The AccuConference Cost Advantage

Audio teleconferencing, video conferencing and Web conferencing are enjoying a renaissance in this economic downturn. The reason is that they are one business tool that can cut costs and improve productivity without the ugly process of layoffs or facilities closings. It's a classic example of technology usurping traditional business processes that are no longer viable. By tightly coupling teams to make their progress faster and substituting for expensive air travel and hotel stays, electronic conferencing helps businesses stay viable while economic activity is slow. AccuConference is a clear leader in this field.

What differentiates AccuConference from other companies in the conferencing space is that they offer a complete range of solutions, including traditional audio conference calls, video conferencing and Web conferences. By getting all the conference solutions you need from one supplier, you don't have to worry about having to integrate potentially incompatible services.

Cost savings are a major attraction of AccuConference calling services, but not at the expense of quality. Poor voice quality can spoil the effect of connecting far away locations so that everyone sounds like they are in the same room. You need to be able to understand what is being said without having to say "could you repeat that?" That's why AccuConference uses only the best carriers available, Tier A for international and toll free traffic and Tier B for local calls. They also lightly load their conference bridges, the devices that actually interconnect participants, so that no bridge is at more than 50% capacity. This gives AccuConference the ability to accommodate a sudden requirement for additional conferences at the same high performance level.

How about those cost savings? If you've shopped around, you know that you can pay upwards of 25 cents a minute per participant or even more with some conferencing providers. AccuConference will give you top rate performance for just 7.9 cents per minute per participant on a pay as you go basis. Each participant dials a toll free number, so it costs them nothing. As an account holder you'll get a monthly bill for the minutes used, but no set up fees, contracts or monthly requirements. You use the service whenever you want with no reservations needed.

The pay as you go program also includes Insight Web Conferencing at no additional charge. There's something you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere. You'll be able to share Microsoft PowerPoint charts, have instant online chat, and online voting/polling while your audio conference is in progress. Or you can use their Meeting Central Unlimited Pro plan that expands PowerPoint presentations to include application sharing, desktop sharing, remote control sharing, webtour, white boarding, and instant chat. All of this capability is available along with toll free audio conferencing at just 7.9 cents per minute per participant.

There's also a flat rate audio conferencing option that features an area code 404 Atlanta dial-in number, Insight Web Conferencing, and 24/7 availability without reservations. Participants and moderators will pay long distance charges to call the Atlanta number. As account holder, the service costs you as little as $14.95 a month for up to 5 lines. Other plans are available for 10, 25 and 50 lines. The advantage of flat rate is that you know what you'll pay each month, regardless of how much you use the system.

Larger organizations can also enjoy the advantages of low cost teleconferences. You can get options that include hundreds of participants, international dial-out or dial-in, operator services and video conferences. All of these are available at attractive rates.

The right way to evaluate the cost advantage of audio, Web and video conferencing is to compare using these services with what you'd do otherwise. If you can get the same results via conferencing that you could with travel for in-person meetings, you'll be way ahead using the technology. A more subtle comparison is to weigh the productivity improvement you get with real-time interaction between team members who are not collocated versus exchanging ideas and documents by, say, email. If you cut the time to market or time to solve a problem by half, how much is that worth to you?

You may just have to give this a try and see how well it works for your organization. You have little to lose since there are no contracts or commitments. You may have an incredible amount to gain in both cost savings and business advantage. Learn more about AccuConference telephone, Web and video conferencing options and get started quickly and easily right now.

Cure The Bulging T1 Line

It wasn't that long ago you leased your first T1 line. It was pretty amazing. A full 1.5 Mbps for both upload and download. Excellent reliability and a service level agreement to make sure you got fast attention if there ever was a problem. It seemed a bit expensive, but well worth it. You thought that you were set indefinitely. But lately that super fast data connection is just poking along. Now what will you do?

You're not the first business to experience a bulging T1 line. It's becoming more and more common these days. Why? Business processes have changed. Broadband Internet access was once a casual activity. You might use it for email, occasional research, and placing small orders for specialty items. Now your business activity depends on being connected. Your online presence may even be bringing in more revenue than your bricks and mortar operation. Software as a Service frees you from the expense and time consuming maintenance needed for purchased software packages. But now all your inquiries and transactions traverse the Internet to your SaaS provider. Purchasing, inventory management, and video conferencing all need reliable Internet access. Sadly, they all seem to want it at the same time.

This is how you can have all the bandwidth in the world one year and be chocking on packet congestion the next. The faster that business activities become, the more that interaction with customers and vendors gets to be in real time, the more you load up your bandwidth pipe. At some point, things slow down so much that productivity tanks and tempers flare. At that point you are long past the need for an upgrade.

No need to wince. As your need for bandwidth has been increasing, the marketplace has been active in increasing the availability of that bandwidth. Prices have come down due to increased competition and more efficient ways to find the best prices from available service providers. So much so that you might be able to double your current bandwidth for the same lease price you committed to several years ago.

Bandwidth increases are easier than you think. Sure, you might have been told at the time that T1 service was the fastest link you could get at your business location. For years it was. But now it's common to bond T1 lines together so you can have 3 Mbps, 6 Mbps, or even 9 Mbps without major construction costs. An even newer approach is Ethernet over Copper. You keep the copper telecom lines you are currently using. The Ethernet service provider swaps out the termination equipment with newer technology that can support higher bandwidths. You might be able to get a 10 Mbps standard Ethernet service or even 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, depending on how close you are to the carrier's facilities.

If fiber optic service is an option, the sky is the limit. Once again, don't be put off by the pricing you remember when you first considered this option. DS3 (45 Mbps) and OC3 (155 Mbps) service have also dropped in price considerably. Fast Ethernet (100 Mbps) and Gigabit Ethernet (1000 Mbps) are actually very viable for companies that need high bandwidth connections to the Internet or as a private network among multiple facilities.

The cure for the bulging T1 line? It starts with a quick GeoQuote (tm) service pricing and availability check. Don't be surprised if you find that you can get more bandwidth for less money right now.