In the course of the last decade, the teleconferencing space has significantly changed. It used to be true that only larger sized corporations had access to multi participant teleconferencing systems. These systems were typically quite expensive and often had live operator participation on each call.
Incumbent telecommunications companies priced conference calling services at high rates (e.g twenty five cents plus per minute per user) and most corporations were willing to pay these charges to guarantee reliable and quality service. More recently the conference calling market has seen a high degree of competitive forces. A variety of factors have been responsible including telecommunications deregulation, dramatic improvements in web technology and demand for improved services.
The competitive landscape now includes seemingly countless companies in addition to the incumbent telcos. Organizations and individuals that desire to use conference calling now have a far wider menu of alternatives. Within that range of choices are
free conference calling services such as Rondee that meld free conference calling with web based scheduling and other related features. These services do not charge users for the reason that they use a toll number as opposed to a traditional toll-free number. Therefore, such free
conference call services are not free in the same sense that oxygen is free. They do require minutes of phone usage.
However, such services are increasingly being perceived by users as basically free because many phone plans now offer flat rate “all you can dial” and typically cellular plans no longer carry additional charges for long distance calls. As a result of these trends, conference calling has become available to a far wider market of users as the following use-cases show.
Non profits have become strong users of conference calling services. The ever escalating cost of travel combined with limited finances of most non-profits, makes conferencing a good strategy for reducing cost and increasing productivity. In general, non-profits rely on formal and informal approaches to networking. When these networks extend beyond physical boundaries, conference calling becomes the most practical method of quality communication. A number of non-profits including those that focus on literacy, poverty, and environmental issues, have effectively used conference calling to increase participation and recruit volunteers.
Early stage companies have long felt the same requirement for conference calling as was true for established corporations. Yet, it was not until the development of cheap conferencing and free conferencing alternatives such as Rondee, that early stage companies could avail themselves of the benefits. New companies might use these systems to coordinate work with remote developers in Eastern Europe or Eastern Asia, discuss design themes with graphic artist designers (in the case of Web 2.0 start-ups), or simply discuss work-plans with disparate members of the core team.
In summary, conference calling is no longer the exclusive domain of large business users. Other potential users have long felt the need but it has only been with the advent of new business models that the availability of these services has become more ubiquitous.
Article Source:http://www.articleboy.com
Scott Bailey lectures on and comments frequently about tech subjects. He consults to a range of organizations that use communication technologies involving conference calling, as part of a strategy to increase alignment. His clients include free conference calling companies such as Rondee.
Please Rate this Article
Not yet Rated
Additional Articles From -
Home |
Technology |
Voip 
