Posts Tagged ‘Web Conferencing’
Monday, March 8th, 2010
One of the surest ways to get traffic to your web site is to give something away for free. But how is it that a service that a lot of people are willing to pay for can be offered by another company for free. Well, I have gone through free conference calls before and explained how that can happen, but what about free web conferencing?
A conference call service company that provides web conferencing to its customers has to pay for a number of things in order to provide the service. Some of those cost items include the following.
- Software development - If the conference call service company has developed the service themselves then they had to pay to have the software developed in the first place. And like any software you develop the development doesn’t end there. There are on going improvements, bug fixes and so forth to fund.
- Reseller fees- Some conference call services don’t develop their own software, they simply resell someone elses technology. In this case there is always a cost to the company who is reselling the service.
- Hosting environment - If you are supporting your own software you need to have a server or servers depending on the number of users to host the software and make it available to your customers.
- Internet Connectivity- If you are hosting your own web conferencing service you need to connect it to the internet and the connection needs to allow many users fast access so you will also need a very good and potentially expensive connection.
- Support Costs - And like any other conference call service you will need to support your web conferencing service with sales and service personnel.
So, if there are all these costs, how does anyone provide free web conferencing? Well, some conference call service companies will offer a dumbed down version for free hoping you will upgrade because the free version doesn’t do much. Or the web conferencing service they offer for free is an old version they no longer support and instead of retiring it they simply give it away so you will come to their site and but the other version. Either way, if you investigate the free web conferencing versions out there you will see that they are not a full version, current representative of what web conferencing can do. And it just may not have the reliability and capacity you would expect with a service you pay for. After all it is free so how hard can you complain?
If you really need a good web conferencing service don’t use a free one. For a low monthly fee you can have access to a web conferencing service that save you time and money wihtout breaking the bank.
Tags: Conference Call, confernece call service, free web conferencing, Web Conference, Web Conferencing
Posted in Web Conferencing | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
There was a time when you would not even think about running an automated conference call for 20 or more participants. If you were going to run a conference call of that size you would run the conference call with the assistance of an operator. And even today, an Operator Assisted call might be the right conference call solution depending on your application, but the conference call technology has gotten to where running a large automated conference call is manageable if you know a few tricks.
The main problem with running a large conference call is the noise the audience can introduce during the call. It is bad enough when there are just 4 or 5 participants and one of them introduces noise because they are on a cell phone, rustling papers on their desk, talking to people in their room, etc. Just imagine having 100 people on the call. The odds that someone is going to make noise during the conference call are pretty good. In fact, virtually certain. So, what can you do to hold an orderly conference call with a large audience? Here are a few tips to make for a successful large conference call.
- Turn Off any Tones - Most conference call service companies provide tones on the conference clal so you know when a participant joins the call. This is fine when you have 5 people on the conference call, but can be more than a distraction when there are 20 or more.
- Mute All - The conference calling service should provide a way to mute all participants as the Moderator of the conference call.
- Use an online interface if offered - Some conference call service companies offer an online conference call interface that allows you to see the callers and control the audio portion of the conference call. This can be very helpful, especially if you intend to open up to questions from the audience. That way you can see the callers and manage the call easier.
- Use Web Conferencing - In addition to enhancing your conference call with visual presentations, a web conference can allow you to manage a Q&A session better than just using an audio conference. With a Web Conference you are giving your participants a way to raise their hand for questions and a way for you to open up an individual line to allow them to ask their question.
- Practice - The best thing you can do to insure your success with a large conference call is to run a practice session to make sure you are familiiar with all of the conference call controls and how to use them.
If you follow these tips you can run a large conference call successfully without the need to use an expensive Operator Assisted Conference Call.
www.zipconferencing.com
Tags: Audience, Audio Portion, Call Interface, Cell Phone, Conference Call Service, Conference Calling Service, Desk, Distraction, Odds, Operator Assisted Call, Participant, Participants, People, Running, Technology, Visual Presentations, Web Conferencing
Posted in Conference Calls | No Comments »
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
Tags: Central Location, Computer Screens, Conference Call Services, Control, Control Remote, Customer Locations, Desktops, Increasing Productivity, Interpretation Errors, Participant, Participants, Presentation, Sales Organizations, Support Web, Technical Support Person, Travel Costs, Travel Expenses, Travelling, Web Conference, Web Conferencing
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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
Tags: Additional Materials, Carbon Emissions, Desk, Fingertips, Great Distance, Increase Productivity, Meeting Room, New Year, Realistic Goals, Resolutions, Thousands Of Dollars, Time Of Year, Travel Costs, Travelling, Web Conference, Web Conferencing, Web Money
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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
Tags: Agriculture, Animals, Audience, Commu, Conference Call, Crops, Farmers, Farming Equipment, Level Of Communication, Livestock, Market Factors, Money, Productivity, Saving Time, Seminars, Share Information, Share Tips, Stock Levels, Supply Chain, Web Conferencing
Posted in Conference Calls | No Comments »
