Learn about the easiest ways to save on everyday conference calls and remote meetings.

Transcription

1 Learn about the easiest ways to save on everyday conference calls and remote meetings.

2 Top 5 Hidden Costs of Conferencing pg 1 INTRODUCTION Conference calls are now an everyday business activity. In the US, 55.4 billion minutes are spent on conference calls annually, whilst the figure for the UK is a healthy 6.6 billion, (source: Wainhouse Research, 2010). Although conferencing buyers have benefited from headline rate reductions over recent years, the cost to companies is still higher than it needs to be, owing to some common misconceptions. This white paper explores what insiders already know: the five top ways in which companies are losing money on their conferencing, with easy fixes to counter these unnecessary losses. CONTENTS 1. Mobile surcharges 2. Dial-out rates 3. Free conferencing services 4. Expensive international locations 5. Unused web conferencing seat licenses + Time wasted = money wasted

3 Top 5 Hidden Costs of Conferencing pg 2 Dialing in remains the dominant method of joining conference calls, despite the availability of easier alternatives from certain providers. Invitations generally MONEY-WASTER #1 PUNISHING MOBILE SURCHARGES include a range of international dial-in access numbers, from which guests choose the most cost-effective one to dial based on their location. There are essentially two main types of dial-in number: A hefty surcharge when toll-free numbers are dialed from mobile phones. Toll-free or freephone numbers: the dialer generally pays nothing to make the call (although often not the case outside the US) Local access or toll numbers: the dialer pays as though they are dialing a regular domestic geographic number For companies with conference call participants in Europe, the problem is as follows: Toll-free numbers in most European countries work quite differently from those in the US or UK. In Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Spain to name just a few a substantial surcharge is levied on the conferencing provider when toll-free numbers are dialed from mobile phones. This surcharge can be as high as 40 cents/minute. Unfortunately for businesses, the conferencing service provider generally passes these surcharges on to the customer, in addition to a markup. Use local access dial-in numbers around Europe, NOT toll-free. These mobile surcharges only relate to toll-free dial-in numbers and not local access numbers. So even including the attendee s cost of dialing a regular domestic geographic number, this is likely to be minimal compared to the high tollfree surcharge.

4 Top 5 Hidden Costs of Conferencing pg 3 MONEY-WASTER #2 DIAL-OUT RIP-OFFS The alternative to dial-in is, of course, dial-out, where essentially the conference dials out to an attendee to bring them into the call. Dial-out used to be uncommonly used; in exceptional circumstances, a live operator would be used to bring an attendee into the call. This was unsurprisingly expensive, so dial-out has historically been considerably more costly than dial-in, with a perception to match. All too often the charges remain at their high legacy levels The good news is that the world has moved on, and certain products facilitate dial-out ondemand, without the need for live operators. The conference dials out instantly to a selected phone, which has the considerable benefit of eliminating the need to remember long dial-in numbers and access codes. However, although live operators are no longer required for dial-out, all too often the charges remain at their high legacy levels. Find out how much you re paying for dial-out and press your provider for rates that aren t legacy rip-offs. Sometimes it is necessary for dial-out rates to be higher than the dial-in equivalent. For example, dialing out to cell phones in certain countries, such as the UK, comes at a higher underlying cost to the conferencing provider than dialing out to landlines. More often than not, though - and certainly for UK and US dial-out to fixed lines - there s no reason why your dial-out rate should be any more expensive than your toll-free dial-in rate.

5 Top 5 Hidden Costs of Conferencing pg 4 MONEY-WASTER #3 WHEN FREE ISN T Free can really mean pence per minute Some conferencing products purport to be free, which seems, at first, a very attractive proposition to companies wishing to cut costs. However, these services are generally only free in the sense that there is no end-ofmonth invoice. It doesn t mean that the service isn t being paid for in a different way. In the UK, for example, free services entail the use of non-geographic dial-in numbers. These are usually 0844 numbers, although 0871 numbers are still sometimes used, which are even more problematic. Dialed from a landline phone, 0844 numbers tend to be reasonably and fairly predictably priced; the cost ranges from 1p to 13p per minute to the dialer s fixed line service provider, (Source: Ofcom, 2012). However, the problem comes when joining the conference from a mobile phone. The cost to dial an 0844 number from a mobile phone is typically charged between 20p and 41p per minute, depending on the mobile service provider and plan, (Source: Ofcom, 2012). Don t fall for this false economy; find out what 0207 access rates you can get. Lots of people join conference calls from mobile phones these days, and this can make so-called free services surprisingly expensive. You may be much better off locking in competitive rates on regular geographic access numbers (e.g. 0207), where you can join from either a landline or a mobile without concern.

