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.

When to Use Audio Conferencing

Think about the last three conferences you attended. How far did you have to travel for those? How much did it cost your organization? If it was in your office at your desktop computer, you are already on the right track. If you had to travel miles to get to the presentation, there is room for improvement.

In today’s business environment, audio and Web conferencing just makes good sense. There is little excuse for spending hundreds of dollars for travel when that money could go towards growing the business. That said, there are still some decisions to make about how you will communicate with coworkers and clients in remote locations.

With all the communication options out there, it may be hard to decide what type of communication is best for a given business situation. You may have some documents to share that are self-explanatory. To share them, you only need to send out an email with an attachment. But what if recipients are likely to have questions? What is the best way to handle it? Should you choose an audio conference or a Web conference?

This can be a matter of preference or convenience. If you want to go over a document in detail, a Web conference may be best so that all parties are looking at the same part of the document at the same time. However, if you just want to provide a question and answer period, an audio conference makes more sense. This is because audio conferencing is cheaper than Web conferencing and therefore should be utilized whenever possible.

Audio conferencing is also perfect for quick team meetings. When team members are scattered geographically, weekly team meetings help keep members unified, connected and focused. Each member can discuss accomplishments and goals in a virtual meeting, ensuring everyone stays on the same track to a shared goal.

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.

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.

Web Conferencing and Telecommuting

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 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.