How to Choose a Good Audio Conference Product
You may Start from 4 Aspects for the Assessment of an Audio Conference Product
Investigate the Requirements of you Conference
Many enterprises do not know the standard for selection product when selecting an audio conference product, instead, they only obtain information from advertisement or presentation of the sales personnel. Such an unfair mode of information communication has wasted a lot of cost and time of many enterprises and prevented them from getting better services. Therefore, to choose a good conference service, you are recommended to make clear your requirements for conference services from the following 4 aspects:
- Whether the conference is available anywhere at any time?
- Whether the audio quality is smooth and clear?
- Whether quality service and high stability are provided?
- Whether the security of conference services are guaranteed?
Select a Good Conference Service Provider
When selecting an audio conference provider, an enterprise often assess the providers from the following 2 aspects: interest momentum and significance. On the premise of interest momentum, an enterprise is more inclined to investment on reducing deployment and surveillance cost, etc., which have no direct value, such a consideration is mainly resulted from the case when the IT department has the capacity to provide supports in position. Therefore, easy maintenance, rapid implementation and reduced ability of personnel support have become the preferred factors to be assessed. As for significance, service quality of the ability of personnel support become key factors, and requirements for customized conference should also be satisfied.
| Cost and TCO | |
|---|---|
| Quality and Liability | |
| Safety Considerations for Collaboration with Partners and Clients | |
| Professional Quality and Manageability of the Service provider | |
| High Collaboration Ability and Strong Accessibility | |
| Ability to obtain service on demand or to provide service for use | |
| Ability to Integrate other Applications and Services | |
| Scope of collaboration, such as the ability in voice, data, video or mobility, etc.. | |
| Service management ability for performance, management, surveillance and portal |
Internal factors in an enterprise for measuring service providers
Wainhouse Research, the Professional independent surveyor of the US, is famous for being professional and authoritative. Wainhouse believes that a good audio conference provider should feature the following 4 aspects: Service quality and stability, accessibility, price and all-round service. Each option involves multiple considerations, including:
| Rules | Considerations |
|---|---|
| Service Quality and Stability | 1. Legal operation license 2. Provision of diffused deployment at home 3. Localized custom services 4. Professional communication network 5. Quality audio effect |
| Accessibility | 1. Quick process of conference initiation 2. Multilingual support 3. Professional applications 4. Quick enquiry of historical multimedia minutes |
| Price | 1. Telephone + web bundling price 2. Access number for local participation 3. International free phone service 4. Provision of multiple price packages including monthly fixed payment and payment upon duration. |
| All-round Service | 1. Customized audio conference service 2. Besides audio conference, does the operator provides data or video conference services |
Voice Quality and Cost assessment
Quality voice is the basic guarantee for information communication! Voice quality replies on the communication network of the operator. How to tell good quality from bad quality? In general, professional communication network is required because the Internet cannot ensure the voice quality. According to relevant researches, we can clearly feel the conversation unsmooth when the one-way voice transmission delay exceeds 150ms. The transmission via VoIP has the lowest cost but unsatisfactory quality, so different enterprises should choose products best suit themselves according to their stages of development.
Cost Comparison:
| Overseas Access Cost | Domestic Access Cost | Pricing Mode | Overhead Cost | |
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| National Telecom Operators |
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| International Operators | |
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| Other Chinese conference operators |
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| G-Net | |
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Quality comparison:
| Platform echo/Notice treatment | Online echo treatment | Personnel service,online gains | |
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| National Telecom Operators |
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| International Operators | |
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| Other Chinese conference operators |
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| G-Net | |
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Reliability comparison:
| Ability of online backup and disaster recovery |
System backup | IT management | Redundant capacity | |
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| National Telecom Operators |
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| International Operators | |
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| Other Chinese conference operators |
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| G-Net | |
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Assessment on Conference Management and Services
According to the survey of WR on clients, most enterprises of the world prefer all-round service providers instead of different providers for difference services when selecting audio conference service providers. It is clear that all-round service providers can provide clients with uniform services and individualized conference management besides price advantage.
Manageability comparison:
| Service manager delivery | Sustained training on users |
Reservation management tools |
Surveillance management tools |
大方数 management tools |
Online billing management |
Online service report |
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| National Telecom Operators |
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| International Operators | |
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| Other Chinese conference operators |
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| G-Net | |
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Comparison of conference services:
| Multilingual | SLA of different levels |
*0 online | Project management | Performance management | Surveillance management | Portal management | |
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| National Telecom Operators |
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| International Operators | |
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| Other Chinese conference operators |
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| G-Net | |
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What they say
G-Net is the only operator in China Mainland that is fully dedicated to the provision of top-grade audio and web conference services and has obtained the operation license from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The company has communication network for professional optimization of real-time communication at home as well as local numbers in many places around the world for conveniently serving foreign clients.
Wainhouse Research 2010