8 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Phone Conference Service for Your Business By CIOReview Team

8 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Phone Conference Service for Your Business

CIOReview Team | Monday, 22 April 2019, 05:27 IST

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8 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Phone Conference Service for Your Business

Communication is essential for any successful business. Despite the increase of instant messages and emails, conference calls remain an important tool for many businesses today. Businesses turn to conference phone calls for meetings they would possibly not be in a position to attend due to the members being located in different locations.

Conference phones are built differently than regular phones. It’s essential to choose a conference call service provider that adds value to your business. There are several service providers that offer various models and brands, and choosing the right service for you can be quite a task. You can consider the following factors when choosing your ideal conference call service provider.

1. Have a Budget

There are costs attached to conference call services, and different providers offer various costs for their services. As a business, it’s important to choose a provider that falls within your budget to avoid stretching your business expenditure beyond your means. The market has many providers, and thus, it’s possible to find a provider that meets your business requirements and comes with a reasonable price.

2. Call Quality

Nothing can be frustrating and embarrassing like when a call drops in a crucial meeting or when the participants have trouble hearing each other. The situation can be time-consuming trying to keep on connecting the call and getting to hear each of the participants. It can also be a deal breaker in a scenario where the call was meant to close a deal, and the participants are unable to do so due to poor call connection.

Have your phone conference service provider offer you a free trial service where you can test the quality of the product. You can also have different testing sessions from landlines and phones to ensure that they perfectly work before you can engage in any official communication

3. Scheduling Function

Meeting scheduling is important for every business to avoid situations where different meetings fall at the same time. There are custom and paid business services that offer a planning interface that enables the organizer to make the call. Services with outlook integration or similar functionality, pin code, and a dial-in number can automatically be assigned to the user for cases where the user can assign their own schedule.

4. Security and Reliability

Your business communication should be kept private and confidential. Inquire from your phone conference service provider about the security of their phone connections and the procedures they offer in case of a technical hitch or power outage to ensure that your calls data is secure. You need to work with a provider that offers security measures in place to prevent wiretapping into phone conversations and breach of data use.

5. Room Size

Your room size will define the kind of phone you require. Different conference phones have different microphone quality and distance ranges. Other conference phones offer optional expansion microphone kits to expand the audio distance for larger rooms with lots of people. Choose a conference phone that is ideal for your room size.

6. Recording and Archiving

Many organizations require phone services that have the capacity to save conference calls for future reference. Some providers grant you an opportunity to save your calls in a wave, GSM or both formats. After the conference call, the audio file can be retrieved from the conference website and saved or even emailed to the participants. It might not be possible to email the call as an audio file due to file capacity limitation.

Some situation that can warrant call recording include training purposes, sharing the meeting details with colleagues, review of important details or avoiding taking notes.

7. Connection Type

There are various conference phones that have various connection types. The connection types include USB, wireless, DECT, and mobile or cell phone. You can choose the connection that you’re comfortable with.

8. Phone Portability

Conference calls can be hosted from various locations. In order to meet this need, you require a phone that is easily portable. There are great quality portable conference phones that are wireless, battery operated, can be connected to mobile networks by installing a SIM card or connected to PCs via USB enabling you to host your conference from any location.

Some phones have extra back up battery, and this ensures that your phone does not run out of battery charge.

Whatever your conference phone requirements, the above factors are aimed at making your search easy and reducing the time you would spend trying to identify the ideal phone for your business needs.

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