Conference calls allow people to connect to their colleagues, business partners and customers across the world. They can do so from their office or from the comfort of their homes. They can even do so while traveling or when they are on business tours. This raises efficiency levels, and also improves productivity. It is therefore no surprise to note that more and more companies are using conference calls to improve office work.

A major advantage of conference calls is that it saves people long and tiring trips to the office and back. These long trips tend to reduce the motivation of employees, who may even look for employment closer to home. Due to this, some of the top companies have been encouraging their key workers to work from home.

An obstacle in the past was the cost of videoconferencing. Only major multinationals could afford to set up videoconferencing equipment. Today, there are several organizations that provide videoconferencing facilities at very affordable rates.

These service providers take care of all requirements such as bandwidth, connectivity, hardware and software. They help set up conferencing facilities at remote sites, and make it possible for small and medium sized companies to conduct videoconferences at highly economical rates.

Three areas where videoconferencing has proved to be especially useful are annual meetings, product demonstrations and training. HR personnel can now use whiteboards and computer documents to make presentations and share ideas with staff members with ease.

The same applies to product demonstrations. Sales managers can now reach out to scores of customers from their office, and interact on a one-to-one basis. They can show customers what to do, instead of trying to explain it to them. This makes a big difference in sales because a good demonstration can influence the customer.

Videoconferencing has also led to greater interaction within the office. Managers posted at remote places can now interact with their bosses sitting in the corporate office more regularly. This has brought a more personal touch to office working.

Several major companies now use videoconferencing to interact with the media, especially when announcing launch of new products or quarterly results. These meetings make it possible for media professionals to get information in real time from their office.
Apart from this all meetings can be recorded for future reference.  This becomes a valuable video bank that can be used to look for ideas.

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