they see, allowing for faster and more informed decision-making. You can even conduct full-screen sharing so that each listener can access your desktop content.
5. Not Just Audio Calls: With traditional phone conferences, there are severe limitations regarding how far communications extend beyond mere audio dialogue between call members. Online conferences offer video calling capabilities and recording services that enable you to capture each meeting for future reference and review purposes.
Participants can even take advantage of file-sharing services, which allow them to share documents and other media directly with other conference participants.
6. Ease of Use: One primary reason why people are reluctant to use audio conferencing is that they find it difficult or inconvenient to dial into a conference call. Web conferencing alleviates this problem by enabling participants to easily log on using their computer browser, either at their office desk or from any other location that has internet access.
This eliminates the common user complaints about being forced to wait in line for an available phone connection before joining a voice conference call.
7. Mobility: As more and more business professionals work remotely from home offices, attending conferences during traditional business hours often becomes difficult due to childcare and other personal commitments. Web conferencing enables participants to dial into meetings at any time of day or night, no matter where they are located.
This means that even if you work irregular hours, you can easily participate in conference call discussions at your convenience without having to worry about arranging for childcare or making prior arrangements with whoever is acting as the conference moderator.
8. Cost Savings & Simplicity: Businesses can eliminate costly equipment investments and significant maintenance fees from traditional telephone conferences by using online conferencing exclusively over the internet.
With web conferencing, there's no need for additional phone lines to accommodate multiple users simultaneously, so companies can achieve substantial savings by conducting business online. You will also save on office supplies because you don't have to print out handouts anymore.
9. Compatibility: Traditional conference calling only works with landline telephones, but online conferencing can be accessed from all web-enabled devices, including smartphones and tablets, so you don't have to worry about compatibility issues when dialling into an internet conference call.
If you want to conduct remote business presentations using your video network, individuals on the audio conference call do not need to download special software or applications to view high-quality web conferencing content.
10. Customization & Control: With traditional phone conferences, participants are limited by what they can see and hear at any given point during the meeting because there is no way for them to control what they can access or how they listen in on the discussion.
Web conferencing enables you to have complete control over what each participant can see and share during a meeting, increasing productivity while ensuring that every voice on the conference call is heard equally.
Conclusion
Boosting productivity is a goal that companies strive for. Achieving this requires the work of many, and a little help from tools in a company's toolbox can go a long way. One such tool is the conference call service, allowing employees to interact with customers or colleagues remotely.
Online conference calls are an excellent example of how technology has been used to increase the efficacy of meetings among participants from distributed locations.
While online conference calling was not an option in years past, it has gained popularity in recent times as the necessary infrastructure becomes more widely available over broadband connections.
With these technological advances, businesses can now leverage web conferencing services for improved training opportunities, higher employee satisfaction levels, increased collaboration, and greater customer engagement.
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