I think that everyone is aware that conference calls can save you time and money. It is easy to figure that holding a conference call is going to save you money if the alternative is flying to someone’s location to hold a meeting. But what I think a lot of people miss are all of the options available with a good conference call service provider. I know when I started in the teleconferencing industry in 1995 I had been on conference calls and just assumed that it was just a simple matter of getting a dial in access number and a pass code and holding your conference call. Boy, was I wrong. Most people have no idea of all of the options available for audio conferences and web conferences. And that is why a good conference call service company should act as your partner and help you discover all of the options available so that you can customize the conference calls you hold to fit the needs of your company.
Even just a plain automated conference call can be customized with a number options. For instance you can vary how and whether you are notified when a participant enters or exits your conference call. With Zip Conferencing you can have a tone play, play the participants name or have no sound at all when they enter or exit the conference call. And all three options can be enabled when entering, exiting or both. Some people want to make sure that the conference call can not be used when the Moderator of the conference call is not present. You can set the option to have the participants listen to music while they wait for the moderator to join the conference call. This prevents participants from being able to use the conference call information to hold their own conference call. Another measure to ensure that participants are only able to use the conference call when the participants are present is the ability to close the conference call when the Moderator exits the call.
There are also tracking features that some people like to keep tabs on what the call was about. For instance, an attorney want to track the calls so that they can charge back their clients for the cost of the conference call. You can enable a feature on the conference call that requires a Moderator to enter an accounting code at the start of the conference call. An attorney would enter a Client Matter # and then they could track this back to the client at the end of the month.
All of these options and more are available, but most people don’t use them. It is most likely because their conference call service provider has not taken the time to describe these option, listen to their business needs and suggest ways to best use the conference call service to fit their business needs. That is where the conference call service provider can be an invaluable partner for your business.
