What's The Difference Between Web 2.0 Audio Conferencing and Web Conferencing?
Web 2.0 audio conferencing is your anchor; web conferencing your color
The term "web conferencing" is confusing. Most technology people know what it means, but the average user does not. Users generally understand "conferencing," but the "web" adjective is confusing because the "web" is a complex and ever-changing subject. It has gotten even more confusing with the advent of telephone over Internet, also called "voice over Internet protocol" or "VoIP." Adding further to this confusion are current good-luck-you're-on-your-own "free conference call" offers that might lead one to believe that the technology is so simple that it can be given away. This could not be further from the truth, now and into the foreseeable future.
Conferencing over routers vs. wires
Historically, all our communications tools worked independently of one another and they relied on dedicated networks. Ever so slowly, this autonomy began to change. We started sending fax messages over voice phone lines, then began interconnecting websites. Those technologies used the traditional phone networks that connected phones with wires. Eventually a different way to switch these signals emerged, one that used "data packets" and "routers." This network technology theoretically allowed any kind of data (fax, voice, files) to be transmitted over the same network. Slowly, various communications technologies are migrating to this packet approach, which opens many new possibilities for the devices that connect to the network.
Convergence is the coming together of previously disconnected technologies
Phones can now take on web functions and vice versa. Data files can include voice, fax, video and images in the same transmission. This is sometimes called "convergence."
Web 2.0 audio conferencing bridges the best of phone and data
Web 2.0 audio conferencing differs from same-old-same-old traditional audio conferencing by enabling numerous "cross-over" capabilities like monitoring and control of the call over the web, real-time call history and billing over the web, management of multiple PINs and multiple accounts from mobile phones, and initiating group calls instantly, to name just a few.
Compare the technologies for an audio conference and a web conference
Now let's compare Web 2.0 audio conferencing with a 300-person "web conference." An audio conference is keeping 300 telephone devices in synch, and a "web conference" is keeping 300 web pages viewing the same thing, but the differences between a phone conference and web conference are striking. A phone conference must be "in synch," or in other words, everyone needs to hear the same thing at the same time. A web conference by contrast works to keep 300 views of the host's presentation in more or less close synch. Full synching in a web conference is impossible when one considers that one participant may be on a slow dial-up connection and another may be sitting on a high-speed broadband connection.
Audio conferencing needs real-time voice synch; Web conferencing pushes sorta-synched computer screens
Most web conferencing providers are attempting voice over Internet connections to broadcast voice and video simultaneously, but the out-of-synch problems relating to those 300 web connections makes the voice part unworkable. The fact is, web conferencing providers use separate audio conferencing providers, even if that is not obvious to the customer. The real-time synching demands of voice vs. the less-critical need for such real time synching when pushing web page views of a presentation make Web 2.0 audio conferencing and web conferencing very different, but related challenges.
Both technologies support "conferencing," but the underlying technology needs and expertise are apples and oranges. When users pick up the phone, they expect dial tone. When users go on the web, reliability is hit or miss. One never knows when the tech department or the local Internet Service Provider may decide to take down the network for an upgrade! When a user joins a phone conference, they expect a real time synch as if everyone is in the same room. When a user joins a web conference, the time it takes to get a particular presentation slide is not as critical as hearing what the presenter is saying and being able to respond in real time.
Web 2.0 audio conferencing bridges voice and data without forcing the participants to get in front of a computer for every conference
We are visual creatures, so web conferencing is here to stay. That said, many, maybe even most phone conversations needn't include what is sometimes dubbed a "death by PowerPoint" presentation. Web 2.0 audio conferencing fills the gap between traditional audio conferencing and web conferencing for most applications. It brings the best of the web to audio conferencing without burdening every conference with the need to watch something online, or forcing a participant to sit in front of a video camera without moving for fear the other participants will think he is not paying rapt attention as the presenter drones on (!)
