Posts Tagged ‘Productivity’

Go Green with Conference Calls

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

It is fantastic that companies are trying to go green these days and conference calls offer an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint and increase your productivity.  So how do you use conference calls to go green?  Some areas may may seem obvious but here are a few of the ways that using conferencing can help your company go green.

  • 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.

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

A Conference Call Makes More Sense All The Time

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

A conference call has been a good option for businesses for many years because of the expense savings and increased productivity.  And as time has gone on the lowly conference call just keeps making more sense than ever.  In fact I can not think of a time since I have been in the business that a conference call has made more sense than right now.  Here are just a few thoughts on why a conference call should be the preferred method of communication for any business.

  • Travel Costs – Okay, so you have to meet with a customer or internally and they are in Texas and you are in New Jersey.  The natural reaction is to schedule a trip to Texas for the meeting.  Have you seen the cost of air travel these days?  If you book 30 days in advance you might be able to get there for less than $500 but if it is in the next 2 weeks it will cost you over $1,000.  And that doesn’t include all the crazy fees they charge these days.  Once you get to Texas you will need a car, a room, dinners…you get the idea.  It is so expensive to travel these days you can save enough in travel costs to hold a conference call every day with the participants and still save money.
  • Travel Hassle – On top of the costs to go to Texas you get to put up with all the convenience of air travel these days.  Travel to and from the airport, the security lines, baggage checks and on and on.  I have had more fun on days I was sick than what they are putting you through these days.
  • Lost Productivity – How many hours of useful work are you going to lose by travelling to Texas.  The flight time is only a few hours but you need to get to the airport and then to the office on the other end.  And what are the chances the plane takes off and lands on time.  That conference call keeps getting more and more attractive.

I know you can’t do away with all in person meetings for conference calls.  It is just not possible.  But if I were you I would think long and hard about using conference call services whenever you can.  You will be happier and so will your budget.

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

A Conference Calling Service Pays for Itself

Monday, January 3rd, 2011

I think what has been lost in the sea of various rates and services you can get from all the conference calling service companies out there is the value that the conference call service brings to your business.  Even at the rates that conference calls were being sold in the early 1990′s a conference calling service easily pays for itself.  But a conference call has become so integrated into the fabric of businesses these days it has simply been expected as part of any businesses communications strategy and the benefits are often overlooked and taken for granted.  A conference calling service provides two main benefits, they save time and money.

  • A Conference Calling Service Saves Time- Think of all the time that is wasted if you have to leave your desk and travel to a meeting.  The meeting could be down the hall, around the corner or around the world.  The longer the travel the more time you waste just getting to and from the meeting.  And even with today’s communication environment there are going to be times during that travel period that you are simply unavailable and can’t work on anything because you are travelling.  And once you get to the meeting there is a lot of wasted time as people do the meet and greet process and everyone waits for the host of the meeting to get things together and so forth.  I know people who have travelled across the country to attend a one hour meeting.  And like everyone I agree with and endorse face to face meetings for certain situations but a conference calling service can save countless hours.  And the saved time naturally translates into increased productivity since you can attend a conference call without leaving your own desk.
  • A Conference Calling Service Saves Money- It really doesn’t matter what you pay per minute cost for a conference calling service because if you analyze it against an in person meeting you will see that a conference call will save you money every time.  The cost of travelling to the meeting is the first place you save.  There are also the costs of the meeting itself.  If you are meeting in person the host many times will feel compelled to provide refreshments for the participants and may even have to rent a room to stage the meeting.  And if you have travelled a great distance you have the cost of local accommodations in addition to the travel cost itself.  There just isn’t a less expensive or more convenient way to hold a meeting.  And if you choose a high quality provider like Zip Conferencing you will be able to conduct your meeting just like you were in the room together without any loss in fidelity and pay a great deal less than many other providers in the market today.

No matter what your circumstance you will quickly realize that a conference calling service pays for itself.

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off

Conference calls because of a volcano?

