With the improvements in technology, teleconference, or audio conference, calls are quickly being replaced with video conferencing and meeting with colleagues using internet applications. However, audio conferencing is still an important business tool for many companies and business professionals. Here are five reasons for businesses to use audio conferencing.
What is a Conference Call?
A conference call is a telephone call involving several people at the same time. In some cases, meeting participants may be in different locations around the world. During the call, those who are participating will dial a specific telephone number at a certain time and be connected to the virtual meeting. They can either listen or they may be able to talk with others during the call so they can ask questions or present information.
Reliability
One of the main advantages to an audio conference call is they are more reliable than using video conferencing or web meetings. Due to varying internet speeds, especially during times of peak usage, the video may buffer, which can cause some participants in the video conference to miss part of what is said.
Also, if you’re trying to have a video conference between participants in different countries, the time differences and internet access can present their own challenges. Regular telephone service doesn’t present the same problems and most audio conferences are easy to connect to, participate in and they are rarely disrupted.
Easy Participation
Audio conference calls do not need to be major productions. While they can be used for departmental meetings for medium to large companies with multiple locations, they can be used on a much smaller scale as well.
If there is a delivery and production issue for a company, the manager in charge of logistics can contact the production floor and the warehouse manager using audio conferencing to try to figure out the problem. The participants in the meeting can be given a number to call into as needed to discuss the problem and come up with a solution.
Less Expense
Audio conferences are more cost efficient for smaller companies and business professionals than video conferencing or some web meeting applications. There isn’t any special equipment needed to hold cheap audio conference calls like there is with video or web conferencing.
With video conferencing, a projector and screen is needed for participants to see each other. Web meetings are different because participants pull up a website and enter their scheduled meeting individually, which can increase the expense for companies who may need an entire department to participate in a web meeting.
With audio conferencing, there is a flat rate per minute charge for each participant. Most video conference and web meeting applications require a subscription fee, which is paid each month whether you use the service and there are usually different services available depending on which package you’ve selected.
Cheap audio conference calls can help your business keep in contact with other locations around the world or hold meetings with clients and other participants on an as needed basis.