Posts Tagged ‘Travel Costs’

Web Conferencing for Remote Support

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Web conferencing has been adopted by sales organizations around the world as a way to do a presentation for a prospect from your desktop,  greatly reducing travel expenses and increasing productivity.  It is also widely recognized for its remote training abilities which allows participants to take a training class without the costly need to travel to a central location.  But another application for web conferencing that is being used, but maybe not as widely known is for the support of customers and employees remotely to troubleshoot software on their desktops.

Since web conferencing allows participants to see each other’s computer screens regardless of the application that is running.  It allows a technical support person to view the PC of a customer or employee which assists them in more easily diagnosing an issue.  A remote participant does not need to try to describe the issue they are having because the technician will be able to see exactly what they are talking about on the web conference.  And if the participant allows it, the technician can even take control of the remote user’s PC and fix the problem while the participant sits back and watches them do the work.

Needless to say, this application for web conferencing is a win-win for the company supporting the product and the customer, since the problem is fixed easily and quickly and any interpretation errors on exactly what the issue is are avoided because the technician is actually viewing the PC themselves.  Like all of the conference call services, the web conferencing in this application saves any travel costs that may have been associated with the service and makes the technician that much more productive since they can handle many of these types of service calls using web conferencing instead of travelling to customer locations.  In many cases, if you are selling your product across the country or around the world, travelling to customer locations to support your product is not even practical.  Especially for a small business that is trying to support their product, web conferencing offers a way to provide their customers an excellent level of service without spending a lot of money.  Supporting your customers using web conferencing just makes good business sense.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

I Resolve to do more Web Conferencing

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Its that time of year again.  Everyone sets expectations for themselves in the new year.  Many of the resolutions we commit to we do not stick with and some we don’t even attempt.  Maybe this is the year to set some realistic goals for ourselves that will benefit us personally and also help in our own little way the world around us.  Why not resolve to do more web conferencing?  I am going to add it to my list.  Because I am as guilty as the next person.  It is easier to stick with the familiar than to try something new and if you have never conducted a web conference before it can be a little intimidating.  But the benefits to you and the world are real!

  • Save Time – A web conference can save you time on the front end by simply eliminating the need to travel to a meeting.  Even if the meeting is in the same building with people you work with you still have to get up off your seat and go to a meeting room.  You have to remember to bring all the materials you will need or you may need to return to your desk to get additional materials or reschedule another meeting so you can bring other things, etc.  You can instantly attend your meeting right from your desk and have all of your materials at your fingertips to share with everyone at the meeting if you do a web conference.
  • Save Money – The cost to travel to your meeting locally or at a great distance is saved if you do it from your desk using a web conference.  If you have to travel across the country all of the travel costs will be saved which can add up to thousands of dollars.
  • Increase Productivity – You will find that by doing a web conference you are better prepared for your meeting and can extend the discussion since you have access to everything you need.  You also will be able to work during the time you would otherwise have to travel.
  • Save the Environment – By using a web conference instead of travelling to a meeting you are being very eco-friendly.  Think of all the carbon emissions you are avoiding during the travel you have avoided.  And all of the participants in the web conference also have avoided all of the travel and associated emissions.

So, for your benefits and in a small part, all of mankind, it is time to resolve to do more web conferencing.  And unlike the resolutions you are unlikely to stick to you will find this one is easy to keep once you feel the benefits.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Web Conferencing | Comments Off

Conference Calls for Personal Use

Friday, July 31st, 2009

One of the great things that has happened since conference calls have become more available and affordable is their use for things other than for business.  Sure, conference calls provide lots of benefits to businesses in saving travel costs and increasing productivity but more and more people are discovering that conference calls can be a great help to people in their personal lives too.

Ever need to talk to your extended family about a family situation and made endless calls to individuals and after you talk to someone they usually have input that you now need to relate to the people you have already spoken to and on and on it goes.  Since people have been exposed to conference calls at work they are now applying the same benefits of a conference call service to their personal lives.  There are many applications that are perfect for using a conference call. 

Personal Conference Call Applications

  • Planning an Event
  • Family Emergency
  • Holiday Greetings
  • Special Occasions

Ever have to plan a family reunion or a wedding?  The logistics can be daunting, especially if the family is all over the country.  A conference call can bring everyone together and get the details of planning a family event that much easier.  A family emergency can be stressful enough without having to make a lot of individual calls and explaining the situation over and over.  Sharing the news all at once on a conference call will save you time and stress.  Holidays can be tough on the members of the family that can’t make it in person but you can share the moment with the extended family via phone on a conference call.  It also works well with any special occasion where all members of your family and friends can’t be there in person.  Having everyone being able to talk together is the next best thing to being there.