Monday, May 10th, 2010

Okay, I have been in the conference call industry since 1995 and I have seen a lot of applications for conference calls.  There have also been events that have triggered the use of conference calls like 9/11, but I have to admit this is the first time I have seen an increase in conference calls because of a volcano.  But then the volcano in Iceland obviously caused a lot more interruptions than any other volcano in recent history.  And when travel is interrupted the use of conference calls goes up.  And it always seems that when people are forced to use conference calls and web conferencing because of an event they realize how easy the services are to use and how effective they can be at allowing you to have a distance meeting.

And why wait for a volcanic eruption to discover how conference calls can save you time, money and increase your productivity?  Businesses have discovered for a long time that using conference calls and web conferencing to replace some of your in person meetings is not just he practical thing to do but simply a good business decision.  Let’s face it, most meetings we have are not necessary to have in person.  You are simply communicating with people you know and sharing ideas, advancing a project or doing a presentation.  Unless you need to do something physically with the participants or desire to shake hands all of this can be done remotely.  And even as a staunch promoter of conference calls I understand that sometimes you need to get together with the other participants to build a relationship.  And doing that remotely is difficult if not impossible.  So, have your initial meeting in person, break some bread but then have the next meeting by way of a conference call or web conference.  All of the participants will be thankful of the time saved in getting together physically.

So, don’t wait for the volcano to make you try a conference call or a web conference.  It is time to incorporate distance meetings into your regular way of doing business.  And then if something happens that prevents your next inperson meeting you will not feel the impact.  You and your participants will be thankful for the conference calls!

 

Conference calls and web conferences can truly offer a reliable substitute for in person meetings.  I certainly agree that there is no substitute for sitting around a conference table together

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Is there such a thing as too many Conference Calls?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Over the years the number of conference calls being held has exploded.  It is not hard to imagine why since conference calling saves a company money and time.  But can there be such a thing as too many conference calls?

Let’s face it.  If you work for a company that has integrated conference calls into their culture then you have had those days.  Days where you are jumping from one conference call to another with little break in between.  Such is the nature of conference calling.  You can simply sit at your desk and attend meeting after meeting without leaving your desk.  A conference call saves you the travel time, even if it is down the hall to a conference room, so you can schedule an audio conference back to back with another audio conference and stay on schedule.  One of the reasons companies have adopted conference calls is because they are increasing your productivity without you realizing it.  You can attend more meetings in a day if they are via a conference call and you are saving any travel expenses as well.  But for you the increase in productivity translates into more work.  Not only can’t you get anything done while you are in a meeting whether it is a conference call or in person meeting, but inevitably you get more work to do while in the meeting as well.

So maybe conference calls are too convenient and too easy to use and too inexpensive because if you are on too many conference calls you can’t get anything done.  So even though you have saved all this travel time you now are so loaded with work to do and no time to do it you are struggling and tomorrow there is another slate of conference calls to attend.  Even as a conference call service provider I have to admit that you can have too many conference calls.  But let’s face it.  A conference call is easier to deal with than an in person meeting and after all you just need to say no.  Time management is something everyone can improve on and using your time wisely is all about using all your time as effectively as possible.  And without conference calls time spent travelling to meetings would be completely wasted.  Conference calls are great, just try to tone it down a bit.

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls during Weather Emergencies

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Washington, DC has received a record amount of snowfall this winter and there is more on the way.  Places like Boston and Chicago are used to getting lots of snow and dealing with it.  Washington, DC not so much.  The government and private businesses in the area have been forced to shut down their offices while they try to clean up after the storm.  For most businesses, taking days off for a weather emergency is just not that practical.  Conference calls provide the means to continue to conduct business during a weather emergency.

The benefits of conference calls are evident when the weather is good and people can travel to work and attend face to face meetings.  You get the benefits of saving time, money and increasing your productivity whenever you do a conference call.  But when you have no choice to do an in person meeting, a conference call can really save the day.  I have no doubt that all conference call service companies have seen a rise in usage over the past week due to the weather emergencies experienced from the recent winter storms.  Zip Conferencing certainly has seen more conference calls being conducted.  Conference calls provide the much needed link for companies to continue to conduct regular business during these types of situations.

