In the ever expanding world of business, remaining in constant contact with your business colleagues is a demand that needs to be fulfilled in a continuous succession. Every time you can’t travel for business meetings. Emergencies may arise where you may need to get in touch with the corporate governance.
All this is possible with Audio Conference Phones with which multiple participants have a joint audio conversation using an audio conferencing software and/or equipment. In such calls the called party can either listen to the conversation, or take part in the conversation. Audio Conferencing is also referred as ATC or Audio-TeleConferencing.
The Role of Audio Conference Phones
Just imagine a conference room with you and your colleagues discussing a market strategy for your company or taking an important decision that might affect the company’s profitability. But let’s say you are on a business trip and the company wants to hold an important business meeting. In such cases, Audio Conference phones can carry out important business meetings and discussions as if you were physically a part of the time. Holding a conference call is now opted as a best solution for bridging gaps between communication and serving the business policies better.Administration
Audio conferencing is conversing with two or more people simultaneously. For this the basic infrastructure is phone equipment or web software which will handle the entire contact list, two or more speaker phones and a microphone. If you are using a web service, the infrastructure might differ a little as the need of internet connection arises. Audio conferencing calls are made either to local numbers or long distance numbers which you can manage on your own or sign up to some audio conferencing services and decide upon which of their packages or services to use. These services provide you with a PIN codes and specialized phone numbers, so that only participants who have signed for the service will be allowed to participate in the conference. Three way calling is also a part of audio conferencing where the second party is made a part of the conversation through an outgoing call by the calling party.Usage
Business:
Audio Conferencing is mainly used by businesses to call up parties
stationed at remote locations, to arrange meetings, presentations and
training sessions. Conference calls are a primary method of cutting
costs without the need to leave office for attending meetings and
increasing employee productivity.
Personal:
Audio
Conferencing on a small scale is also used for personal purposes such
as for a group call. People use this service to make new friends and
build up their social contact list. But primarily any type of
conferencing service is used for business purposes.
Pricing
Flat Rate:
Flat Rate conference call services are best for those businesses who
deal in a lot of conference calls and a long list of callers. In this
pricing system, you are charged a fixed monthly amount withstanding of
the number of calls you make. That means you have unlimited access over
the “conference bridge”.
Pre paid:
Pre
paid service pricing charge your conference calls on a per minute
basis. So you will be charged depending on the number of minutes of
conversation that took place over the month. A conference PIN is sent
to you via email or SMS after which you can start using the service and
is appropriate for making long distance calls.
Advantages of Audio Conferencing:
- Effortless communication over long distance calls without the need to travel
- Can converse and convey information to many people simultaneously
- Environment friendly and can be used as a mean for cost cutting as travelling decreases
- Unify various branches, locations and employees and manage them through one base.t.
Disadvantages of Audio Conferencing:
- Face to Face conversation not possible
- Service may not be consistent if the provider is at fault.
- Installation and maintenance charges are expensive.