All businesses are currently under pressure to reduce their outgoings, but with massive rises in the cost of fuel over the last year, equating the two can be tricky. On top of that, businesses are being asked to do whatever they can to reduce their carbon footprint. An obvious answer seems to be to cut down on company travel and one way in which this can be achieved is by using teleconferencing instead of having workers travel to meetings.
The correct name for teleconferencing is Audio Tele-Conferencing (ATC) but it is more usually described as a conference calling. There are two ways a call can be set up, either over a VOIP connection (e.g. Skype) or via a normal landline. Each participant is given rights which either allows them listen-in only or speaking rights and there is no upper limit on the number of participants that can be included.
The provision of a conference call can be arranged free-of-charge through some companies, but additional services such as the facility to record the conference will be charged for, as will the cost of the call for each participant. For long-distance participants, this could be prohibitive if the meeting is to continue for a lengthy period.
Other companies offer fixed-price packages, which could mean a substantial saving on the cost of calls and also include the facility to record as standard. PC screen sharing and/or video link-ups are also possible but all participants will need to be supplied with the necessary software.
Teleconferencing is one of the most cost-effective ways to communicate with a number of people in real time. Properly organised, it can be as effective as a face-to-face meeting and is more likely to be 'attended' by all that have been invited. The cost of setting up a conference call is usually minimal compared to the cost of having employees travelling to attend a normal meeting. When all expenses are taken into account including fuel costs, loss of productivity whilst travelling, accommodation and refreshments then multiplied by the number of employees, the savings are easy to see.
With today's advanced technologies, teleconferencing is much more reliable than was the case a few years ago and there are few disadvantages to using it. Occasionally there may be interference on phone lines or short breaks in transmission, but it is an extremely unlikely event.
Without the benefit of actually seeing the speaker, body language or other cues are missing so it is important to speak clearly and unambiguously for the benefit of other participants. Voices may be distorted through the phone line so each speaker should identify themselves and ask for a respondent by name to avoid any confusion.
Modern teleconferencing certainly has a greater number of advantages than disadvantages. The type of conference call service used will depend on individual business needs, but there is no doubt that using this method to replace all or just a few face-to-face business meetings can mean saving a good amount of money in terms of both travelling and employee costs as well as other business expenses like hiring a meeting room or providing accommodation for long distance participants.
The correct name for teleconferencing is Audio Tele-Conferencing (ATC) but it is more usually described as a conference calling. There are two ways a call can be set up, either over a VOIP connection (e.g. Skype) or via a normal landline. Each participant is given rights which either allows them listen-in only or speaking rights and there is no upper limit on the number of participants that can be included.
The provision of a conference call can be arranged free-of-charge through some companies, but additional services such as the facility to record the conference will be charged for, as will the cost of the call for each participant. For long-distance participants, this could be prohibitive if the meeting is to continue for a lengthy period.
Other companies offer fixed-price packages, which could mean a substantial saving on the cost of calls and also include the facility to record as standard. PC screen sharing and/or video link-ups are also possible but all participants will need to be supplied with the necessary software.
Teleconferencing is one of the most cost-effective ways to communicate with a number of people in real time. Properly organised, it can be as effective as a face-to-face meeting and is more likely to be 'attended' by all that have been invited. The cost of setting up a conference call is usually minimal compared to the cost of having employees travelling to attend a normal meeting. When all expenses are taken into account including fuel costs, loss of productivity whilst travelling, accommodation and refreshments then multiplied by the number of employees, the savings are easy to see.
With today's advanced technologies, teleconferencing is much more reliable than was the case a few years ago and there are few disadvantages to using it. Occasionally there may be interference on phone lines or short breaks in transmission, but it is an extremely unlikely event.
Without the benefit of actually seeing the speaker, body language or other cues are missing so it is important to speak clearly and unambiguously for the benefit of other participants. Voices may be distorted through the phone line so each speaker should identify themselves and ask for a respondent by name to avoid any confusion.
Modern teleconferencing certainly has a greater number of advantages than disadvantages. The type of conference call service used will depend on individual business needs, but there is no doubt that using this method to replace all or just a few face-to-face business meetings can mean saving a good amount of money in terms of both travelling and employee costs as well as other business expenses like hiring a meeting room or providing accommodation for long distance participants.
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