In our business, things can change on a dime - from moment to moment you never know what you’re going to get. When you’re moving so fast and trying to keep track of everything that’s going on, you need a system of communication that is infallible and flexible enough to work with you regardless of the situation. For us, this is exactly what web conferencing does. We integrated web conference into our business about a year ago and we have never looked back because it gives us exactly what we need at a moment’s notice. This is what web conferencing has allowed us to do:

Communicate between offices and address particular projects. We have three separate offices and on any given day we are all working on any number of client projects. More than that, people from all offices are generally involved in the project so being able to talk back and forth from day to day is absolutely crucial. Web conferencing allows us to be able to talk and go over documents in real time - asking and answering questions and making changes on the fly. Web conference gives us the opportunity to access documents simultaneously so that we don’t lose any money and any ground.

Talk to our clients no matter where they are in the world. The reality is that businesses seldom operate within the confines of their city or even their state. Global business is being conducted on a daily basis as a matter of course and we are no exception. We needed to be able to talk to clients who were sometimes several states away - and sometimes in another country. Web conferencing and other teleconferencing services - such as audio conferencing and video conference - allow us to communicate most effectively and with an ease and confidence that our clients can sense.

Popularity: 43% [?]

In the last post I talked about the challenge of communicating with a potential client in Japan. We were well on our way to working with each other permanently but this first project that we were doing for them would ultimately determine the future of the relationship. We needed to be able to put our best foot forward and really show them how committed we were to working with them and giving them our best each day. We had already shown the level of our dedication by making ourselves available during their business hours; something that was a challenge to our U.S.-based team. Beyond that, however, we knew that we needed a way to simulate face to face meetings as things discussed over the phone or even through email had a way of getting lost in translation so to speak. This was when web conferencing came into the picture.

Because our face to face meetings with this client had been our most productive we knew that we could benefit by having the ability to access and discuss common documents in real time, simultaneously as a group. Even if we couldn’t be in the same room together we could still work in tandem to make sure that everyone was on the same page. We found two things really helpful in this regard:

Web conference - Gave us the ability to hear each other through audio conferencing combined with the ability to access and review the same documents in real time. This allowed us to make changes on the spot, ask and answer questions, and see - in black and white - how things were progressing.

Video conference - Meeting with this client was the best way to communicate with them but it was logistically and financially out of the question on a weekly basis. Video conference offered the next best alternative and gave the entire team the ability to see as well as hear each other - a huge advantage when dealing with a client on the other side of the world.

Popularity: 28% [?]

When you approach a new project with a potential client - someone that you want to impress - you pull out all the stops to meet their needs and make the process as efficient - and easy for them - as possible. Sometimes making that happen is relatively seamless; and sometimes it can be a huge challenge, especially when you try to find solutions to things that you haven’t encountered before with other clients. Each situation is different and unique and your value as a vendor is in your ability to rise to the occasion and give each client - in each situation - exactly what they want, even when they don’t know that they want it.

I was feeling pretty overwhelmed by my own situation in that I was working with a potential client in Japan. We are based in the United States and had only previously worked with other companies in the U.S. We may have had time zone challenges before but there was a lot more at stake here and many more challenges than we were accustomed to addressing. One of the big challenges for us, as you can well imagine, was communication. Obviously we made it our business to concede to their local time and we made ourselves available during their business hours. Communication challenges, however, didn’t stop here. We had to find a way to better communicate and talking over the phone - and even email - was not cutting the mustard. There was a language/translation barrier and we knew, from prior in-person meetings, that we did much better when we were face to face where things were less likely to be lost in translation and where we could look at documents together. Obviously meeting face to face was not possible for any of us on a weekly basis and so we looked to web conferencing. More in the next post…

Popularity: 25% [?]

Projects come with a variety of details that must be managed; no two ways about it. Yet when you are across the country from the people for whom you are managing a project, asking and answering questions can be tricky. It’s not possible to meet everyday in person and often it’s not convenient to schedule phone meetings at the last minute especially if you have actual documents that you must reference. Short of emailing the information, how can you handle this most effectively? Enter web conference.

Through web conferencing, businesses can address questions as they arise - on the spot - without having to worry about emailing information. This is because web conference allows you to access documents simultaneously in real time so that you can go over the finer points of a project, answer questions, get on the same page and move ahead accordingly. Businesses in a variety of industries have seen firsthand the benefits of web conferencing and other types of teleconferencing services - how they allow for the efficient and convenient handling of communications even if the parties communicating are across the country from each other.

In addition to web conferencing which allows parties to communicate over particular documents and information, there are other methods by which clients and vendors can keep in touch - including audio conferencing and video conference.

Audio conferencing allows participants to conference in the convenience of their own offices or off-site locations and gives leaders the power to orchestrate the call as they would any traditional meeting. Video conferencing offers the added benefit of being able to see as well as hear the participants in your meeting - making it one of the preferred methods of meeting when getting together in person is not an option.

Teleconferencing services - across the board - from web conferencing to video conference allow for the most effective means of communication for business in this day and age.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Any company in this day and age needs to be able to do all that it can to separate itself from the pack; distinguish itself from the competition. This is especially true when you are servicing clients and customers the world over and have to be able to communicate with them most effectively. Why would they choose you over another vendor that is right down the street? The answer, of course, is that they will choose you because you have more to offer in terms of quality product, superior service, and perhaps price. But if you are not able to show them that distance will not be issue when it comes to communicating with them or managing their projects effectively, then forget it - they’ll move on to someone else. The trick is to make distance a non-issue; something that is not even considered because you are so fluid in your communication, so effective at taking care of what has to be handled. One of the ways that companies take distance out of the mix is by using teleconferencing services - a variety of services that allow them to communicate with ease and respond proactively to any situation. Such technology includes:

Audio Conferencing - A simple phone call may be good enough sometimes - in place of email; but sometimes audio conferencing is called for where many different participants can dial in and be a part of the same meeting instantly.

Web Conferencing - Allows participants to access the same documents in real time over the web. There they can look at their work, ask and answer questions and get on the same page when it comes to any project.

Video Conference - When you can’t meet in person, video conference is the next best thing to being there, allowing participants to see each other as well as hear each other and meet effectively regardless of distance.

Popularity: 38% [?]

In the last post I talked about our company and how it had a reputation in the industry for having many generations under one roof. This was an incredible thing and a true benefit for those who work here as well as those who do business with us. We bring a variety of perspectives to the table and we have much to learn from each other. The older generation tends to have an unbelievable work ethic and a manner of critical thinking that the younger generation can benefit from learning. The younger generations come to us - often as their first jobs out of college - with unbridled enthusiasm and, quite frankly, a handle on technology that none of the rest of us tend to have. This is one of the truly great things about working here; there’s always someone who is able to lift the curtain on the next great thing; something that will help march the company into the next stratosphere. So when some of the younger team members came to us about the potential of using web conference and/or video conference we listened.

We had a big sales pitch coming up and it was one that was, unfortunately, not going to be able to be handled in person. There was just no time for travel on either end and yet the presentation had to happen and we had to somehow translate our knowledge and enthusiasm over a phone call which none of us were too happy to do. This was when some of our team members suggested using web conferencing or video conference; technology that would allow us to access documents and even see each other online so that we could present ourselves most professionally. We quickly agreed and suddenly we were whisked into a new way of doing things. The pitch went very well and we will happily continue to use such technology well into the future as our employees lead the way.

Popularity: 28% [?]