The best thing to do for your company is to be ready for a weather emergency by enlisting a conference call service and having conference call capability in case of emergency.  Most conference call service companies like Zip Conferencing offer their services on a Pay As You Go basis which means that you will not pay for the service unless you use it.  That way you can have the conference call information on hand and when the emergency happens you are ready.  Certainly using conference calls in your every day business helps at all times and would help you be even more ready if an emergency happens, but even if you only use the conference call service during an emergency it is worth doing.

So, don’t worry about the weather.  You can do a conference call even during the worst weather emergency mother nature has to offer.  Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

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.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Calls in Agriculture

Friday, November 20th, 2009

Just to help make the point that conference calls and now more than ever, web conferencing can help any business save money and be more productive I have decided to talk about another industry who you would not think uses conference calls.  Certainly when you think of agriculture you think of a farmer who raises a crop or livestock and then sells to a market.  What use could agriculture possibly have with conference calls and web conferencing?

Well you would be surprised.  Agriculture is just another business, a big business in fact, that is always looking for ways to reduce cost and improve productivity so naturally they use conference calls.  The market that buys the crops or livestock is having conference calls with the farmers it buys from to keep them informed of prices and stock levels and other market factors.  By having one conference call with all of their suppliers they are saving time from calling each farmer individually.  The farmers are able to speak amongst themselves and share tips on how to better manage their farms.  If the farmers belong to a cooperative, the cooperative is using conference calls to better communicate between all of the farmers in the cooperative and share information.  And up the supply chain the distributors are able to talk to all of the markets and give them information on demand and pricing and so forth.  The level of communication in the entire supply chain has improved with the use of conference calls.

And all of the vendors that touch this industry have also found that conference calls and web conferencing are helping them communicate with their audience faster and more effectively.  The companies that make farming equipment are holding regular seminars on the latest equipment and its uses.  The companies that make the feed for the animals and the seed for the crops are holding conference calls with the farmers to discuss the availability of their goods, pricing and effective uses.  And all of this communication via conference call and web conferences is saving everyone a lot of time and money.  Farms by their nature are spread out over vast areas and it is very difficult and time consuming to have personal meetings with each farmer.  The use of conference calls and web conferences in agriculture is a natural fit!

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Conference Calls in Healthcare

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

There is a lot of talk surrounding healthcare these days, so I thought I would point out some of the many applications for conference calls in the Healthcare industry.  Although healthcare is a largely one on one experience ina local surrounding, the healthcare industry is actually a large user of audio conferencing and web conferencing.  Just like any other business, the Healthcare industry tackles many of the same issues on a daily basis as any other industry and is always looking for ways to reduce costs and improve productivity.

For physicians, using a conference call is mainly done as a participant.  Doctors regularly are being trained on the latest techniques and therapies to assist their patients and many times these trainings are done remotely using audio conferencing and web conferencing.  Not only are the doctors incented to attend these training seminars, but the companies that are vendors in this industry are also incented to conduct the training seminar.  Pharmaceutical companies for instance need to promote their drugs and what better way then to hold a free seminar for doctors that describes the drug, its uses, efficacy and side effects.  That way the doctors are getting the information first hand from the experts on the drug.  And by conducting the training seminar using a conference call and a web conference, the drug company is able to reach more doctors in less time and much more cost effectively than if they attempted an in person meeting.  In addition, the drug companies have found that getting a doctor to attend a remote meeting via a conference call is easier than trying to get them to take the time to meet at a location.  Even as a participant, the doctors benefit from attending the seminar via a conference call by reducing their cost and increasing their productivity.

Another user of conference calls and web conferencing you may not expect are the hospitals.  Many times hospitals are regional in nature and have affiliations with other hospital location in an area.  The administration offices are often shared to reduce their overhead.  So, you have a business that has multiple locations where employees need to share information and meet on a regular basis.  The perfect scenario for the use of conference calls and web conferencing.  Similarly, physician and nurse staffing organizations exist that supply personnel to hospitals and healthcare clinics across a regional area and also need to communicate with their employees via conference calls.  And another maybe obvious example is when there is a company that owns multiple walk in healthcare clinics across an area.  These are basically small outlets for healthcare that are part of the same company spread across a region.  Like any other business, the managers of the locations are in need of regular communication with headquarters and are big users of conference calls and web conferencing.

