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Conference Bridge

By Ray Lam
Aug 8, 2008
Whether you are the owner of a multi-million dollar corporate company or operate a small family business, utilising the benefits of an audio conference bridge requires little effort and time to connect all parties to your conference call.

Conference calls are usually initiated by one caller who contacts the other participants one at a time connecting each person to the call. Having access to your own conference call bridge will eliminate this lengthy and sometimes expensive process. A conference bridge will enable callers to dial a specific phone number and security code which will connect them directly to the conference call. This way it is not left up to one person to contact all participants. Many conference bridges have different options and advanced features to suit your needs.

The conference bridge was developed to eliminate this time consuming and (in the case of long-distance calls) costly process. The bridge serves as a hub for several callers to connect to via a specific telephone number and security code so that instead of a single user contacting all of the participants the participants can all connect themselves to the conference. A number of conference bridges also have advanced features including scheduling software integrated into the unit and an autodialer that can be programmed to automatically contact all of the conference participants at the same time.

By utilizing a conference bridge for calls, companies can save time in getting everyone connected and get right to the heart of the business at hand. A bridge featuring a scheduler and autodialer can increase this productivity even more by organizing conference calls across multiple time zones if necessary and automatically contacting the various offices, agents, and clients who are scheduled to take part in the call. This can be especially useful for those businesses who regularly conference with clients, as it saves the client the trouble of dialing in to the bridge and eliminates any potential long distance charges that the client might otherwise incur.

While there are a number of service providers who will organize multi-party calls via a conference bridge, if your business regularly has need of these services then you will be able to save money in the long run by purchasing your own conference bridge and scheduling the calls in-house. Of course, it's important that you shop around and compare the various options which are available to you in order to find the bridge that will best meet the needs of your company at a price that isn't excessive. Consider the size of your company's average conference calls and whether the participants are branch offices, freelancers and agents, or clients; this will help you to determine the number of connections that your bridge will need to be able to handle as well as whether you would be better served with a basic bridge that users can call in to or if you should instead purchase one with autodialer features and scheduling software. You may also wish to make sure that the bridge you are considering is compatible with both standard public telephone systems and Voice Over Internet Protocol systems, as VOIP systems are becoming much more common in business and you'll want to make sure that the bridge you purchase will be useful to you in the long term.
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