Conference calls for personal use can help keep your extended family and friends connected and a conference call service is easy to use and affordable.  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

Conference Call Applications – Training/HR

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Training sessions and and communication of HR policies are essential to any business.  New employees especially are in need of training and HR policy education and you can deliver effective training and communication from a distance with conference call services and web conference services.

Training Programs

Combining Audio and Web Conferencing services provides an effective way to deliver Training and Communication from a distance without the need to incur travel costs or spend the time necessary to go to remote locations. The features included in our conference calls and web conferences make your presentations powerful and yet easy to use.

  • Increase productivity – deliver more training in less time without the need to travel
  • Reduce Costs – eliminate travel costs 
  • Deliver Training and Communication more frequently –  conduct more training sessions more frequently and reach a wider audience

 

 

Conference Call Services to Help You Deliver Effective Training

  • Audio Conference Calls – A conference call allows you to deliver a consistent message to a large audience.  Host controls allow you to be in charge of the meeting and deliver your training in an effective way without audience interruption.  
  • Web Conferencing - Web Conferencing allows you to deliver your message in pictures as well as words improving audience interaction and retention of the information.  Our easy to use Web Conferencing tool enables anyone to be an effective presenter in minutes. 

 

 

Key Features

  • Host Audio Controls
    Control your audio conference using Host Controls through your telephone that allow you to mute all participants, take a roll call, conduct sub-conferences and more.
  • Distribute Information
    Allow participants to download files of your presentation at the end of your presentation.
  • Audience Participation
    Engage your participants throughout the presentation with the use of Q&A and Polling questions to keep them engaged in your presentation.
  • Branded Interface
    You can brand your online interface and the Web Conferencing tool itself with your logo to personalize your interface and put onn a more professional appearance to your online meetings.
  • Multimedia Content
    Your presentationscan include visual elements to egage your audience.
  • Polls and Surveys
    Conduct Q&A, Polling and surveys using Web Conferencing’s tools.
  • Invite Participants 
    You can invite your participants through the web conferencing interface or simply invite your participants to your online conferencing Hub where they can join web conferences.
  • Record and Playback
    You can record the audio and visual portion of your conference call and allow participants to view or listen to your presentation after the completion of the conference call.

 www.zipconferencing.com

 

Posted in Conference Call Service | Comments Off

Conference Call Applications – Sales and Marketing

Monday, June 29th, 2009

Conference calls have been adopted by business as a great way to save money on travel, improve communications and shorten business life cycles.  One of the areas where the technology has been widely adopted is in Sales and Marketing.  While it is widely accepted that face time is important to the sale in many cases, getting in front of the customer with conferencing technology can help qualify prospects, perform product demonstrations and ultimately shorten the sales cycle. 

Audio Conferencing

The same basic principles that assist all businesses when they use audio confernecing apply in Sales and Marketing.  Why they have so widely adopted conferencing technology is understandable because in this area of business you will see an immediate impact to your bottom line.  Travel costs to present the materials to the customer are eliminated.  A conference call can be scheduled much quicker than a face to face meeting.  Many prospects are much more willing to make time for a conference call because it takes less time out of their day than an in person meeting.  Sales Managers can have daily calls with their entire sales force even when the people are located across the country.

Web Conferencing

Web conferencing has revolutionized the way companies sell their products and services.  It is now commonplace to get an initial demonstration of a product or service over the internet using web conferencing.  Especially for software and web services this is more the norm than not.  Customers have now grown used to sitting comfortably at their desks and watching a webinar or demonstration.  The web confernece eliminates the need to travel to a customer premise and set up the projector, get an internet connection and everything else that goes with getting an in-person sales demonstration in place.  Instead sales demonstrations can happen ad hoc or scheduled using a web conference and a telephone.  And beyond being more convenient for salesperson and customer, the statistics prove that using web conferencing services in the sales process is a very effective way to do business.  You can do more presentations in less time for less money than anyone doing in-person sales.

For Sales and Marketing applications the path is clear.  Audio conferencing and web conferencing provide a quicker more effective way to do business.

www.zipconferencing.com

Posted in Conference Call | Comments Off