Over the course of the last two decades, the conference calling terrain has changed considerably. It was formerly true that only larger sized corporations had access to multi party phone conferencing. These systems were usually quite expensive and often had live operator assistance on every call.
Incumbent telecom companies priced teleconferencing services at high rates (e.g. over twenty cents per user minute) and most businesses were willing to pay these charges to ensure reliable and quality service. More recently the conference calling market has been characterized by a flurry of competitive forces. A variety of factors have been responsible including telecom deregulation, dramatic improvements in web technology and demand for improved services.
The competitive environment now consists of seemingly countless companies in addition to the incumbent bell operating companies. Organizations and individuals that want to use conference calling now have a far wider selection of choices. Within that range of providers are
free conference calling services such as Rondee that meld free conference calling with web based scheduling and other productivity tools. These companies do not charge users because they utilize a toll number as opposed to a traditional toll-free number. Therefore, such free
conference call services are not free in the same sense that air is free. They do require minutes of phone usage.
However, such services are increasingly being thought of by users as basically free because many telephone plans now offer flat rate unlimited dialing; and most cell phone plans no longer carry added charges for long distance phone calls. Due to these factors, conference calling has become available to a far wider market of users as the following use-cases illustrate.
Labor unions have effectively used traditional conferencing systems and, increasingly, free conference calling services to enable disparately situated members to discuss strategies and plan meetings. Unions have traditionally been cost conscious due to the fact that their budgets are limited to the extent of member contributions. Therefore, as is typically the case with non-profits, unions frequently search for methods of making every dollar stretch further. In times of labor strikes or other situations of urgency, conferencing becomes a viable method of enabling the national leadership to communicate with chapter leaders.
Student organizations have found substantial benefit in utilizing teleconferencing services to allow collaboration across campuses, cities and states. Most campuses feature dozens, sometimes hundreds of active student clubs. In some cases, these clubs are chapters of regional, state-wide or even national organizations. Due to the budgetary realities of student life, it would be impractical for the individual members of these disparate groups to meet in person. Teleconferencing thereby becomes the ideal method for members to stay in touch and discuss topics of shared interest.
Start-up companies have long felt the same need for conferencing as was true for established businesses. However, it was not until the advent of cheap conferencing and free conferencing alternatives such as Rondee, that early stage companies could avail themselves of the benefits. New companies might use these services to coordinate work with remote developers in Eastern Europe or Russia, discuss UI themes with graphic artist designers (in the case of Web 2.0 start-ups), or simply discuss work-plans with disparate members of the core group.
In summary, conference calling is no longer the exclusive domain of corporations. Other potential users have long felt the need but it has only been with the creation of new business models that the availability of these offerings has become quite ubiquitous.
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Bob Letterman speaks and writes frequently about communication subjects. Bob consults to a variety of industries that use communication technologies around conference calling, as part of an integrated strategy to increase productivity. His clients include
free conference calling services such as Rondee.
