Audio Conferencing Software

The rise of remote work has led to a corresponding increase in the need for conferencing software. Despite all the advancements in business technology (including video conferencing and screen sharing), audio conferencing continues to be the most commonly used tool for conducting meetings as it embraces clear, faster, and effective communication.

However, many small businesses face several challenges regarding business web-conferencing and team collaboration, mainly due to tight budgets and limited IT-infrastructure access. Sometimes, their workplace space may not provide any conference-hosting facility, forcing them to rent expensive breakout rooms at hotels that cost them more money.

Audio conferencing software helps businesses set up, manage, and conduct audio meetings and conference calls over a hosted voice connection, facilitating communication and empowering team collaboration.

This buyers guide takes you through the ins and outs of audio conferencing software from the basics to the common features, key considerations, and emerging market trends. This will help you make an informed decision while choosing the audio conferencing software for your business.

Here's what we'll cover:

• What is audio conferencing software?
• Common features of audio conferencing software
• What type of buyer are you?
• Benefits of audio conferencing software
• Key considerations for purchasing audio conferencing software
• Market trends to understand

What is audio conferencing software?

Audio conferencing software is a tool that allows businesses to conduct an audio conference (aka conference calling or audio teleconferencing) between two or multiple people using a dial-in option. This type of software is ideal for businesses with employees located in different parts of the world. Using audio conferencing solutions, team members can communicate as if they are in the same room, regardless of their physical location.

Today, the audio conference software has become the modern bridge of communication and collaboration, taking teleconferencing to the next level. Call conferencing, meeting recording, call scheduling, automated attendants, file sharing, mobile access, screen sharing, and real-time chat are some common features of an audio conferencing software.

Voice/Video Conferencing in Slack (Source)

Common features of audio conferencing software

To make high-quality conference calls, you need a feature-packed audio conferencing software that can get you connected with your colleagues and clients easily and quickly. The following are some common features of audio conferencing services you can use to your advantage:

Audio/video recording	Enables users to record the audio/video of their meetings and conference calls, helpful in capturing all the important information discussed during the meeting(s).
Call conferencing	Allows several participants to be on the same conference phone call at once. It also enables users to place multiple calls at one time, helping businesses save time and effort.
Call scheduling	Lets users schedule a conference call in advance. It is helpful in organizing a meeting with any participant from different time zones and ensuring everyone's availability.
File sharing	Helps in sharing files between the conference participants, enabling them to easily access all the crucial documents or presentations.
Mobile access	Lets users make conference calls or join meetings from their mobile devices, providing them with greater flexibility and mobility.
Live chat	Allows users to communicate with the participants in real time, and is helpful in asking questions, sharing ideas, or simply having a conversation with other attendees during the meeting(s).
Screen sharing	Enables users to share the contents of their screen with the rest of the conference participants in real time. It facilitates demonstrations and presentations, and also helps save time and effort of having to share files and accessing them separately.
Reporting/analytics	Helps organizers view stats, such as who attended the meeting, how long it lasted, the most active participants, etc. This improves future conferences by identifying the areas of improvement.

What type of buyer are you?

Before you start considering your audio conferencing software options, you need to know what type of buyer you are so that you can make the right purchase decision.

• Individuals: This type of buyer can be anyone who wants to use audio conferencing software to participate in teleconferences or webinars virtually. These buyers can also use audio conferencing software to connect with their family and friends across the country, state, and even around the world, helping them save money by avoiding long-distance telephone charges.
• Small, midsize, and large businesses: These types of buyers are the most common ones as they frequently need to connect with colleagues, teams, and clients to communicate and collaborate. However, small businesses that have fewer employees need audio conferencing software with basic features, such as call conferencing, call scheduling, call recording, etc.
• On the other hand, large businesses have comparatively larger teams and need to meet complex communication needs. Therefore, they require a collaboration tool with advanced features and functionalities along with basic ones, such as unlimited file sharing, live chat, comprehensive analytics, multilingual support, among others.
• Educational institutions: With audio conferencing software, educational institutions can embrace collaborative learning. Students can work together on projects, and teachers can deliver interactive lectures by gathering in one virtual space. Educational institutions can also use this software to help connect students with guest speakers or experts in a particular field.
• Online event organizers: These types of buyers can use audio conferencing software to host an event without the attendees having to be in the same room. This software can provide event organizers with the ability to hold live audio conferences, webinars, and various other events, as well as record and play these events back for later use. As it's much easier to organize online meetings, audio conferencing software helps organizers save time and money on travel and venue bookings.

