Conference Call Rashedul Hasan

Teleconferencing ► A conference call is a telephone call in which the calling party wishes to have more than one called party listen in to the audio portion of the call. The conference calls may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call. ► Conference calls can be designed so that the calling party calls the other participants and adds them to the call.

A phone made specifically for conference calls. A phone made specifically for conference calls.

Usage in Business… ► Businesses use conference calls daily to meet with remote parties, both internally and outside of their company. Common applications are client meetings or sales presentations, project meetings and updates, regular team meetings, training classes and communication to employees who work in different locations.

Usage in Business… ► Conference calling is viewed as a primary means of cutting travel costs and allowing workers to be more productive by not having to go out-of-office for meetings.

Telecommuting Working at home while in telecommunication with the office is called telecommuting. An at home worker stays connected to his office through telecommuting. According to U.S. department of Labor: there were 21 million workers in 1997 who did some work at home as part of their regular job. Out of them, 3.6 million worked At home as part of formal telecommuting arrangements for which they were paid.

Telecommuting ► Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which employees enjoy flexibility in working location and hours. ► In other words, the daily commute to a central place of work or office is replaced by telecommunication links. ► A frequently repeated motto is that "work is something you do, not something you travel to".[ [

Advantages ► Productivity can increase as employees can work flexible hours. ► Teamwork can improve and the labor pool can be expanded, as hard-to-get employees don’t have uproot themselves from where they want to live.

Virtual office. ► The virtual office is an often nonpermanent and mobile office run with computer and communication technology. ► Employees work from their home, car and even from another part of the world. They use laptop, fax machine, cell phones and wireless internet connection to conduct business.

► Virtual office is a term for shared office services, which normally includes business address, services, phone services, fax services, answering services, web hosting services, and meeting & conference facilities

Users ► Seeking a low-risk alternative to renting a conventional office; ► Testing a new product or service idea; ► Downsizing from a conventional office; ► Seeking to establish a business presence in the provider's country or city; ► Seeking a business address within an expensive location, for corporate image purposes; ► Seeking a business address as its registered business address for complying to government regulation; ► Seeking supportive business services such as answering services.

Not suitable for ► Construction, ► Fast foods ► Transportation ► Customer-site sales

Suitable for ► Travel, ► Real estate, ► Discount brokerages, ► Regional sales, ► and military operations

Advantages ► Saves cost of office space ► Saves the cost of office furniture ► Saves cost of travel to office ► Cost of Attracting Talent ► Maintaining just one and not two offices

Basic Technologies needed ► Computer and Monitor ► Computer and Monitor ► CD-ROM ► CD-ROM ► Printer ► Printer ► Phone/answering machine ► Phone/answering machine ► Internet connection ► Internet connection ► Related Software ► ► Backup facilities

Outsourcing ► Outsourcing is subcontracting a process, such as product design or manufacturing, to a third-party company. ► Outsourcing involves the transfer of the management and/or day-to-day execution of an entire business function to an external service provider.

What to outsource ► Business segments typically outsourced include information technology management, human resources management, different facilities, real estate management, and accounting system. Many companies also outsource customer support and call center functions like telemarketing, customer service, market research, manufacturing, designing, web development, and engineering.

Reasons for outsourcing ► Cost savings. The lowering of the overall cost of the service to the business. ► Improve quality. Achieve a step change in quality through contracting out the service with a new service level agreement. ► Knowledge. Access to intellectual property and wider experience and knowledge ► Contract. Services will be provided to a legally binding contract with financial penalties and legal redress. This is not the case with internal services.[ [

► Operational expertise. Access to operational best practice that would be too difficult or time consuming to develop in- house. ► Staffing issues. Access to a larger talent pool and a sustainable source of skills.

Call center ► Call centre or Call center is a centralized office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone.

► A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing, client product services, and debt collection are also made. ► Most major businesses use call centre to interact with their customers. Examples include utility companies, mail order catalog retailers, and customer support for computer hardware and software. Some businesses even service internal functions through call centers. Examples of this include help desks, retail financial support, and sales support

An Indian call center

A very large collections call centre in Lakeland, Florida.

Three Direction of Computer development ► Miniaturization: everything has become smaller. ► Speed: faster processing speed & more data storage facilities. ► Affordability: components costs today are only a fraction of what they were 15 years ago.

Three Direction of Communication development ► Connectivity: it is the ability to connect computer to one another by communication line, so as to provide online information access. ► Interactivity: it is about two-way communication; a user can respond to information he or she receives and modify the process.

Three Direction of Communication development ► Multimedia: multimedia refers to the technology that presents information in more than one medium-such as text, picture, video, sound and animation- in a single integrated communication. [radio is a single dimensional medium-sound only, as is most , mainly text, but multimedia integrate all the form of communication]

When Computer & Communication combine ► Convergence: the combining of several industries through various device that can exchange data. It is important because convergence has led to electronic products that perform multiple functions, such as TV with internet access or Phone with screen displaying text and pictures. ]

► Portability: small, powerful and wireless personal electronic device is the future. ► Personalization: it is the creation of information tailored to your preference. Futures companies will build products like car, computer, clothing, real estate etc customized to your heart’s desire.