Telephone conferencing is the most cost effective way for businesses to keep in touch with their branch offices, employees, shareholders and even customers. Teleconference service providers use a conference bridge to connect a large number of people to a single call at the same time. It makes the co-ordination between people very easy. Call conferencing is also useful in many other sectors like education and entertainment.
Call conferencing has solved many a communication problems in modern times. With the advancement of technology, conference calls are no longer restricted to voice conference alone. Conference call service providers are providing video conferencing solutions as well, where the persons connected by the call can even see each other. It is almost as good as having all members present for the meeting.
Audio conference or phone conferencing is prevalent where there is no need for visual participation from all people connected to the call. It also does not allow for sharing of visual information like slides or power point presentations. It is considerably cheaper than video conferencing and is even a good tool for catching up with friends and family. Advanced audio conferencing allows participants to share files via internet. Voice quality can be a matter of concern but clearly that depends on the equipment used and the quality of service provided by the telecommunications company.
The equipment needed for a video conference call are a computer or a screen, a microphone, headphones and a high speed internet connection. All of this will be set up and you will be guided regarding the usage once you approach a teleconferencing service provider with your requirement.
Video conferencing can be adopted for board meetings, medical purposes and the judicial system. Video teleconferencing suits court cases where witnesses need to give evidence but are unable to remain present in the court for some reason. This saves the court a lot of time and money. Medical practitioners make use of video conferencing facilities in case of critically ill patients who cannot take the strain of travelling to some other place for treatment.
Video conferencing service has proved to be of great help to students as well. It contributes a lot to distant education programs where tutors from all over the world can guide students wherever they are, just by connecting to the video conference facility.
Conference call service providers also provide unique features like automatic scheduling, sending invitations and archiving. The charges may vary and can be selected by the users.
