Teleconference solutions not only for large corporate users In summary, teleconferencing is no longer the exclusive domain of large business users. Other possible users have long felt the need but it has only been with the launch of new business models that the availability of these services has become more ubiquitous.	Visited: 539 Not rated Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Rob Butterworth January 31, 2008

Over the last two decades, the conference call landscape has undergone considerable change. It used to be the case that only larger businesses had access to multi party phone teleconferencing. Such systems were typically rather costly and often featured live operator participation on each call.

Incumbent telecom companies priced conference calling services at high rates (e.g twenty five cents plus per minute per user) and most businesses were willing to pay these charges to guarantee reliable and quality service. More recently the market has seen a flurry of competitive forces. A variety of factors have been responsible including telecom deregulation, dramatic improvements in internet technology and demand for improved offerings.

The competitive environment now consists of seemingly countless companies in addition to the incumbent telcos. Organizations and individuals that want to use teleconferencing now have a far wider selection of choices. Within that range of choices are free conference calling services such as Rondee that meld free conference calling with web based scheduling and other productivity tools. These services do not charge users for the reason that they use a toll number as opposed to a traditional toll-free dial-in. Thus, such free conference call services are not free in the same sense that air is free. They do require minutes of phone usage.

Notwithstanding that, such services are increasingly being thought of by users as basically free because many phone plans now offer flat rate “all you can dial” and typically cellular plans no longer have additional charges for long distance phone calls. As a result of these trends, teleconferencing has become available to a far wider market of users as the following use-cases illustrate.

Labor unions have effectively used traditional conferencing systems and, increasingly, free conference calling services to allow disparately situated members to discuss strategies and arrange meetings. Unions have historically been cost conscious due to the fact that their budgets are constrained to the extent of member contributions. Therefore, as is typical of non-profits, unions frequently search for methods of making every dollar stretch further. In times of contract negotiations or other situations of urgency, conferencing becomes a critical method of enabling the national leadership to communicate with local leaders.

Political campaigns now use teleconferencing conference calling on a regular basis. In certain cases it is used to allow candidates to connect with contributors or volunteers. Alternatively, it enables remote consultants to work with locally situated staff. For state-wide or national campaigns, conference calling becomes even more important as a method of ensuring frequent communication because it is truly impossible to ensure a physical presence. In the most recent primary season, Republican candidates in Iowa received extensive media publicity on highly publicized conference calls undertaken to reassure large donors and influential political commentators that their campaigns could survive the harsh pace of the campaign season.

Families have traditionally not used conference calling as a method of staying in touch. That is now beginning to change. The wide availability of discount or free conferencing services is enabling families to schedule time when parents can speak with multiple children or even grandchildren. The same is true, in reverse. Younger family members are starting to introduce parents and grandparents to the benefits of conferencing as a means of deepening relationships and staying connected to loved ones.

In summary, teleconferencing is no longer the exclusive domain of large business users. Other possible users have long felt the need but it has only been with the launch of new business models that the availability of these services has become more ubiquitous.