• Reduce Car Travel – Naturally the use of travel to attend a meeting is one of the biggest ways to reduce your use of resources through the use of conference calls.  Usually if there is a meeting there will also be a number of attendees so the reduction in car travel is compounded by the number of attendees.  And not everyone drives a Eco-friendly vehicle so the amount of emissions saved can be astounding.
• Reduce Air Travel – Now take that reduction in car travel and multiply by ten.  If you have to travel by plane to a meeting you are not just taking part in the emissions from the air plane but the car resources to get to the airport and then to the meeting and everything in between.  Audio conferencing eliminates the need to travel to your meeting.
• Reduce Office Resource Use – Even though the office your business is in is probably open whether you show up or not you won’t be contributing to the use of resources in the office when you are there.  Just your body heat requires that much more air conditioning or heating.  The lights in your office if you are in a private office can be turned off and so forth.
• Reduce Use of Office Supplies – If you do more meeting remotely you will find yourself doing more electronically.  When you do a presentation using web conferencing you can still have hand outs but doing them electronically saves the paper, ink and electricity to print them.  In offices there are also a lot of non-renewable waste like a coffee cup you get on the way to the office for instance.  If you are home you are apt to use a coffee mug that will simply be washed and reused.

The reality is that conferencing technology has gotten to where you can hold a remote meeting with all of the resources you would use in an in person meeting including a video connection for much less than than the cost of a regular meeting.  So if you simply think twice about whether your meeting is necessary to be attended in person or not you can really reduce the resources you use and save money and increase productivity while you do it.

• Attend Regular Meetings – When you are out of the office there is no need to miss the regular meetings that keep you in touch.  Simply get an audio conference set up and hold the meeting from the road.
• Impromptu Meetings – You get the email and need to pull a group together but you are hundreds of miles away.  No problem, just use audio conferencing to pull together the people you need to discuss whatever situation is thrown at you.
• Handle Emergencies – Every business gets hit with an emergency from time to time and customers know that as well.  It is how you handle the emergencies that will distinguish you.  Pulling together the people necessary to deal with the emergency and making sure everyone is on the same page will do a lot to contain any issues the emergency will uncover.  Audio conferencing allows you to pull together the emergency team in a moments notice no matter where you are at the time.
• Personal Use – Yes, personal use.  I bet you have not used a conference call for your personal use before but for all the same reasons it can really help.  If there is a personal emergency or even if you just want to congratulate a son or daughter on a big accomplishment why not get everyone on the phone at the same time?

So the next time you are getting ready to go on the road and you are packing make sure you bring along audio conferencing.  You never know when you might need it and it can really save your road trip.

Direct Digital Connections – One of the most important areas to ensure a high quality conference call is where the equipment is connected to the telephone network.  It may sound like a simple idea but having a direct digital connection to the long distance carrier’s network is not always available or provided depending on the location of the conferencing equipment and the carrier and other factors.  Zip Conferencing maintains direct digital connections with its long distance carriers that enables us to provide the clearest connections possible.

New Equipment – Conferencing bridges are the pieces of equipment that make conference calls possible and having the latest equipment ensures that you are getting the best quality and latest features available.  Zip Conferencing has the latest conference bridges available and provides its customers more features than most other conferencing companies.

Back Up Systems – A big part of providing high quality low cost conference calls is making sure the service is reliable and available when you need it.  After all, no matter how good the service is if it is out of service it is no good.  Zip Conferencing maintains back up conferencing equipment that is available without interruption of service in the event of an equipment failure.

Back up Power – Just like the equipment, if there is a power outage your conferencing service will be out of service unless they maintain back up power.  Zip Conferencing has battery and generator back up power that ensures the equipment will remain in service indefinitely in the event of a power outage.

Support – Many low cost conference call providers have limited support for their customers which certainly helps maintain low cost but also leaves you in the dark if you need assistance.  Zip Conferencing has support available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and is even available to join you on your conference call if you need assistance.

Zip Conferencing shows that you can have high quality low cost conference calls.  Make sure the conferencing provider you use can say the same thing.

Entry/Exit Tones – The system will play a tone across the conference when a participant joins or exits a call.  You can control if the tone plays only when someone joins or only when someone exits are not at all.

