Benefits of Audio Conferencing Important for Collaboration Planning

As companies in the United States and other industrialized nations have implemented telecommuting platforms and distributed workforces, there is an increased need for collaboration across geographic barriers. The two challenges that immediately come to mind with such scenarios are distance and time. How are these challenges overcome to facilitate collaboration and teamwork among colleagues?

Value of Face-to-Face Challenged

Company officials must ask themselves how important it is to have face-to-face collaboration among team members. If this is an absolute must, then significant budgets should be set aside to support the funding for travel and the cost associated with time taken away from core, revenue-generating activities.

If face-to-face is not as important as simply communication, one very powerful tool to drive productivity and teamwork is audio conferencing. While this technology has been around for a while now – and is facing fierce competition from Web conferencing solutions – solutions available on such a platform have come a long way since their inception.

New Controls Enhance Effectiveness of the Call

One very notable advantage to audio conferencing today is the amount of control a mediator has in facilitating the call. Not only can this individual invite specific callers to participate in the call, he or she can use software that has been integrated with such applications as Outlook to automatically add the scheduled call to participant calendars, ensuring an important call is not missed.

Audio conferencing today is also designed to keep the call moving forward, even if problems arise in the process. It isn’t unusual for an individual who is using a cell phone to participate in the call to drop a line. When this happens, they can easily be added back into the conversation, missing only seconds of the call itself.

Call Capture and Archiving

The ability to record the call and make it accessible for all participants later is also an important feature. Key points during a conversation can be missed if too many people are talking or one person continues to dominate the conversation. The ability to go back and review the information ensures the call was beneficial for all.

Of course the most obvious benefit to audio conferencing is the cost savings associated with the elimination of travel time. The company can cut the cost of covering employee travel cost and employees no longer must take time away from other initiatives in order to travel to a meeting. Audio conferencing allows the organization to maximize the benefit of the meeting while sacrificing very little to make this collaboration possible.

Five Ways Audio and Web Conferencing Helps Small Businesses

Small businesses are flocking to audio and Web conferencing for many reasons and they are all about money. Choosing audio and Web conferencing over traditional methods helps small businesses by helping them save money and more of it. Here’s how:

Travel

Audio and Web conferencing services let small businesspeople cut out travel expenses. In some cases, they can do away with travel altogether. There is no reason to spend hundred on air fare and hotel rooms when the same tasks can be accomplished right from your office computer.

Time

The old adage, “time is money,” has never been more true. Technology has saved us time in so many ways. Audio and Web conferencing is just another example of how technology allows us to do more. Time spent traveling is unfruitful and wasteful. That time can be better used to develop closer client relationships, provide better customer service to existing customers and develop more leads.

Printed Marketing Materials

There is no longer a need to create expensive marketing pamphlets and proposals. PowerPoint presentations are much cheaper to produce and can be presented via Web conferencing. Marketing this way saves trees and saves your budget.

Shorter Sales Cycles

Audio and Web conferencing shortens the sales cycle dramatically. Deals that once took several phone calls, letters and visits to accomplish can now be completed in one fell swoop through Web conferencing. Salespeople can instantly show prospects a product demonstration, invite decision makers into the conference and close the deal on the spot. All the extra time can be used to general more leads, contact more prospects and close more sales.

Webinars

Some small businesses are actually using Web conferencing itself to make money. They hold educational webinars for paying participants. Webinars can also be used to create leads by attracting the type of customer a salesperson is seeking. The relationships developed from these events can create more leads and develop more sales.

Web Conferencing for Productivity

This is the first in a series explaining how web conferencing can help you realize the benefits of using remote workers while avoiding the common pitfalls of such an arrangement. As budgets continue to tighten, more businesses are utilizing telecommuting independent contractors or employees.

 The benefits of telecommuting are great. When companies use the services of independent contractors, they save overhead costs and avoid many regulatory concerns. When they allow employees to telecommute, they can often negotiate lower salaries in exchange for the privilege of working from home.

Recognizing Opportunity

Most businesses fail to utilize the opportunities telecommuting offers because they have no experience with remote worker management. Remote workers require a different type of management style that focuses on results rather than real-time observance of performance. Such concerns can be allayed by using web and video conferencing to communicate with employees in real time and check their work status.

Profile of a Telecommuter

Many managers have a misconception of what the average telecommuter is like. Telecommuters are not lazy, pajama-wearing slouches. They are some of the most driven and highest-performing employees in the American workforce. These individuals are tech-savvy, self-motivated, exceptionally productive and outgoing.

Employee Benefits

Telecommuters prefer working from home because it saves driving time and travel costs. In addition, it allows an autonomy and freedom not found in the office. This freedom translates in to happier and more loyal workers. The benefits of telecommuting drive them to work harder and produce more.

