Audio Conferencing – Become a Web 2.0 Power User
By Michael McKibben
Google "Web 2.0 Audio Conferencing" for more on the subject of audio conferencing. Your productivity involves more than simply price.
Wake up people. It's the 21st century!
Audio conferencing is experiencing a renaissance in new technologies, especially for medium and small business. Teleconferencing has traditionally been the domain of Fortune 500 companies for one simple reason - Ma Bell managed it from large call centers dedicated to supporting its large customers. The features offered were minimal - a phone number and PIN and a few basic handset controls. After AT&T's break-up, the Baby Bells copied these services and invested little in R&D improvements.
This is when entrepreneurial companies rolled up their sleeves and started introducing Web 2.0 audio conferencing with an array of new productivity features. You really don't have to settle for the same-old-same-old tired services of the past. You can do better. Here is a list of things that new Web 2.0 audio conferencing providers are offering.
Web Console
Manage your calls and your account right from the web. This feature replaces the maddening calls to the operator and prevents your call being passed around endlessly from one operator to another. Be careful though. Some vendors with the old technology are trying to polish their image by adding a few web pages to their sites. What separates the men from the boys is whether you can actually manage the call from the web console. If you can't, find a new provider.
Conference Call Security
Not all conference calls are alike. Some don't need privacy, other do. You should have options and the new services deliver them. For example, call lockout prevents new participants from joining a call if everyone is already present. One of the big security problems with same-old-same-old services is that the PIN becomes insecure over time. Unauthorized people obtain it. This means interlopers can secretly listen in. Call lockout helps prevent this.
Multiple PINs
The new services allow you to manage as many PINs as you wish on your account. Gone are the days of having only one PIN. For example, you can issue separate PINs for each of your stakeholder groups like Board of Directors, staff, sales, engineering, etc. This way need-to-know discussions are kept private, and Joe in engineering can't get into your Board of Directors policy discussions regarding R&D.
Call Now / Star*1 / Invite Now
Setting up a conference call has been tedious. One must provide a PIN and dial-in number, contact the participants about a time, and then wait for stragglers at the call time, and call additional people on the side after the call has started. It's a hassle. Web 2.0 audio conferencing automates these processes. Call Now lets you pick from a list and tap Call Now. Voila! Everyone is on the call. No PINs. No Dial-in numbers. Star*1 lets you add new participants after a call starts without interrupting the conversation. Invite Now automates the process of notifying participants of a future time and date. If all these services are not included with your provider, find a new provider.
Advanced Controls
Audio conference calls are quite technologically advanced behind the scenes with features like noise suppression, latency compensation and the like. Newer services include human answer detection, group volume control and nice education-related features like lecture mode, which mutes all participants except the host. Lecture mode allows you as the host to get everyone on a call--for example, an online learning classroom--then go into lecture mode so that the call doesn't experience dogs barking, babies crying and dishes clanking in the background. A common occurrence in such settings is the battery dying on a wireless home phone, which introduces static that everyone hears. Lecture mode eliminates such distracting background noise.
If your current audio conferencing provider does not offer all or most of the features listed above, they're not Web 2.0. What does that mean? It is the convergence of the best of the telephone world with the best of the data world. Those were separate in the past. Audio conferencing is a rich environment that needs specialists; not telephone people who dabble in web-based systems or data programmers who dabble in VoIP phone technologies. Web 2.0 audio conferencing providers do both well. Find them.
To learn more, Google "Web 2.0 Audio Conferencing".
Copyright 2010.
Leader Phone and Michael McKibben. All Rights Reserved.
Audio Conferencing Become a Web 2.0 Power User
By: Michael McKibben
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