The five most useful factors to weigh in selecting your conference calling solution

                                                                                         

Choosing a conference call service is not easy. Just type the phrase "conference call" into Google and you'll see dozens of providers. Fortunately, most of them differentiate their services on a small-group of factors. Understanding these elements, and weighing their relative significance to the needs of your organization, is the best way to make a good decision. Research in the field indicates that there are five elements which usually enable a user to make a prudent decision. To help you make that decision, this article reviews these five areas.


1. The price

All-conference calling services cost at least something to use. This is true even of the ones 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 situation of services that provide toll-free bridge numbers, a per minute charge is assessed. The lowest rate you can typically arrange is several cents per minute and more likely you'll be paying five to ten cents 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 prices of 20 or 25 cents a minute and these plans are to be avoided! As mentioned earlier, some services are free with respect to the fact that there is no charge levied by the provider. However, these services do not provide a toll-free number with their free services and as such users will incur normal long-distance charges to participate.

2. Scheduling capability

Services usually fall into one of two categories. Paid and high end corporate services frequently provide a scheduling interface which enables the organizer to set up the call. For those services that have an Outlook integration or similar sort of functionality, a pin code and dial-in number can be automatically allocated to the user for situations where the user wants to do her own scheduling. The free conference calling systems usually provide only a pin code and dial-in number; the organizer of the teleconference call is responsible for sending individual e-mails and keeping track of individual replies. At this point in time, the only free conference calling service on the market featuring both capabilities (scheduling and on-the-fly conferencing) as well as web based response tracking is Rondee.com.

3. Archiving or Recording

For many organizations, the ability to store information connected to the call or even the call itself can be very valuable. Some services allow recording of the teleconference call in WAV format, GSM or both formats. Some companies provide this capability for free but generally it is found as included feature of paid teleconferencing services. The audio file is usually retrieved after the conference call has ended via a link from the service provider's web site or a link e-mailed to the participants. 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 simply offer a pin code and dial-in number but can be available for services that offer scheduling capability insofar as the scheduling template records the call specific information.

4. Sharing Your Desktop

Sometimes a teleconference is not limited to audio. If your business necessitates visual 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 audio conferencing. Increasingly, however, audio conference calling providers are moving quickly to bundle desktop sharing capabilities into their underlying product. In the case of well-known brands such as GoToMeeting, this is part of a strategy to capture both segments of the market. In the case of conferencing calling companies, desktop sharing is being offered as a paid upsell to generate added revenue.

5. Personalization

A typical 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 solving this problem. A couple conference call companies allow for users to customize their PIN codes to something more memorable. There are some systems which also offer access without a pin when calling from a known phone number. These systems, however, do necessitate user registration to enable a matching of the number.

For most users, the ultimate choice of conference calling service will require weighting these (and perhaps other) factors according to your organization's requirements. The good news is that the explosion of competition in this market is expanding the services that are available to you.

About the author:
Mindy Carpenter has commented frequently about the free conference calling area. Carpenter works with organizations such as Rondee which are using web-telephony integration to develop new phone offerings.

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