Posts Tagged ‘Circumstances’

Prepare for Hurricane Irene with a Conference Call Service

Friday, August 26th, 2011

As I sit here in New Jersey and wait for the arrival of Hurricane Irene I am inundated with news reports on how to prepare for a hurricane.  You are supposed to get batteries, water, gas for your car and non-perishable food among other items.  But for a business the most important thing you should make sure you get in place is a good communication plan in the event of a disaster that includes a conference call service.  If you don’t have a conference call service yet now would be a great time to get a service and be ready to conduct business remotely.  If you can’t travel the roads and get to the office you can still do a conference call and keep your business going.  These days most businesses are national if not global in nature and your customers don’t really care if your office is in harms way.  If you are supposed to have a meeting on Monday they expect you to have the meeting.  A conference call service can give you the tool you need to continue to have meetings without leaving your home.  Here are some of the reasons to line up a conference call service.

  • Natural Disaster – Like Hurricane Irene you just don’t know when a natural disaster is going to prevent you from getting to your office or your customers as well.  Having a conference call service as part of your business communications will allow you to schedule meetings and be able to attend the meetings no matter what the circumstances.  In addition to being able to attend customer meetings you can also have conference calls with your employees to prepare your response to the disaster and continue to plan in its aftermath.
  • Technical Issues – If your business experiences technical issues and needs to hold emergency meetings you can have a conference call at the ready and participants informed in an instant.  Everyone gets the same message and your technical issues are dealt with more expeditiously.
  • Company Announcements – If you need to communicate with your entire employee base all at once you can use a conference call.  Our conference calls hold up to 300 participants so capacity is not an issue.  You can instantly communicate with everyone at the same time to inform them of personnel changes, acquisitions and any other issues that may arise.
  • Planning – And if you know that the disaster is coming , like hurricane Irene, you can plan for it with groups of people who are otherwise separated my geography. 

So if you have a conference call service in your tool box you can simply pull it out and plan or respond to a disaster.  With Zip Conferencing’s Pay As You Go service there are no charges unless you use the service so why not be prepared all the time?

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The Conference Call versus Travel Argument gets Stronger

Monday, December 28th, 2009

Certainly all meetings can’t be virtual.  Sometimes you just have to get face to face with your customer, prospect or employee.  A conference call does offer, however, a compelling alternative under any circumstances.  It is easy to see where you can save money and increase your productivity using a conference call or web conference instead of travelling to the location and having a meeting.  But now more than ever the conference call versus travelling argument is getting even stronger.

With the recent attempted terrorist attack on the flight landing in Detroit, the security at the airports has gotten tighter and the experience during the flight more uncomfortable.  Now you have to arrive at the airport three or four hours before your flight because the line at security will be that much worse.  And once you get on the plane the new regulations require you to remain in your seat in the final hour of the flight and even some of the entertainment options on the flights have been curtailed.  You have to REALLY need to get where you are going and be ready to put up with the added inconveniences the new regulations will bring.  And again, for some meetings there is no choice.  You just have to be there in person no matter what.  But I think this latest round of travel inconveniences will make more and more people look into alternatives like the conference call or a web conference because it is not just about the money anymore.

A conference call and a web conference can provide you all the tools you would have in a regular conference room setting without having to travel to the location.  You can freely speak together on the conference call and share any documents, presentations and even a video feed with the people at the other end.  All for a fraction of the cost of getting there in person and without any of the hassle.  So the next time you are requested to attend a meeting in another city or country think of the alternatives and ask yourself if it is REALLY necessary to be there in person or will a conference call do the same thing.

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