6 Top 5 Hidden Costs of Conferencing pg 5 MONEY-WASTER #4 PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE RATES There are many countries where participant dial-in rates are significantly higher than those in the US or UK. India, China and UAE are three particularly significant examples, given their prominent status in international business and affairs. On a separate, but related point, China can be a pain, not just in terms of cost but also in terms of usability. Many China dial-in numbers only actually work from a limited set of service providers within China, which can cause a whole set of issues for guests A classic case for dial-out vs. dial-in joining conference calls, particularly non-locals who are travelling in China and perhaps unfamiliar with the local numbering plans. It s a good idea to ask providers for nationally dialable numbers in China, which will likely be 4001 numbers for toll-free access. Returning to the cost issue, these locations provide a classic case where dial-out (versus dial-in) can be a great cost saver as well as a better usage experience. Underlying conference provider dial-out costs in these three countries are likely to be substantially lower, which can then be passed through to customers in their retail rates. Investigate with your provider how dial-out could slash your costs in expensive countries. The added bonus with this method is that your users in these countries will no longer have to struggle with long dial-in numbers and access codes. Not all products make dial-out easy, so look for the ones that do: it s the way forward.

7 Top 5 Hidden Costs of Conferencing pg 6 MONEY-WASTER #5 ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT LICENSES SIT UNUSED In recent years, many companies made a significant investment in seat licenses for their base of conference callers. There was an understandable desire to make the meeting experience richer and more productive. However, in our experience, these plans somewhat misfired; certain users adopted their new web conferencing capability, but the majority stuck with basic, audio-only calls. Buyers were left frustrated waiting for the contract renewal point to cancel most of the licenses. So what went wrong? Why didn t more users adopt this seemingly helpful technology? Well, the answer seems to be that, as clever as many of these web conferencing products clearly were, they were feature-heavy and required user training. For specialist users e.g. company trainers or IT desktop support staff the training wasn t an issue; they needed these products to do their jobs. However, for mainstream professionals the significant majority the idea of attending training on how to use a conferencing product was simply a non-starter. Indeed, according to a survey of 1,000 businesses in the US and UK conducted by IBOPE Zogby International in March 2012, 83% of regular conference callers would use web conferencing more if it was as easy as ing out the slides. Without the necessary training, the mainstream majority did not really adopt this technology. They were loath to experiment on important calls with clients or senior colleagues, and so just continued using audio-only calls. Look for a more suitable product and usage-based pricing. Most mainstream users likely just want to share a presentation or document with their guests; they re not looking for the ability to co-edit, whiteboard, or take on-the-fly polls. Look for a product that s fit for purpose in this respect and is self-explanatory when it comes to using it that way users are up and running on their own without need for training or help from IT. Also, see if your provider will accept per-minute billing; you can always move to seat licenses later once adoption is proven.

8 Top 5 Hidden Costs of Conferencing pg 7 BONUS TIP: MONEY-WASTER #6 WASTED TIME, WASTED MONEY The 5 tips so far are all relevant to the hard numbers on company conferencing invoices. But there s a bigger source of waste. So much time is wasted on conference calls, dealing with distractions that have nothing to do with the business agenda: Getting the meeting started waiting for everyone to dial in to the call, taking attendance, waiting for latecomers, tracking down absentees Distractions during the meeting interruptions and recapping content for late joiners, dealing with (or simply putting up with) background noise, continued drop offs and re-joins, the struggle to share a presentation The same IBOPE Zogby International conferencing survey found that on a typical conference call, over 10 minutes is taken up by these familiar distractions. That s the equivalent of 23% of time spent on conference calls being wasted, or $5.5 billion per annum of lost value. This is a shocking number, almost twice the amount actually spent of conferencing services in the first place! Choose a product with handy apps that eliminate these distractions. These annoyances and distractions have grown up with the industry and have almost become engrained in users expectations. These things are just part and parcel of conferencing, right? Wrong certain products on the market have leveraged Web and mobile app technology to provide a simple and compelling solution to this major source of lost value.