The New Way of Doing Business - Teleconferencing

US Navy Holding a Teleconference

In the last decade, technology has made it possible for businesses to become larger and more spread out. As they spread out, more and more employees are working from home, other states, or even countries. Due to this, physical office locations and employees can often be thousands of miles apart from each other. Due to this it can be very difficult to get all of you employees in the same place to conduct training and meetings.

To remedy this problem GetMoreRings suggests teleconferencing. What is teleconferencing you ask? It is a conference in which participants communicate from different locations via telephone or video network.

With teleconfrencing, your company can conduct training, workshops, staff meetings, and demonstrations by telephone or internet instead of in person. 

Let us go over a few of the different types of teleconferencing.

• Audio Teleconference is voice-only and is usually referred to as just 'conference calling'. To use this service participants are given a designated telephone number to call into at a certain time or an assigned moderator can call each participant. Participants are connected throught a confrence bridge, which acts as a telephone and pick up multiple calls at once.

• Video Conference is a combination of audio and video and provides voice and video communictaions. It is able to dispaly anything that can be recorded by a video camera. It has an advantage of displaying moving images making participants able to see each others expressions and demeanors from remote locations.

• Computer Teleconference uses a telephone line to connect two or more computers or modems. Anything you can do on a computer can be sent over the telephone line. It is used mostly by distance learning institutions where students are required to log into a system for a set period of time and download work. They are able to download their required files, complete their assigments and then upload them onto the confrencing system. 

Businesses utilizing VoIP (Voice over IP) are able to host teleconfrencing calls themselves if their VoIP software supports it. Teleconferencing can lower the costs of your business by reducing travel, meals and lodging since your employees are able to connect to each other from remote locations.

Top 10 VoIP Features for Small Business

GetMoreRings list of the Top 10 VoIP features for small businesses:

1.  Automated Call Distribution helps businesses make the most of their contact center staff, by automating call distribution to the next available agent.

2.  Call Routing and Forwarding provides remote access for a mobile workforce. Features include “Find Me-Follow Me” , which forwards calls from office desk phone to mobile phones, laptops, home phones, and more.

3.  Data Integration links the softphone system with inventory, customer relationship management (CRM), and sales systems.

4.  Auto Attendant routes calls to a standard greeting, voicemail, or a self-service directory.

5.  Conferencing. VoIP business softphone systems feature instant conferencing, as well as video and Web conferencing applications.

6.  Directory Service relies on interactive voice recognition (IVR) to support automated directory access and call routing. Callers navigate the directory system by speaking a name or extension number.

7.  Voicemail. VoIP voicemail services feature unified messaging, which sends messages as an audio recording or an email. Users can access voicemail from any device, including mobile phones, laptops, and home phones.

8.  Wed-Based Administration Interface allows users to set routing and call preferences, as well as make adds, changes, and moves.

9.  Presence Management helps business employees work together across the world. The presence tool identifies who is available and the best way of contacting them (email, phone, IM).

10. Unified Communications Collaboration Tools help business workers collaborate with partners, clients, and colleagues worldwide. Features include screen sharing, document sharing, wikis, virtual whiteboarding, and business “social networking” applications.

Today’s small businesses face many logistical challenges as they compete in the global marketplace. Without the global office network of large enterprises, small businesses rely on their data networks to bridge the locational divide. VoIP services afford small businesses access to basic and advanced IP communications features, bringing together colleagues and supporting relationships with business partners and customers worldwide.