Music on Hold – Many times people will want their participants to be able to talk to each other when they join the conference call even if the moderator of the call has not yet joined.  But if you would like you can make it so the participants listen to music on hold until the moderator joins the call.

Name Announce – Instead of just playing a tone when someone joins your conference call you can have the system record their names when they join the call and play it across the conference.  You can even conduct a roll call when you join the call as the moderator and have all of the names played.

Post Conference Report – Ever wonder how long your conference call was and how many participants were on it?  Our system allows you to receive a post conference report by email following your call that details the number of participants, the time they joined the call and even the number they dialed in from.

So why settle for the vanilla of conference calls when you can have any flavor you want?  Customize your conference calls today with Zip Conferencing.

Save Money – Conference call services have enjoyed extraordinary growth over the past 15 years partly due to all the money a conference call saves compared to an in person meeting.  Even if your meeting is fairly local it still costs money to get everyone together.  When you start traveling the cost really adds up.  If you are traveling by car there is the gas, tolls and mileage you are going to incur when you go to the meeting.  And if the meeting is across the country the costs are even greater with airline, rental car, hotels and restaurants all figured into the mix.  And I am sure you have noticed that none of these costs have gone down over the past few years.  But remarkably the costs of conference call services have declined over the past few years to all time lows.  For a combined cost of just a few dollars a group of people can get together and hold a meeting even if the participants are spread across the country.  And if you use a web conference along with the conference call you can have all the same tools at your disposal as if you were in a meeting room.

Save Time – If you are one of the many companies trying to do more with less resources you know how important your productivity is.  Wasting time in traffic or airports and airplanes can really cost you.  If you never had to travel to a customer again as a salesperson how many more customers could you sell?  I am certainly not advocating you never see a customer again but reducing the number of in person meetings increases the time you can spend acquiring new customers or dealing with the ones you already have.  A quality conference call service gives you everything you need to meet with people over great distances and be as productive as possible.

So I am sure when you look back on 2011 like me you will wonder where it went.  Time flies and there really is no time to waste.  So make 2012 the year you embrace conference call services and use our services to your advantage.  You will be glad you did.

• Online Account Access – With every audio conferencing demo you have access to all of your online account management tools.  You can access conference options where you are able to control many aspects of the conference call like the entry and exit tones, music on hold and post conference reporting.  You can even control your conference call from your PC where you can adjust volume, mute participants and record the conference call.
• Conference Call Features – During the audio conferencing demo itself you can try out the many features available using a touch tone phone.  Like the online controls you can also control the volume, muting, conduct sub-conferences and record the conference call using commands on your telephone.
• Conference Call Quality – And probably the most important thing you can experience during your audio conferencing demo is the call quality.  The only way to really test a conference call for its quality is to do a call and see for yourself.  Join with as many participants as you like and see if you aren’t impressed with the quality of the call.

Zip Conferencing is proud of the network we have built for our conference calls and is happy to provide every Monthly Plan customer with the opportunity to try the service and see for the themselves just how good the call sounds.  And the online features available to users means that you will be able to control virtually every aspect of the conference call so you can have it just the way you want it.  There is no need to settle for a conference call service that only provides one flavor when you can decide exactly what you want.  Try Zip Conferencing’s audio conferencing demo today!

• Cost of the Equipment – The cost of a conference call bridge has also come down just like the rates for conference calls.  But as I point out, the cost of the conference call bridge is just the first cost you will need to pay.  The cost of the equipment varies greatly as well depending on the type of equipment you get and whether you are going to connect it to an IP connection or regular phone circuits.  But even if someone gives you a conference call bridge you may want to think again before you accept it because the cost of the equipment is a one time cost but the other costs will be with you forever.
• Telecommunications Cost- Once you have a conference call bridge you need to conenct it to the network so people can talk to each other.  No matter what type of connection you have for the equipment you will need to dedicate circuits to the bridge.  The cost of the circuits is a monthly constant and then you need to pay for the usage on the circuits because even with an IP type connection you still have to have telephone numbers come into the circuits and if you want a toll free connection that is another factor.
• Maintenance Cost – The equipment, like any PC or similar piece of equipment will need to be maintained.  The company that sold you the equipment may discount the equipment itself but they will always get you with the maintenance.  You really can’t let maintenance lapse as you will want support if somethings goes wrong.
• Personnel Cost – Even an automated type conference call bridge is going to eat up personnel resources in your company.  Someone needs to maintain the equipment, add users, troubleshoot, etc.  So you need to make sure you have someone in your company that is technically savvy enough to deal with all of the elements involved.

