Why All-in-One Web Conferencing Works

It’s well known that there’s a trend in technology toward gadgets and software that seem to do it all—with users able to take advantage of a dizzying number of functions and features within the same service. Web conferencing has done the same, transforming from simple webinar or video conferencing services to all-in-one collaboration platforms for meetings, events, training, etc.

But this kind of collaboration-based software is more than just a trend—it’s already changed the way that companies, large and small, do business. And it’s a good thing: all-in-one web conferencing can save on costs and time, boost productivity, and serve your business in more ways than you might imagine.

Let’s take a look at why and how these services work for you.

Making business easier

All-in-one web conference services do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to business communications, whether simple daily or weekly meetings or more complex special events. On their most basic level, they allow any team to meet online through video and audio feeds, no matter where they are in the world.

Beyond that, these services provide tools that allow participants to share much more than just voices or faces. Common features of comprehensive web conferencing include:

• Screen sharing for desktop or mobile devices
• File sharing for documents, photos, videos, etc.
• Markup tools like whiteboards & annotations
• Chat and polling
• Conference recording
• Shared work space to gather recordings, meeting notes, & follow-ups

These tools make any virtual communication easy and feel like a true collaborative meeting, not just a simple conference call.

Perhaps the best part is that the learning curve for this kind of service is much smaller: employees have only one type of software to master, rather than several separate services for conference calling, task management, file sharing, etc. This makes people much more likely to readily adopt a new set of tools and be more productive, more quickly.
 

Making a case for flexibility

While lots of trendy modern startups have made a relaxed office environment, remote work, and flexible schedules popular, plenty more companies are resistant to alter a more traditional system that’s been working for years. Of course not every business can work with the same model for their staff.

But there’s real value for almost any company in making simple, practical changes to allow employees more flexibility, and that’s what comprehensive web conferencing offers.

Say there’s severe weather that prevents employees from coming into the office. Your valuable operations don’t come to a halt and you don’t risk anyone’s safety—you just hop on a web conference from home computers or mobile devices to discuss the game plan and continue work as normally as possible.

Or say you have an employee who’s traveling for work, but they took an important file with them—and now their return flight is delayed. All they have to do is share it with the group through the web conferencing platform, from whatever device they can. They’ll also continue to stay up to date with meeting content, notes, and files from the virtual work space while they’re away.

If your company is already very mobile and flexible, comprehensive web conferencing can give remote employees more freedom in how they connect to a meeting or conference. Some prefer sharing their screens to illustrate everything, some just want to participate with audio, and others can only access the notes, files, and recordings after the fact—and all of those options are available within the same service.
 

Saving time and money

Going with a web conferencing service that bundles together a number of tools and features typically results in a lower cost for your company, compared to paying for many different forms of software for each tool. This has obvious benefits for reducing business expenses.

The savings on time are perhaps even more significant. For one, your IT department—or whoever handles the setup and maintenance for any software your company uses—only has one vendor to communicate with, which streamlines the process and time spent on support and maintenance. It’s also much easier to get one piece of software up and running for everyone.

Secondly, employees spend less time figuring out how the technology works when there is just one user experience to navigate. This cuts down on technical difficulties and frustration, freeing them up to join conferences faster and get work done quicker.

These kinds of cost and time savings can really add up over the span of time you use a comprehensive service, which can be a very long time due to the adaptable and expandable nature of the service—as we discuss next.
 

Growing with your business

Perhaps more frustrating than anything when adopting new software for business is when a company finds they’ve outgrown the tools available and are forced to jump ship—often at a great expense of time, energy, and money. All-in-one web conferencing services have a better chance of staying with you and working through business growth and changes.

Say you invest in a web conferencing service with the intention of using it to host your weekly meetings on a virtual platform. That works well for your small team, but then you open a second office across the country, or hire on more remote employees. You can simply upgrade to more attendees on your web conference service if you need to, and start taking advantage of more of the collaboration tools already in place with a comprehensive service.

Or there may be new uses you find for the same software over time. If you find you need to conduct training, you can take advantage of the video conferencing, screen sharing, and interactive features in new, educational ways. Or, you could decide to offer up live public webinars or webinar recordings to help add value to your business and attract new customers.
 

Here at Conference Calls Unlimited, we’ve been in the teleconferencing industry since 1998, and we can tell when something is more than just a trend. Comprehensive all-in-one web conferencing seems to really improve the lives and businesses of our clients, and we try to make this service available to you as easily as possible for a truly simple transition. Learn more about how we can customize your web conferencing service, and start being more productive today.