Yes, like most industries, the Healthcare industry finds many benefits by using conference calls and web conferencing.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Web Conferencing Saves a Company Thousands of Dollars

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

I know I have blogged about conference calls and web conferencing and how it can save you money.  But I thought it would be useful to use a real life example to illustrate just how dramatic the savings can be when you choose to conduct a meeting using a web conference instead of an in person meeting. 

A customer had an instance where they really needed to go to Hong Kong from New Jersey to have a meeting with a new customer to discuss the implementation of their services.  And under normal conditions this type of meeting in person is very typical for this customer and they would not use a web conference for the implementation phase of their service.  But in this case the customer had an issue where they wanted to have a pre-m eeting with this vendor and discuss how the implementation would work with one of their contacts before they had the actual meeting.  So, the customer requested that the vendor come out and have a meeting and then return to have the actual implementation meeting.  This meant that two employees would need to fly from New Jersey to Hong Kong which is a 16 hour flight for a four hour meeting and then return to New Jersey only to go back to Hong Kong the following week.   And for those of you who have not had to do this flight it is not only long, it is expensive.  It costs $1,800 for a coach seat and almost $9,000 for a business class seat each.  The bottom line for the vendor was that the four hour meeting was going to cost about $5,000 and several days of productivity from two employees.

In steps Web Conferencing to save the day.  The vendor convinced the customer that they could do a web conference for the pre-meeting at least and spend as much time as is necessary to go through the implementation planning.  The customer agreed and the web conference went off without a hitch and made the customer feel comfortable about the upcoming meeting.  The customer and the vendor were able to interact on the web conference just like they were in the same conference room and accomplish everything that needed to be done.  The meeting ended up lasting about 3 hours and cost the vendor $29 using Zip Conferencing’s web conference service.  Using web conferencing saved the vendor $5,000 and allowed them to conduct the meeting without any sacrifice in results and also saved a lot of time for the employees increasing the company’s productivity.

These kind of events happen all the time and is the reason that web conferencing is growing so fast.  Customers immediately experience the real life benefits of conducting a web conference instead of an in-person meeting.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Conference Call Security

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

Conference calls have done great things to improve corporate communications, productivity and expenses, but what about security?  Many customers are concerned that since you have an open conference call you are open to having an unwanted participant join the call.  Or maybe you had to let an employee go and you need to make sure they don’t enter your regular conference call that they have the participant information for.  Or maybe you are concerned about corporate spying.  Whatever your concern, I would like to address the different areas of conference call security and suggest ways to make sure your conference calls are secure.

First of all, the conference call equipment itself needs to be secure.  Zip Conferencing has taken steps to make sure that the network connected to our conference call equipment is dedicated to us and directly connected to our conference call equipment.  The equipment and network are located in state of the art data warehouses with top of the line security in place to prevent any tampering at the conference call equipment level.  Every conference call is protected by having a unique set of dial in numbers and pass codes that allow access to the conference calls.  So, the provider end of the equation has insured that the conference call is as secure as it can possibly be on the back end.

For the user, there are a number of practices and features you can use to make sure your conference call is equally secure on the front end.  FIrst, your conference call information security is up to you.  Make sure that you do not share the conference call information with anyone other than the intended participants on your conference call.  If you have personnel changes you should change your conference call information immediately.  With Zip Conferencing this is easily done with your online account manager.  If you are concerned about having permanent conference call information you can even do one time scheduled conference calls where the conference call information only works one time and then does not work again.

