How to Select a Conference Call Provider?
For so many years, the usual setup for a business or executive meeting is that employees or members of the committee gather in the conference room then the boss or presenter starts the meeting. But know physical presence is not required anymore meetings can be conducted through a phone, the web and other kinds of technologies. The most popular and effective way of conducting a meeting is through a conference call. Because of this there are a lot of conference call providers that offer a lot of extra services to attract clients. Companies should also be wise in choosing their conference call provider making sure that it benefits them.
These are a set of questions you need to ask yourself when selecting a conference call provider:
- How often does the company utilize a conference call?
Usually, for large companies conference calls are conducted often either weekly or monthly. This is to keep track of the progress of the company and also very useful when there are issues and when other participants cannot make it to the office. For smaller companies, reports are given instead of conducting a conference call because the people that need to participate are just in the office though sometime conference calls are also utilized.
Either way, large or small companies they both use it. In order to determine how many times and for how long a conference call lasts look back on the past six months where conference calls were conducted. Sum up the time consumed for each conference call and divide it with how many times the conference call was conducted. This will be very useful when selecting a conference call provider.
- What other services do I need from a conference call provider?
There are a lot of conference call service provider that offers extra services but some just offer a plain conference call which may not be that beneficial for you. You need more to get your money’s worth. Extra services that conference call providers offer are technical support on-the-spot, a transcriber, and an operator for moderating the call or even a video conference call.
Before contacting any conference call providers look at first the other services they offer and the price for each extra service that you want. Do not go over board with your budget just stick with the services you really need and get another extra service of the need arises.
- How can I contact and discuss what I need with a conference call provider?
Now, that you have all the necessary information you need you are now ready to contact a conference call provider. List down all the potential conference call providers that seem appropriate for you or the company and contact them either through email or phone. The usual questions that the conference call provider will as are how frequent do you use conference call and for how long. It is also useful if you can ask them for a demonstration of the service they offer so you can evaluate. Though, conference call provider rarely grants this request and what they do is that they explain the quality customer service you can have when you acquire for their service.
- How often do you want to receive my conference call bills?
Bills or invoices for conference calls are usually given by conference call provider either by paper or electronic copy. The bill can be a monthly basis or per conference call made.
- How much will it cost me?
Price, this is where it all boils down. You can send proposals to the conference call providers that you chose and they in turn will try to meet you in the middle so both parties will benefit. This will also be the last chance for conference call providers to give the best service they can offer for a price.
By this time you are already able to choose the conference call provider that suits you but do not throw away the contact numbers for the other providers because you might need them in the future.