Web 2.0 liberation vs. mandatory operator assistance and good-luck-you're on-your-own "free conference calls"
Audio conferencing, done right, should work as effortlessly as picking up your phone. The differences end there! Bridging a 300-person audio conference and making sure everyone hears the same thing at high quality requires specialized technologies managed by people who know what they are doing. Web 2.0 audio conferencing liberates the user from the need to call an operator on every call. It also enhances the user experience well beyond the same-old-same old limited features set of the past. It takes much of the technical knowledge, automates it, and puts it in the user's hands. Web designers don't have this knowledge. Software programmers building nice web pages don't have this knowledge either; neither do web conferencing providers and "free conference call" providers. Web 2.0 audio conferencing providers, by contrast, have programmed this telephone knowledge into their offerings.
Anchor vs. color commentator
Think of the two technologies this way. Web 2.0 audio conferencing is your anchorperson in sports broadcasting and web conferencing is the color commentator. Users will need both as convergence continues to bring the telephony and data worlds closer together, but of the two, Web 2.0 audio conferencing will be your anchor "must have" communications tool.
To learn more, Google "Web 2.0 audio conferencing".
© Copyright 2010. Leader Phone® and Michael McKibben. All Rights Reserved.
Questions and Answers
Article Tags:
audio conferencing
,teleconferencing
,conference calling
,voip
,leaderphone
,leader phone
,web 2 0
The devil is in the details with regard to managing enterprise audio conferencing. Conventional wisdom says belt-tightening is a good thing, and when an employee comes to a CFO with "cost savings," he is often named "employee of the month." So, when an employee proposes to cut the audio conferencing budget by using a "free" or cut-rate service, it sounds great on the surface. However, a closer look reveals such proposals to be Neanderthal. They're two steps backward instead of one step forward.
Our virtual society opens new opportunities for speakers and educators with audio conferencing-based program technology. In today's fast-paced social and business climate, convincing prospective participants to set aside a whole day for a seminar is challenging. It is also expensive and time consuming. Consider interspersing your face-to-face programs with audio conferencing-based programs instead. Here are some of the key attributes of an audio conferencing-based program.
Estonia has emerged as one of the world's most dynamic and modern free market economies. Its flat tax system and tax exemption rules for undistributed company profits have attracted vast amounts of foreign investment capital. The requirement to balance the country's annual budget is written into the constitution which means that the national debt is a mere 6% of GDP.
While i shifted my architecture practice to Birmingham, I wanted being entirely up-to-date tough furniture along with gear I selected for that brand-new office. For this reason My partner and i took the time to be on the world wide web along with understand about hosted pbx.
There are many businesses that still a new traditional phone because it is routine to possess a number where your visitors as well as sellers can get to anyone with a central business office.
Though the majority of vanity numbers are toll-free, small business owners can also choose local numbers when it is applicable. In short, businesses who offer the public toll-free vanity numbers are three to four times more likely to receive telephone calls than those who do not.
Cheap international landline calls are out there. Get calls from 1p per minute to hundreds of countries around the world hassle free.
Audio conferencing is one of those vital business services where looks can be deceiving. Most services use out-dated equipment with features that haven't improved in more than a decade or more. More than a dozen services now offer iPhone apps, but most are little more than a web page tied to an ancient piece of equipment. The lure is often some form of "free conferencing." Many simply arbitrage local access numbers—essentially using participants' iPhones as roaming devices.
Unscheduled conference calls that were impossible before, are now possible New iPhone audio conferencing apps have introduced Call Now! group calling. This feature dispenses with the hassle and expense of setting up a conventional conference call by eliminating the need to schedule a call, send out dial-in numbers and PINs, wait for stragglers, etc. With iPhone Call now! you simply select the people you want on the conference call and and tap Call Now! Your participants are called instantly.
An effective conference call is like any other meeting -- to be professional and respectful of the participants' time; it needs good preparation, solid execution and timely follow-up. Historically, conference calls had to be organized around the limitations of audio conferencing technology. Traditional Ma Bell gave you simply a dial-in number and a PIN. You were on your own for all other organizational aspects of your call. Web 2.0 gives you 16 dimensions of productivity.
The devil is in the details with regard to managing enterprise audio conferencing. Conventional wisdom says belt-tightening is a good thing, and when an employee comes to a CFO with "cost savings," he is often named "employee of the month." So, when an employee proposes to cut the audio conferencing budget by using a "free" or cut-rate service, it sounds great on the surface. However, a closer look reveals such proposals to be Neanderthal. They're two steps backward instead of one step forward.
Discuss this Article