Benefits of audio conferencing software

It's no secret that audio conferencing software has become a popular tool in the modern workplace due to its numerous benefits. Some of the most significant ones include:

• Efficient and time-saving: Suppose a meeting is scheduled for seven people at the same time, but one person is out of town and another isn't available until later. With audio conferencing software, those two individuals can simply join in when they become available and the meeting can proceed as planned.
• Convenient: With audio conferencing software, anyone can conduct a meeting from anywhere as long as they have access to a phone line or an internet connection. People can easily connect using their mobile phones rather than a business device, making attending meetings handy for everyone.
• Enhanced collaboration: By eliminating barriers due to geographical location, audio conferencing software enables people in different parts of the world to communicate easily, resulting in improved collaboration. This leads to better engagement, productivity, and business results.
• Highly secure: Security is of utmost importance as no business wants the risk of valuable and sensitive data falling into the wrong hands. Audio conferencing software uses identification, authentication, as well as authorization features to ensure absolute call security and confidentiality.

Key considerations for purchasing audio conferencing software

Choosing the right audio conferencing software can help your employees communicate and collaborate more effectively, taking your business to a whole new level. Here are a few significant factors to keep in mind while purchasing the software:

• Go for a mobile-friendly solution: For ease of accessibility, businesses are embracing mobile-adaptive solutions these days. You must look out for audio conferencing software that is optimized to work with mobile devices, allowing people to attend audio meetings with one-touch dial-in and passcode authentication options right from the comfort of their smartphones.
• Check for hybrid audio support: The mix of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) and the public switched telephone network (PSTN) within the same conference calling allows employees and third-party participants to use multiple connection options, making the communication seamless.
• Seek out security: Exchange of sensitive information during conference calls is a common practice businesses follow. Thus, it becomes crucial for them to choose the audio conferencing software with enterprise-grade security, encryption, and centralized IT administration so they can safeguard valuable company data.
• Look for integrations: To give employees the freedom and flexibility to communicate the way they want, you should invest in an audio conferencing system that offers seamless integration for your existing communication requirements. A good option is one that integrates with the most common business communication tools available in the market, plus offers support for web and video integrations.
• Support structure: Despite the numerous robust features of audio conferencing software, it is inevitable that you will encounter problems that require customer support. Therefore, you must lay emphasis on the support structure while choosing the audio conferencing software. The solution must provide in-meeting support, live chat, phone support, etc.
• Maximum number of participants: Even though this can vary depending on the software, be sure to check the maximum number of participants allowed by the audio conference software. Make sure to choose the software that can seamlessly meet all your communication needs without limiting the participants to join in.

Market trends to understand

The audio conferencing software market will continue to boom as remote work grows. Various new trends are emerging in the audio conferencing market with an increased focus on improving communication and team collaboration. Here’s one such driving trend:

• Unified-communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) adoption is skyrocketing - UCaaS is a cloud-delivered unified communication model that supports six communication functions, including telephony, meetings, messaging, mobility, and communication-enabled business processes. Amid the pandemic, UCaaS has boosted the level of online conferencing and communication services. In recent years, it’s been the preferred deployment model for SMBs. Businesses will continue to adopt UCaaS more and more as this trend continues to drive the market.

Note: The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.