As you can see, buying and maintaining your own conference call bridge is not an easy proposition.  It is easy to see why the conference call services industry continues to grow.   You are generally much better concentrating on what you do best and leaving the conference calls to the experts like Zip Conferencing.

Audio Conferencing – The simplest way to connect your remote participants to your virtual holiday party using a conference call service is by using a conference call.  You certainly may not keep a conference call up for the full duration of the party but usually management likes to take a minute in the beginning or end of the vent to thank and recognize employees for the past year’s accomplishments.  So if you establish a conference call for the beginning of the party you can include the remote participants easily in the festivities.  After announcements you can end the conference call portion and continue with the party but at least your remote employees were included at the beginning.

Web Conferencing – With Web Conferencing you can provide a visual aspect to your virtual holiday party.  If you do any employee recognition you can provide a presentation that includes the names and their achievements and a picture of the recipient so all participants can be included.  Most conference call services that provide web conferencing have desktop video included as well.  So if you have a desktop video camera you can have the remote employees see the venue and be seen as well.  If you want to get real elaborate you can have your A/V source provide a large screen to enhance this interaction.  The remote participants can also interact using web conferencing tools so they feel like a part of the party. 

Zip Conferencing is a conference call service provider that has all the tools you need to do virtual meetings for any event including your virtual holiday party.  Speak to a representative today who can assist you in planning your next remote event.

• Video Conferencing – Video conferencing has been around for  along time and in my 16 years in the industry I have heard lots of reasons why this technology has not been widely adopted.  I have also seen efforts over the years to “fix” these problems with video conferencing only to see the adoption rate remain sluggish at best.  At first it was very expensive so it was not widely available.  Only very large companies had access to the technology necessary to conduct an effective video conference.  Today you can conduct a video conference from your desktop for very little money.  The technology and network bandwidth is basically universally available.  But people simply do not use video conferencing all that much except maybe for personal use to speak to loved ones from great distances.  I think the biggest hurdle to wide adoption of this technology is the aversion of the participants to being in front of the camera.  Most people I know do not like being in front of a video camera and looking at their own image on a screen.  As an audio conferencing company this is music to my ears. 
• Web Conferencing – Web conferencing has seen tremendous growth since its introduction in the late 1990s because it has become easy to use, inexpensive and it mimics the way we meet with others.  You can literally do anything on a web conference today that you can do in a conference room.  It even has video conferencing built in if you want it but most people simply want to share their desktop or do a remote presentation.  And the audio portion of the call is still done over a conference call system through an audio conferencing company.  This means that the audio quality is just as good as a normal conference call.  And as an audio conferencing company I am happy because we can provide both services and people tend to meet longer because they can have more effective meetings.

So, first and foremost, Zip Conferencing will always be an audio conferencing company first.

The way web conferencing software worked back then was every computer that you wanted to do a web conference with had to have the software installed prior to the conference call. And at the time downloading software on the Internet was not commonplace either. So you literally had to have the CD ahead of time and install web conferencing software. Once you had the web conferencing software installed you still needed a little help doing a web conference with more than one other computer. The company I worked for at the time actually built one of the first web conferencing bridges we had ever heard about. We rigged up a computer with a network hub attached to it because you literally needed a network connection for each participant. Pretty laughable now but we were able to get 5 computers on a web conference at a time, amazing! MShow ended up being acquired by a large conferencing service provider and Webex came along and the rest as they say is history.

Today, conferencing service providers like Zip Conferencing provide web conferencing services that accomodate over 100 participants and there is not even a need to download any web conferencing software. Zip Conferencing uses Flash which is already installed in everyone’s PC to enable the web conference. Everyone has a broadband connection to the Internet and it is easier than ever to do a web conference where you can share your computer screen, do a presentation and even share video from your desktop. Amazing. Like I said I am going to date myself a little bit but it was only 14 years ago that we were trying to figure out how to get 5 computers on a web conference at the same time. I wonder what the next 14 years will hold.