Offering the option to telecommute is an excellent way to attract top talent from all over the world. With video conferencing, you can conduct job interviews remotely and stay connected with workers everywhere through a simple, easy to use interface.

Time Management for Remote Workers: Leveraging Communication Tools

Welcome to part four of our ongoing series looking at how businesses can use audio and web conferencing to leverage the benefits of remote workers while avoiding the common pitfalls of such work flow arrangements.

Time Management for Remote Workers

The biggest concern with virtual employees is how much they work. Such workers often work too much and can suffer from burn out. Some may wake up early and begin work. Without any distractions, they often find themselves forgetting to eat and working well past office hours.

This is where an afternoon web conference becomes most important. Have a quick meeting with your worker and ask about the day. Asses the employee’s emotional state and be sure they are not pushing themselves too hard. Casually asking what they had for lunch will help you be sure they are taking appropriate breaks.

Another way to help your employees maintain structure is to set up automated email reminders. Send one at break time, lunch and at the end of the day, providing a friendly reminder that it is time to rest.

 Stay Connected

 Use instant messaging to keep your employees connected. Allow a certain amount of freedom of personality in these messages. While they must remain appropriate, employees also need a way to joke about their work to release tension.

Include remote workers in company web conferences at least once a month and be sure to include a social time in that meeting where some simple game is played to encourage social interaction. You may also connect workers who live near one another and encourage them to socialize after work.

How to Manage a Virtual Workforce

This is the third in a series about how audio conferencing services and web conferencing can help you enjoy the benefits of remote workers while avoiding the common pitfalls of such working arrangements. This discussion focuses on integrating the remote worker’s office to meet the needs of your company.

Office Space

Any remote worker you hire should have a separate, fully functional home office, with all the machines and capabilities found in your office. This means ergonomically correct desks and chairs, quality telephones, fast computers, web cameras, broadband internet, fax capabilities, copy machines and the like. You must communicate all of these requirements to the employee and then verify they are in place.

In most cases, workers are happy to supply the necessary hardware at their own expense. If your company has specialized hardware or software that you will provide, be certain the employee signs a contract, specifying the rights and duties of each party in maintaining the equipment. You should also spell out what happens to such equipment should the employee relationship be terminated.

Training

Do not assume your employee knows how to use your company’s communications systems. Have a quick web conference to go over the different avenues of communication and address any training issues at that time.

It is also important that your telecommuters understand who your service providers are and how to use them. This can include mail services or office-supply vendors. Show employees the proper procedure for utilizing these services.

Hello, My Name Is…

Introduce the new employee to current staff with a photograph and bio. Open a dialogue by including the new employee in a web conference staff meeting as soon as possible after the hire. Connect the new hire with another worker who has been telecommuting for you on a long-term basis.

Settling In

It is best to get your employee up and running as soon as possible. Assign basic tasks that will familiarize the employee with your systems and then begin adding more complicated work as the days pass. Schedule fifteen minutes each afternoon for a web conference to address questions and direct work.  Finally, be sure to get them up and running with your conference call system -  conference calls are the great telecommuter equalizer as clients, workers and prospects are all dialed in, creating a veritable virtual office for communication and primed for collaboration.

Hiring Telecommuters Over the Phone

This is the second in a series about how audio and web conferencing can help you realize the benefits of hiring remote workers while avoiding the common pitfalls frequently cited by those making such hires.

When interviewing candidate for virtual work, it is vital you look for certain qualities that will ensure you gain a highly focused and productive worker. Not only will you want to set up a web conference to assess the employee's attitudes and communication style, you will also look for particular personality traits and skills.

Personality Traits

Candidates for virtual work must understand your mission and take it up as their own calling. Look for candidates whose rewards systems are dependent on internal factors, not outside approval. Find out what types of work they truly love to do and make sure those jobs fit in with the job description.

You should also look for confidence in your virtual workers. They must be able to evaluate difficult situations and make good decisions. Be sure to find out about past difficulties and how the candidate handled those problems.

Skills

Virtual workers need superior communications skills to be effective. In order to assess such skills, be sure to communicate by all channels in separate interviews. Exchange emails, schedule a telephone interview and perform the final interview by web conference - allowing for the candidate to share past work, documents and other relevant items. During each interview, ask questions about specific workflows and motivations, and then observe the employee's communication skills.

Technology

If the candidate does not have an in-depth grasp of technology, telecommuting will not work. They must learn and apply new skills quickly. They must understand email, web conferencing and telephone communications. Find out about the employees preferences in hardware and software to see how deep the understanding of technology goes.