It is hard to fathom that just twenty years ago, computers were monochromatic technological dinosaurs. Now, the possibilities seem endless. These dinosaurs have improved in leaps and bounds to include the World Wide Web and become accessible to nearly everyone. With the presence of many global businesses, communication within the business and with their customers has become more accessible, but also more complex.
Technology has made it possible for people to communicate with almost anyone, anywhere and at anytime. While it has become possible to communicate with people halfway across the world, that communication is generally of less quality than person to person. There is a value to being able to establish a friendly relationship with your coworkers and customers. Building these relationships is done much more effectively in person. A text message or phone call does little in contrast to personal interactions. So much of communication is done through body language and expressions– all of that is lost in a phone call or text message. For example, what may be intended as sarcastic or humorous may come across much differently over the internet or phone.
My uncle has found himself at the top of a multi-million dollar international business. He flies to Europe every couple of weeks and all over the United States the rest of the time. In fact, it seems like he is only actually in his office four or so days a month. It is something he is willing to do because he believes that it is important for him to meet in person with all of his sales reps and his international factories. And now, even after several years, he is still making these trips when he may be able to get away with simply making some phone calls and delegating a little. But it has been working quite well for him and he is running a very successful business. Now, for the sake of practicality, it may be too expensive for some companies to send someone from state to state, country to country or continent to continent. So, while person to person communication may be ideal, a web based conference or phone call may be another viable option.
When you are trying to work with several people at the same time, a simple phone call won't do. Phone conferencing may work well, but perhaps you should also consider web conferencing. Many web-based conference tools now allow you to talk to one another through a microphone and use visuals like actual video footage. In short, it allows you to incorporate much more information in your web conferencing than may have been possible in phone conferencing. Imagine trying to describe the trends of several graphs in language that everyone in the room could understand– long distance conference makes it possible to simply use the graph and explain it. As opposed to first describing a graph and then trying to explain its relevance.
Choosing a web conferencing program is an entirely other task. And, should you decide to pursue long distance conferencing capabilities for your business, I suggest that you examine your options closely. A resource like Robin Good’s “Official Guide to Long Distance Conference And Live Presentation Tools” may be very helpful. In his free trial, I found a lot of great information about many long distance conference programs. While web conferencing may be a poor substitute, you may not have a choice.
By David Wade