I have long envied those in the voice conferencing business. Hell, even while the perceived value of a long distance call stands at almost zero and with mobile minutes rapidly following suit, the conference call rambles on as a voice service many expect – and seem ok – to pay for. In spades.
Free conference call vendors have created some disruption in this market, yet businesses everywhere still pay per minute fees that generate healthy margins for legacy-like conferencing services…apparently for the peace of mind that it will work. And, of course, because they facilitate high-value business processes.
More remarkable though, given the multi-billion dollar value of this industry, is the relatively few new entrants or product breakthroughs we’ve witnessed in recent history. On the surface, voice conferencing – with its dial-in numbers, pin numbers and metered pricing – looks and smells pretty much as it did ten (and maybe more) years ago.
There is no intent here to bash those in the conferencing market. Leading providers have surely implemented their share of advancements. Still, when compared to other tech segments, too few upstarts have tried to break ranks:
- A startup in Vancouver created an interface that turned the conference bridge into an IM Buddy; ‘ping’ it with phone numbers of conference participants, and presto everyone would be called and connected. Pretty neat, but they soon found that out-dial conferencing introduced user experience problems – and, that selling conventional services to enterprises otherwise served by telco’s, rendered better revenues.
- Long-time telecom entrepreneur Brian McConnell seemed ahead of his time with a platform called RadioHandi several years back. The focus was on internationalizing dead easy group communications. But the company was sold to VirtualPBX, and his long-range vision never quite materialized.
- Voyces colleague Alec Saunders has done his part by introducing flat rate voice conferencing around the world at Calliflower (along with other collaboration tools), a packaging strategy that has surely served him and his customers well.
- The guys at PhoneTag introduced Poketypoke, a service out to eliminate the plague that is getting to a conference call on time, and remembering the dial-in strings.
- A handful of mobile apps are trying their hand at bettering conferencing. No doubt, the mobile platforms offer a unique environment to develop an improved ad-hoc conferencing experience.
Ironically, this whole conferencing rant was motivated by the least likely of innovators – Verizon – who this week launched a series of Group Communications packages. Intended as a value added service (VAS), this Kodiak Networks-powered solution offers both a family and enterprise solution promising to change the way we group communicate. It creates a virtual space in the cloud, with which pre-configured sets of contacts can easily connect using multi-way voice, instant voice messaging and even texting.
It makes sense that Service Providers offer VAS targeting family group communications, to grow ARPU and retention rates. What is yet untested is whether consumers will add $5 to their phone bill for what amounts to new-age conferencing. Either way it’s encouraging to see a mass-marketer taking a run at this sleeping giant.
So will there be a Voice Conferencing 2.0? Or do legacy providers have ample control such that newcomers cannot easily enter? Or perhaps, as is, it’s just not broken enough. I’d say the market is ripe for creative – and open – solutions. Web 2.0 and the social networking revolution are creating distribution prospects: Apart from the obvious mass-market or vertical social networking sites, collaboration hubs and even solutions like sports team management portals and family task and scheduling applications form natural starting points for group communication behavior.
And you. What do you think?
ZipDX, led by David Frankel, an early pioneer from the computer telephony days, has been doing some innovative work with high definition conferencing centered around Polycom’s IP phones. His service offers high fidelity audio, PINless dial in (I think using Caller ID to recognize callers as they arrive) and a number of other useful features. It’s not free, but you get what you pay for. I recommend it as a solution for business conferencing whenever I get stuck on a conference call on one of the old systems.
Thank you Brian for telling us about David. Seems quite innovative, indeed.
How you could approach this topic without considering the matter of call quality is beyond me. Conference calling is clearly an area where HDVoice shines.
I cannot say enough good things about ZipDX. The call quality is outstanding. The feature set is large and well considered. The conference management console exemplary.
ZipDX recently launched conference transcription services, with two options; one wholly automated and another done by humans. They also incorporated desktop sharing.
David takes a pragmatic approach to adding features that bring real value to the service, not just adding an iPhone app because its cool.
Michael – yes HDVoice merits mentioning. As I wrote it I was thinking more about innovations – in some format – that will or would have pushed people to change behavior (or provider). Do you think that HDVoice is now there, where it compels people to choose one service over another?
Yes, HDVoice can very possibly drive the choice of provider. At issue is the fact that most people simply don’t know what they’re missing. If they can get it demo’d then they often want the improved call quality.
There can be issues of accessibility, but the current crop of services do a good job of overcoming these. ZipDX will call out to me at a PSTN number that I’ve entered into my account profile. Because I’m on a hosted PBX even though they call me via a PSTN number the call can be wideband.
HDVoice alone doesn’t drive adoption. The conference features and admin tools need to be up to scratch. But all other things being equal, call quality matters.