Once you have made sure that the conference call information is secure and you have joined the conference call, how do you know that the participants you invited are the only ones that can join the call.  FIrst, you can put music on hold so no one to speak to each other until the Host joins.  When you join the conference call you set the call to do a roll call to verify the participants.  Or you can view the call using an online interface to see the participants and their dial in numbers.  Once you have established that the participants that are on the conference call are correct, you can lock the conference call to prevent anyone else from joining the call.  This is easily accomplished by using the Host Controls from within the conference.  This will prevent anyone from dialing into the conference call or even an operator from joining the call.

So, you see, there are a number of ways to insure the security on a conference call.  It starts with a good conference calls ervice provider like ZIp Conferencing that has engineered a secure network and provides a full featured conference call service that provides these security options.

For more on conference call security options visit Zip Conferencing’s Knowledgebase http://www.zipconferencing.com/kb/Conference-Call-Host-Controls-31-Activate/Deactivate-Conference-Security-Code_132.html

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off

Conference Calls Save Money

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Many people who use conference calls in their daily business lives may have forgotten the number one benefit you get when you use conference calls.  Conference calls save money. 

I think that conference call service early adopters were more interested in solving business issues that could not be solved in other ways.  The legal community in particular simply could not find a way to effectively meet with clients and other counsel in a quick and convenient manner when they were unable to meet face to face.  They were not really concerned about saving money by meeting over the telephone as they charge back their customers anyway.  It was the second wave of conference call users that discovered some of the other benefits to using a conference call service. 

Benefits to Using a Conference Call Service

  • Save Money
  • Save Time
  • Increased Productivity

The widespread growth of the use of conference calls has certainly been from their ability to save companies money.  No other technology offers as affordable a solution to solving the need to meet than the basic conference call.  How else can you meet with dozens of people around the world without leaving your desk for just pennies per minute?  So, the most obvious cost you save when you do a conference call is the travel cost to get to a personal meeting.  What other costs can you save with a conference call?

Costs you save when you do a Conference Call

  • Flight Expense
  • Rental Car Expense
  • Hotel Costs
  • Food Costs

And now with the availability of web conferencing and the ability to add visuals to your conference call there are many more applications for conference calls that save companies even more money.  As an industry we again thought that the legal community would be an early adopter of web conferencing since they could share a contract on the screen and edit it with opposing counsel and so forth.  But actually, the largest users of web conferencing have been in the Sales and Marketing areas where they have been able to dramatically reduce their travel costs and shortened their sales cycles.

And now, with the prices for conference call services hitting all time lows in the marketplace there is no better way to save travel costs than substituting your in person meetings with a conference call.  Conference calls save money.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Calls | Comments Off

Web Conferencing changes Everything

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Web Conferencing started out as something you did on your company’s network and only if you and the person you wanted to web conference with had the same software installed on their machine.  The internet was still coming of age so many of the things we now take for granted did not exist.  In fact, I remember in 1995 taking some of the available software, buying a card for a computer that allowed multiple network connections and building a web conference bridge you could dial into so that up to 5 people could get on the same web conference.  As long as the 5 people had a good connection to the internet.

When I think about that now I laugh.  In the past 10 years the technology has come a long way.  Today you can easily hold a web conference with up to 100 people and you don’t even have to download any software.  High speed internet connections are taken for granted and conference calls are completed integrated into the experience to add voice and visual communications on a conference call. 

With the advent of web conferencing, you can easily add a visual element to your conference calls.  This makes your confernece call more compelling, encourages audience participation and helps with retention.  The applications are wide spread and more and more people are utilizing web conferencing services to help sell, train and inform to internal and external clients throughout the world. 

I don’ t know if anyone has attempted to calculate the savings in hours of productivity, travel costs and fossil fuels, but it must be enormous. The amount spent on web conferencing in 2007 was over $700,000,000 in the US alone and even as the service continues to be more affordable, it is expected that the amount spent in five years will be almost double what it is today.  That is because web conferencing services make sense to such a wide range of industries and applications.  Just like conference call volume has seen a tremendous amount of growth in the past 15 years, web conferencing is now enjoying that same growth.  That is because it is truly easy to use and affordable to everyone.

So the next time you register for that online “webinar” think about how what you would have to do to get that same seminar without web conferencing.  because web confernecing changes everything.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off