Telecoms for Competitive Advantage

6. Meetings at a Distance

The telephone conference and its high-tech brother, the videoconference, are beginning to be used by many small businesses.

Audio conferences can often be justified on direct cost grounds, for weekly project reports or monthly sales meetings. Videoconferencing is mostly used for special, non-routine projects.

6.1 Telephone conferences can save money and effort, because a one-hour meeting takes just one hour of each person's time.

• The simplest form of telephone conference is a three-person phone call. The network-based service that makes this possible, commonly known as three-way calling, costs about £4 per quarter.
• Loudspeaker phones for conference use allow several people to take part in a telephone discussion with one person or several at another location.
• Conference calls are a standard option on most phone systems. Check with your supplier. A half-hour conference call linking four UK offices will typically cost about £50. Participants can be brought in and dropped out of the meeting. People can also take part using mobile phones.

6.2 Videoconferencing is beginning to be economical enough for small firms to use - though not usually as a routine activity.

• PC-to-PC videoconferencing equipment now costs just a few hundred pounds.
• Equipment for multi-person 'boardroom' videoconferencing costs from £5,000.