Until recently, “innovation” was not a word associated with audio conferencing. It has seen very little change since its introduction in the 1980s because Ma Bell kept it hidden away in her remote call centers. Enough engineering was done to offer some basic services, but everything else was done manually and users paid a premium. As a result, medium and small businesses rarely used it. The good news to emerge from this grim story is that a populist revolution has begun.

As the decades passed, Ma Bell’s austere audio conferencing services conditioned users to have low expectations. When AT&T was sold in the mid-1980s, the Baby Bells repeated the practices with very few changes other than the no reservation call that issued a permanent call in PIN and 800 number. The current tariff for services has not progressed from here .

What’s crazy about this circumstance is that we discerning consumers in general stopped wondering long ago if audio conferencing could work better. We had been beaten up so badly by Ma Bell’s drill sergeants that we just lined up, mug in hand.

Audio conferencing has never had a technological champion. Historically, the market leader was lethargic AT&T, whose once-innovative Bell Labs dabbled in web technologies and then fell apart. The Baby Bells continued this tradition. Therefore, the industry has never had an innovative champion. A new generation of business innovators is starting a populist revolution.

The cornerstone of innovation is being able to provide more services at lower cost. The convergence of phone and web technologies enables a richer user experience. However, this convergence is easier with two-way phone calls, but much more complicated with audio conferencing. Each conference call is unique. One conference call may have 10 participants while the next has 400. Regular telephone switches and Internet routers cannot “bridge” such calls. This requires specialized audio conferencing technologies.

Web 2.0 audio conferencing has finally brought the benefits of web-based services. In contrast to same-old-same-old, these services allow functions such as:

1. group call-With a tap on your iPhone calling 10, 50 or 100 people at once without having to notify them, send a PIN and dial a number, set a time, wait for stragglers, etc.
2. Add participants “on the fly” – Add additional participants while a conference call is in progress without interrupting the conversation.
3. Registry – Get an MP3 recording of your weekly sales training to provide new hires.
4. web console – Web controls for online contact lists, call monitoring, video training, help, technical support, account details and billing.
5. Security and Privacy – Ability to easily select the appropriate privacy level to prevent intruders on important calls or where required by privacy rules (such as HIPAA).

None of the above features were available with traditional services. Why? It is the nature of technologies. Traditional phones consist of connecting wires with switches. Web technologies consist of managing “data packets” that pass through routers. Furthermore, traditional telephone networks are regulated by the government, while Internet systems are not. All of these differences create technologies that have historically been apples and oranges. None of the big players were investing in audio conferencing research and development until intrepid entrepreneurs began looking at this communications problem in the late 1990s.

Web 2.0 audio conferencing combines the best of both worlds. However, keep in mind that many old-fashioned audio conferencing providers are building websites in front of their traditional, aging boxes, pretending to be connected to the web and luring you in with all sorts of “bait and switch.” “Bargains. Cheap is no good if it hurts your productivity and that of the people you want to meet. The cost of people’s time is your biggest expense, not the small cost of your audio conferencing minutes. Invest in your productivity. Be forewarned he is cautious.

For more information, please Google “Web 2.0 Audio Conferencing”.

© Copyright 2010. Leader Phone® and Michael McKibben. All rights reserved.