Over the last two decades, the teleconferencing space has changed considerably. It was formerly the case that only larger corporations had access to multi party phone teleconferencing. Such systems were typically rather costly and often featured live operator assistance on each call.
Monopolist telecom companies priced teleconferencing services at high rates (e.g. over twenty cents per user minute) and most corporations were willing to pay these charges to ensure reliable and quality services. Now in recent years the conference call market has seen a flurry of competitive forces. Several factors have been responsible including telecom deregulation, significant improvements in web technology and demand for improved offerings.
The competitive environment now consists of seemingly countless providers in addition to the usual suspects Organizations and individuals that desire to use teleconferencing now have a far wider menu of choices. Within that range of choices are free conference calling services such as Rondee that meld free conference calling with web based scheduling and other related features. These services do not charge users for the reason that they utilize a toll number as opposed to a traditional toll-free number. Thus, such free conference call services are not free in the same sense that air is free. They do require minutes of telephone usage.
However, such services are increasingly being thought of by users as essentially free because many telecom plans now offer flat rate unlimited dialing; and typically cellular plans no longer carry additional charges for long distance phone calls. Due to these factors, teleconferencing has become available to a far broader market of users as the following use-cases elucidate.
Non profit entities have become strong users of teleconferencing services. The ever escalating cost of travel combined with limited budgets of most non-profits, makes conferencing a smart strategy for lowering expense and increasing productivity. Typically, non-profits rely on formal and informal methods of networking. To the extent these networks extend beyond geographical boundaries, conference calling becomes the only practical method of quality communication. A number of non-profits including those that focus on literacy, hunger, and environmental issues, have effectively utilized conference calling to mobilize participation and coordinate plans.
Labor unions have effectively used traditional conference calling systems and, increasingly, free conference calling services to enable disparately situated members to talk about strategies and organize meetings. Unions have traditionally been cost conscious because their budgets are limited to the extent of member contributions. So, as is typically the case with non-profits, unions constantly 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 allowing the national leadership to communicate with chapter leaders.
Student groups have found substantial benefit in utilizing conference call services to generate collaboration across campuses, cities and states. Most campuses feature dozens, if not hundreds of active student groups. Sometimes these clubs are chapters of regional, state-wide or even national organizations. Given the budgetary realities of student life, it would be impractical for the individual of these far-flung groups to meet in person. Teleconferencing thereby becomes the ideal method for members to stay in touch and discuss topics of shared interest.
Political campaigns now use teleconferencing conference calling on a frequent basis. In certain cases it is used to allow candidates to connect with contributors or volunteers. Alternatively, it enables remote campaign workers to work with locally situated staff. For state-wide or national campaigns, conference calling becomes even more important as a method of ensuring frequent communication because it is truly not possible to ensure a physical presence. In the most recent primary season, Republican candidates in New Hampshire received extensive media publicity on highly publicized conference calls undertaken to reassure large donors and influential political analysts that their campaigns could survive the harsh pace of the campaign season.
Early stage companies have long felt the same requirement for conference calling 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 Eastern Asia, 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, teleconferencing is no longer the exclusive domain of corporations. Other possible users have long felt the need but it has only been with the creation of new business models that the availability of these services has become quite ubiquitous.
