In the last post I had talked about my decision to open another branch of my company - something that was a result of our success and about which I was enormously excited. I would not be able to do it, however, without the best team behind me; employees that had seen me through the opening of my business and would now see me through the opening of an important satellite office. There were logistical challenges, of course, as we worked to set up this space far from home. We needed to be able to conduct business as usual and communicate with the home office effectively; web conferencing would ultimately be the reason that this could work.

We had always used web conference - along with other teleconferencing services - as a part of running a successful company. We couldn’t be everywhere at once; web conferencing gave us the ability to respond to issues or communicate most effectively with clients and vendors. It was the best way that we had found - far more effective than phone calls and email - to really stay engaged in what was happening with our clients on a day to day basis without actually having to physically visit them.

Web conferencing would continue to be instrumental in our success going forward. Through web conference I could manage projects at the home office seamlessly, employees could share documents with me that needed to be reviewed, and vendors could communicate with me regardless of where I was. Most importantly I could check in with my clients every day the same as I had always done through web conferencing. I could be anywhere and still be effective at my job and this was most important to me above all else. With web conferencing and teleconferencing services by my side I was poised to go to the next level of success.

Popularity: 4% [?]

No one wants to be stuck in a grind doing the same thing year after year and known for nothing more than consistency; especially a business. In business it is important to reinvent yourself; to remain viable in a changing marketplace. Those who are not able to keep up find themselves pushed to the wayside very easily; it’s important, therefore, to stay up on what is happening in your industry as well as in technology across the board. You certainly don’t want to be known as the company stuck in the dinosaur age when everyone else is employing the many advancements available to us including teleconferencing services.

This was never a philosophy that I was easily able to get my father to buy into. You see, I work in the family business and I have a far different perspective than my father - who has owned and operated the business since he was a young man - and his father before that. I want to branch out, to step into the modern age of technology but this has been a hard sell to a man who just doesn’t embrace change.You have no idea what I had to go through to get him to admit we needed computers in our offices, let alone a website. It has been a hard fought battle for me since I graduated from college but I believe strongly that it’s a battle worth fighting; that in helping my family’s business take these steps I am ensuring its viability and the future security of our family.

Now that I have finally gotten this company online and we have a website to go along with our online status I am ready to take another step forward by starting to use web conferencing and video conference - two things that I think will propel us forward in business. More in the next post…

Popularity: 20% [?]

There are, surprisingly, so many businesses out there that do not use all that is available to them in the world of teleconferencing services. They get online with their website and they let it go at that, when in reality there is so much available to them beyond that; so many resources that will allow them to operate more efficiently and serve their clients better. Teleconferencing services offer a wide variety of resources that companies will benefit enormously from using including:

Audio conferencing. With email the most accepted mode of communication these days many people have allowed telephone communication to go by the wayside, when in fact it is an enormously effective - and often more personal - means to communicating with groups who are separated by distance.

Web conferencing. Given the access that modern businesses have to the Internet, web conferencing is a great way to communicate beyond email. It gives participants the opportunity to “meet” online where they can interact and access the same documents in live time. This can be a significant resource for a company that is managing projects among groups that are far from each other. Online they can look at the documents connected to their project and make suggestions and changes on the spot.

Video conference. If you’re looking for the next best thing to meeting in person you won’t be disappointed in video conference. This technology also allows people to meet online but allows them to see as well as hear each other. Video conference offers participants the ability to gather in an online meeting space and conduct their business as if they were in the same physical location.

By taking advantage of the many teleconferencing services available to them, businesses throughout all industries can change the way they operate and reach out to a much larger audience.

Popularity: 18% [?]

It is one thing to have a phone conference and another to meet in person; there can be no confusing the two. Meeting in person provides the opportunity to look people in the eye and establish a personal relationship in the span of that meeting time. You also have the opportunity to share physical materials with those in the meeting - whether they are reports, written information pertaining to a particular project, visual support documents, and more. When there is no ability to meet face to face, however, much of the impact of a meeting can be lost. Audio conferencing offers a solution that at least allows you to pull in a variety of attendees to a particular meeting but there is no opportunity to share documents in real time and often that personal touch is left by the wayside.

