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Do you have the need for conference calls? | WhichVoIP

Do you have the need for conference calls?

SOHO businesses and small companies frequently find themselves in the position of needing advanced services traditionally considered to be the domain of the larger enterprise. The good news is that today, they can have them. One such service is conference calls.

The increasing popularity of the virtual office, telecommuting and remote computing frequently makes it necessary for employees, partners, and customers to hold multi-party meetings. Of course, having all parties fly off to meet in Cabo for a week and talk business over margaritas would be great fun, but today, economics demand that most meetings take place virtually. The most common way to achieve these is through conference calls.

Even the smallest business can initiate conference calls on an ad hoc basis, and at very low expense. Of course, most telecommunications carriers offer you the ability to set up conference calls through the operator, although this avenue is tedious and usually much more expensive than the alternatives.

Conference Calls for Small Businesses

There are several ways for a small business to go about having conference calls, and most of them are quite simple and very inexpensive. At the same time, having this capability will give the small business a strategic advantage, and a greater professional appearance. One common tool is Skype, a VoIP-based tool, which allows for multiple parties to talk at the same time. A key advantage here is that if one person is not on the Skype system, they can sign up for a free account and still participate. Additionally, there are several Web-based services available which include scheduling features, allowing each party to call into a common 800-number, and then be joined to the call by an auto-attendant. If the scheduling feature is not needed, most VoIP services allow the user to initiate conference calls on an ad hoc basis, providing a function to call multiple participants consecutively.

If your business has a need for conference calls on occasion, there are several considerations when looking for a service. First and foremost, is to recognize the extent of the call; that is, will you be looking for simple phone calls, or will you want additional features such as scheduling, and web-based collaboration? For people working on a joint project, the ability to hold conference calls while working on a shared whiteboard can be invaluable.

Additional items to consider when purchasing conference calls include:

  • Is there a set-up fee for each call?

  • Is there a monthly fee?

  • Does the service include desired features such as scheduling, call recording or Web-based collaboration?

  • Can overseas callers participate if necessary?

  • Is there any special equipment required?

Adding the ability to hold conference calls can bring a great advantage to your small business, and feature-rich offerings are available by many providers at surprisingly low rates.

Submit a VoIP quote request today for your business and save up to 80% on your monthly phone bills.

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