The benefits of teleconferencing for business customers

With improvements in technology, teleconferencing or audio conferencing, calls are rapidly being replaced by video conferencing and meetings with colleagues using Internet applications. However, audio conferencing is still an important business tool for many businesses and business professionals. Here are five reasons for companies to use audio conferencing.

What is a conference call?

A conference call is a phone call in which several people participate at the same time. In some cases, the meeting participants may be in different parts of the world. During the call, participants will dial a specific phone number at a specified time and connect to the virtual meeting. They can listen or talk to other people during the call so they can ask questions or present information.

Reliability

One of the main advantages of an audio conference call is that they are more reliable than using video conferencing or web meetings. Due to different internet speeds, especially during peak hours, video can be buffered, which may cause some video conference participants to miss out on what is being said.

Also, if you are trying to have a video conference between participants from different countries, time differences and internet access can present their own challenges. Regular phone service does not present the same problems, and most audio conferencing is easy to connect, participate in, and rarely interrupted.

Easy participation

Conference calls need not be major productions. While they can be used for departmental meetings for medium and large companies with multiple locations, they can also be used on a much smaller scale.

If there is a delivery and production problem for a company, the manager in charge of logistics can communicate with the shop floor and the warehouse manager via conference call to try to resolve the problem. Meeting participants can be given a number to call as needed to discuss the problem and find a solution.

Less expenses

Audio conferencing is more cost effective for smaller companies and business professionals than video conferencing or some web meeting applications. You don’t need any special equipment to make inexpensive audio conference calls like you do with video or web conferencing.

With video conferencing, you need a projector and screen for participants to see each other. Web meetings are different because participants open a website and enter their individually scheduled meeting, which can increase expense for companies that may need an entire department to participate in a web meeting.

With audio conferencing, there is a flat rate per minute for each participant. Most video conferencing and web meeting applications require a subscription fee, which is paid every month whether you use the service, and there are usually different services available depending on the package you have selected.

Cheap conference calls can help your business stay in touch with other locations around the world or hold meetings with clients and other participants as needed.