Other teleconferencing services, however, offer a variety of options for staying in contact with important people without losing the impact of a face to face meeting.

Web Conferencing - Through web conference attendees can speak in real time - with multiple attendees - as well as access and share documents through the web. This is enormously effective for those who are managing specific projects and want to share certain material with those who may not be close by.

Video Conference - When the next best thing to a live meeting is required video conference offers the solution. Through video conference attendees can see as well as hear each other - meeting in an online “space” where business can be conducted just as it would around a table in a traditional conference room.

By utilizing the modern technology of teleconferencing services businesses of all sizes can achieve the personal connection and impact they are after without having to physically be in the same space for a face to face meeting.

Popularity: 20% [?]

In the last post we touched on the position that most companies have found themselves in over the last year. We are all struggling against the economy, doing the best that we can to survive and thrive in an environment of unpredictability. It was all about standing out in a crowd and our industry is no exception. As a medium sized company we were in danger of getting lost in the shuffle - squeezed out by bigger companies. We had to do everything we could to compete. We were more than confident about what we had to offer; we knew that we were just as good as others in our industry if not better in most cases; however we needed to be able to service clients on a worldwide scale. We wanted to integrate teleconferencing services into our operations going forward - ways in which we could quickly and efficiently deliver our products and services to our clients and prospective clients.

Teleconferencing services, web conference, audio conferencing and video conference could put us on a level playing field with bigger companies and expand our customer base. The benefits that such services could offer us included:

The chance to communicate easily. With one office and a limited staff we had to be able to communicate with our clients and prospective clients in the easiest and most affordable way possible. Teleconferencing services offered us the ability to do this.

Reach a larger audience. We had been serving clients on a regional scale; now we could reach out to a global audience just as easily as we could have a relationship with a business down the street.

Effectively manage projects. Once we were on our way with a client there were projects that were ongoing and needed to be managed on a day to day basis. Teleconferencing services allowed us to do that.

Popularity: 18% [?]

No matter what type of business you are in, you have undoubtedly realized the challenge we all face at the present time. Businesses across all industries have been called upon to step up to the plate like they never have before - to take control of their operations with a steady grip and hang on for the ride. Things are unpredictable right now and will likely continue to be for some time to come. Those who want to do more than just stay afloat - who want to really continue to achieve success - need to be able to take control. For us there was no choice. We had a ton of competition in our market and the economy had not been kind to any of us. This is where the truly strong among us were going to be separated from the pack. We had to rally the troops and for us it was going to be a tough road because we were a smaller company up against a bunch of giants.

We weren’t going to let our size keep us down however. We were ready to fight the good fight and implementing a variety of teleconferencing services was our way of keeping up with the big boys. We knew without a doubt that we had everything that larger companies had and we could offer just as much - if not more - than most in our industry; but we needed to be able to compete on a level playing field. Web conferencing, audio conferencing and video conference could give us a leg up in reaching out to clients all over the world and could melt away the differences between us and companies that were much larger and had many more resources.

We knew that teleconferencing services were going to be an important component in our operations going forward. More to come…

Popularity: 19% [?]

The year ahead promises to be a great one for me and the company for which I work. We have all put our heads together and strategized some really unique and creative ways to get in front of the people with whom we want to do business and we’re all excited for the possibilities that lie ahead. We have made a commitment to embrace those things that we may not have been comfortable doing before and we’re really going to make an effort to reach out to the tools that could potentially make a big difference in our bottom line. Teleconferencing services across the board were included in those tools - from web conference to audio conferencing - even video conference.

Audio Conferencing - We had all had conference calls before but this year we’re looking to make audio conferencing a weekly part of our business lives by setting up standing “meetings” with clients. Even if we can’t meet in person we can take the five or ten minutes it takes to do a status report on a project or two.

Web Conferencing - Sure to be our best tool by far, web conferencing allows us to meet with our clients online so that we not only hear each other but share documents online in real time. This would be truly effective in what we had to do during the course of a month because of all the paperwork that typically goes back and forth between us and our clients. This would save time, money, and streamline our efforts.

