Today’s anywhere and anytime way of doing business has brought about major changes in the way meetings and conferences are being conducted. Not only are the types of meetings being held changing as collaboration and communication solutions facilitate new ways to innovate and create, but the ways they are being held have completely shifted. Technology and the prevalence of the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend have all had a hand in this evolution in conference call services.
According to a recent report from Ovum (News - Alert), it’s the “Death of the Web Conference (As We Know It).” The web conference is far from dead, however, it has simply evolved and technology is helping conferencing achieve its true potential. Ovum’s research shows that 48 percent of workforce meetings are one-on-one, but only 29 percent are internal meetings. Those numbers alone signify a shift in the way business is being done, with more peer-to-peer brainstorming and collaboration taking place. Traditional conferencing solutions are generally cumbersome to maintain and have been focused on large group meetings, presenting a challenge in this shifting climate.
Another noteworthy trend is that 32 percent of all meetings are now conducted virtually using web conferencing and collaboration tools. And a whopping 95 percent of employees queried reported that the number of virtual meetings they attended had either risen or stayed the same during the past 24 months.
There has also been a rise in ad hoc or impromptu conferences, with workers holding meetings in real time without any advance scheduling. Ovum says 35 percent of all meetings are ad hoc and 40 percent of employees report that the number of ad hoc meetings they attend is increasing. Interestingly, despite this shift in the way business and meetings are being conducted, a vast majority of conferencing is still performed using direct dial telephony along with email for collaboration.
Services like Reservationless Conference Calling from AT Conference are extremely popular as they give users the ability to set up ad hoc, real-time conferences without any advance scheduling. The on-demand service lets users conference 24/7 from anywhere, using any type of phone. AT Conference also offers cloud-based web conferencing, which enables users to collaborate, chat and share applications and desktops through a simple, browser-based solution.
Today’s web conference is very much alive and well, although conferencing has had to change as common business practices have shifted. Bulky, on-site audio conferencing solutions tailored to large groups are rapidly becoming a thing of the past as conferencing shifts toward collaboration and a growing number of one-on-one meetings.
Edited by Maurice Nagle