Changes in Conferencing

The business world seems to be getting smaller and smaller, but constant travel to bring people together is costly. Geographically dispersed teams used to spend days traveling for meetings that lasted only a few hours, making the meetings costly in terms of dollars, time and productivity.

Conferencing became a great alternative. It could strengthen communications, streamline business processes and provide an effective means to collaborate.

Audio and web conferencing brings efficiency to long-distance meetings. In addition, conferencing employs devices that most businesses already have: telephones and computers with web browsers. Companywide audio and web conferencing offers large-scale benefits — lower costs, higher productivity and improved communications throughout the enterprise.

These benefits explain why audio conferencing is growing at such a fast rate. It's the most-used collaboration technology, and the market is projected to reach $3.9 billion in 2006. And, according to PulseOnline, web conferencing is the fastest growing segment of the collaboration market. It's slated for a 47.2 percent compound annual growth rate, reaching almost $2 billion by 2006.

The next conference technological advancement is Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) conferencing. In addition to reducing long-distance charges for strictly audio conferencing, VoIP conferencing can create a richer event. Unique web-enabled features like slide sharing, question queue, text chat, volume control, conference record and playback can create a conference that surpasses face-to-face round tables. VoIP technology allows voice and data to be carried over the same phone lines, providing an integrated solution.

In addition, VoIP conferencing is capable of hosting participants in an ad-hoc manner. Participants and the moderator can access the communication platform from any telephone via a toll-free number or they can call the direct platform. Ad hoc, or reservationless, on-demand conferencing, removes the barriers to spontaneous audio conferencing — no operator, no advance reservations, no strict time controls.

Ad hoc conferencing accounts for nearly one in five conference calls today. By 2007, it's predicted that nearly four out of five conference calls will be ad hoc.

"No reservations are needed because the conferencing system is able to anticipate usage and distribute the ports according to need," explained Jeremy DuPont, VoIP product manager for Time Warner Telecom.

VoIP technology promises new capabilities and ease-of-use advantages for phone and web conferencing. For more information, contact a Time Warner Telecom account representative or visit www.twtelecom.com.

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