Audio conferencing is still the most frequently used conferencing technology among organisations.
This was one of the biggest findings of a report released by the University of Cambridge in collaboration with British Telecom, called "Conversations, Conferencing and Collaboration: A US Investigation of Factors Influencing the Effectiveness of Distributed Meetings".
The study showed efficient speaker identification is crucial to a successful conference call, selected by 61% of those surveyed, while half (50%) said background noise caused comprehensibility issues.
Further, poor audio made it hard to understand who was speaking, what was being said and in what emotional tone. Poor sound quality puts pressure on participants' hearing and thinking capabilities, which can result in tiredness and impair concentration, as well as have a negative effective on secondary tasks such as note-taking.
Some 91% of businesses surveyed said audio conferencing is still the most frequently used conferencing technology. Almost all (96%) of the companies surveyed rated having good sound quality as the most important factor impacting effectiveness of conference calls, followed by using reliable conferencing technology (93%).
In an interview with ITWeb, Howard Dickel, CEO of BT Conferencing, said voice conferencing is still in demand in comparison to other technologies like video conferencing from an ease-of-use perspective.
"You don't need to book it in advance, or make sure you have a Web cam. It's easy to get started, and you don't need to be dressed up to do it. From a company perspective, audio conferencing is a simple and low-cost service. Video can require significant investment in equipment and in the networks used to deliver the service," says Dickel.
He notes that, with voice conferencing, productivity benefits are enormous, with everyday communication between global teams made possible. Travel time and costs are also reduced, with fewer face-to-face meetings necessary, he concludes.
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