Video Conference - None of us have used video conference much before but we’re excited to use it going forward. We plan to use video conference to get in front of prospective clients and pitch our services in a way that will keep us in their minds.

Popularity: 30% [?]

I love the New Year; it gives all of us a chance to essentially start over and put new plans in place . So no matter what we might have done in the year previous (within reason) we all have our opportunity to make it right. There’s nothing like a fresh start in my opinion. Of course, there are personal clean slates and there are professional clean slates. In business we utilize the New Year as a tool to make financial plans for the coming months. We put together marketing plans, budgets, and more. This year we are also putting together a plan for teleconferencing services - something that we are confident will help us build our business more effectively.

Teleconferencing services - including audio conferencing, web conferencing, and video conference - are a part of modern technology and help companies to better communicate. We have held off on using web conference or anything like it simply because we were unsure about how it all worked and were intimated by the process. But now that we have a new marketing manager - one who is very savvy about this kind of technology we are looking to embrace these measures of communication and use them to our advantage.

Our new marketing guy wants to use video conference in new business pitches so we can reach out to potential clients around the world and web conference to work more efficiently on client projects without having to conduct face-to-face meetings. He feels confident that this will help us to expand our client base and definitely improve our branding on a global scale.

In the coming year web conference and video conference will most definitely be a part of the mix for our business. We are happy to be able to use this modern technology in order to start with a clean slate this year and reach new levels of success.

Popularity: 30% [?]

While the old adage that it takes money to make money is generally true, there are some instances where it doesn’t hold water. When you use teleconferencing services to boost your business, you can see sparks ignite without having to spend a bundle in the process.

Web conferencing services provide the perfect platform for any company to realize growth without having to shell out a lot to make it happen. Combining the power of an audio conference and a video conference together, a web conference enables companies to do a number of things that used to be reserved only for face-to-face situations.

So, how can you grow your business using teleconferencing services?

Here are just a few of the possibilities:

Sales meetings – The web conference format is becoming very popular for sales professionals the world over. Clients are becoming very used to meeting in real time with representatives that might be half a world away. The audio and visual communications abilities provided by a web conference make the format work perfectly for sales.

Staff meetings – Expanding a company into a new territory no longer calls for tons of airline travel. Teleconferencing services can keep offices connected more efficiently and less expensively. The format is ideal for regular staff meetings, planning session and even training. There really isn’t a reason to jump on a plane for everything when web conferencing is used to its greatest advantage.

Marketing – Many companies are taking advantage of teleconferencing services to replace more time consuming and costly seminars. The format is popular not only with corporate accountants, but also attendees because of the convenience factor.

Teleconferencing services provide a way for businesses to gain a lot of ground without spending a fortune in the process. There’s no reason to always believe that it takes a lot of money to see a return on investment.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Competition is as fierce as ever in business – even more so when you consider that there’s less business to go around because of the economy. Any piece of new business that a company gets is because they worked hard to get it – edging out the competition in whatever way was necessary. So it’s not surprising that web conferencing has become more popular than ever as companies make their bid for new business. After all, companies may engage in business dealings with peers around the world but that doesn’t mean they have the travel budget or the time to be in face to face contact with them if the slightest need arises. Modern companies have to show their versatility – their ability to adjust to whatever the situation and the range of teleconferencing services that is now available makes that easier than ever.

Web conferencing allows for expanded communication when the logistics of the situation do not allow for face to face contact. Consider the benefits this extends to companies that use it:

• Having the ability to meet clients’ needs no matter where they are at the time. Versatility is the name of the game in modern business; companies need to be able to adjust to whatever their clients need and it doesn’t matter if they are one side of the country and their client is on the other.

• Flex their technological muscles. Let’s face it; companies want to deal with vendors in which they can have faith – those that they see as leaders in their respective industry and those that have their fingers on the pulse of what’s happening. Web conferencing is one of the ways in which modern business is playing out on the global scene.

In the next post we’ll further discuss some of the benefits of working with web conferencing services for companies that want to succeed in the modern business arena.

Popularity: 30% [?]