Conferencing Solutions: Navigating The Maze

Businesses, both large and small, utilize a conferencing solution of some nature to conduct business at one time or another. Today there are several types of conferencing solutions an organization may choose from. The choice to use conferencing is clear. What's not so clear is which one best fits the needs of your organization.

There are currently 3 basic types of conferencing solutions:

--Audio Conferencing Solutions
--Video Conferencing Solutions
--Web Conferencing Solutions

To make things even more interesting, it is also possible to mix and match amongst the three solutions. Let's take a look at each one in turn and then see how they can be combined to extend their utility.

1. Audio Conferencing –- audio conferencing solutions have been around the longest. They range from simple conference calling features on most PBX systems that bridge 3 phone lines to sophisticated outsourced services. In addition to the conferencing feature on a PBX is the very low cost 2-party conference call using speakerphones with the participants on each end sitting around a conference table.

A hosted audio conferencing solution provides an added level of convenience and professionalism. They allow the bridging of multiple parties via telephone lines. These services my be either operator-assisted or what is known as "reservationless" where the client has an account and schedules the call themselves. An operator-assisted conference call has some advantages such as transcription and translation services, but the trend is to save cost and opt for reservationless conference calling services.

2. Video Conferencing -– video conferencing solutions are the next best thing to being there. However, they require specialized systems and support and can be difficult to setup and use. On the other hand, when compared to the costs and lost productivity associated with travel they can be a very cost effective alternative.

This is especially true where geographically dispersed divisions or partners must collaborate on a regular basis. In this case the ability to see and speak to one another in real time using a video conferencing solution is ideal. Video conferencing systems also provide rich media and conferencing tools to further enhance the conferencing experience.

3. Web Conferencing -– Web conferencing solutions are at their most powerful when computer desktop applications need to be shared. Web conferences are great for demonstrating software products to customers or sharing spreadsheets and other applications amongst the participants.

Web conferences also typically have an audio component, which is either a separate audio conference or integrated into the web conferencing system via an audio conferencing service or over the Web using a digital voice solution such as VoIP.