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Choosing a teleconferencing provider is not easy. Just type the phrase "conference call" into Google and you'll see lots of providers. Fortunately, most of them differentiate themselves on a small-group of factors. Understanding these elements, and thinking through their relative importance to the needs of your company, is the best way to make an informed decision. Research in the industry indicates that there are five elements which typically enable a user to make a prudent decision. To help you make that decision, this article reviews these 5 areas. 1. The cost All-conference calling services cost something to use. This is true even of the services that brand themselves as "free." Why is that? Notwithstanding the possible exception of a purely VOIP system covering all users, all-conference calling services require participants to dial a bridge number. In the case of services that provide toll-free bridge numbers, a per minute fee is assessed. The lowest fee you can typically arrange is several cents on a per minute basis and more likely you'll be paying 5 to 10 per minute. This charge is levied cumulatively. In other words, if there are 5 people on a 60 minute call, a 300 minute charge will be levied. Some services still charge legacy rates and of 20 or 25 cents a minute and these services are to be avoided! As discussed earlier, some services are free with respect to the fact that there is no charge levied by the provider. However, these offerings do not provide a toll-free number with their free services and thus users will incur normal long-distance charges to participate. 2. Scheduling capability Services typically fall into one of two general buckets. Paid and custom corporate services typically provide a scheduling interface which enables the organizer to arrange the conference call. For those services that have an Outlook integration or similar sort of functionality, a pin code and dial-in bridge can be allocated to the user when the user wants to do her own call scheduling. The free offerings typically provide only a pin code and dial-in bridge; the organizer of the conference call is responsible for sending individual e-mails and keeping track of individual follow-ups. At the present time, the sole free conference calling solution available in the industry featuring both capabilities (scheduling and on-the-fly conferencing) as well as response tracking is Rondee.com. 3. Archiving and Recording For many users, the ability to store information associated with the call or even the call itself can be very useful. Some services allow recording of the conference call in WAV format, GSM or both formats. Some companies offer this capability for free but generally it is found as included feature of paid teleconferencing services. The audio file is typically retrieved after the conference call is over via a link from the service provider's web site or a link e-mailed to the users. It is generally not feasible to email the audio file itself because of capacity constraints. Some services provide the conference agenda to be archived. This capability is obviously not feasible with services that only offer a pin code and dial-in bridge but can be offered by services that offer scheduling capability because the scheduling template captures the call specific information. 4. Desktop Sharing Sometimes a conference call is not limited to the audio format. If your business requires sharing of information (e.g. PowerPoint presentations), desktop sharing is a critical component of a successful conference call. Some users choose a best-of-breed approach and use different services for their desktop sharing and conferencing. Increasingly, however, conference calling companies are moving aggressively to bundle desktop sharing functionality into their underlying product. In the case of well-known companies such as GoToMeeting, this is part of a strategy to capture both markets. In the case of conferencing, desktop sharing is being offered as a paid functionality to generate added revenue. 5. Personalization A frequent complaint from users of conference calling systems is the need to remember random dial--in numbers and pin-codes. In the last year, confluence of telecom and internet technologies is enabling this problem to be solved. Some new conference call providers allow for users to customize their PIN codes to PIN codes more easily remembered. Some systems also offer access without a pin when calling from a registered phone number. Such systems, however, do necessitate user registration in order to enable a matching of the number. For most users, the final choice of conference calling service will require weighting these (and perhaps other) factors according to your organization's needs. The good news is that the increase of competition in this market is expanding the choices available to you.
By: Scott Bailey
Scott Baily is the author of numerous publications pertaining to the free conference calling space. Scott has worked with start-ups such as Rondee to revolutionize the set of choices available to users of telecom services.
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