Buyers Guide for IT: Shopping for

Quality Audio Conferencing

Do you receive complaints from your team that the quality of the online conferencing
technology being used in your organization isnt up to par? Are team members constantly
being disconnected during online conferences? Is online conferencing technology becoming
your worst enemy instead of a productivity or lead generation tool? Did you know? 100

billion minutes are spent on conference calls each year.3

Every conferenceonline or in personis an investment your

company makes of time, money and resources. Weak online
conferencing doesnt just affect business opportunities and time-tomarket; the burden of a poor conferencing solution has a direct
impact on you and your IT organization, which requires more time,
people and money to troubleshoot problems associated with that
technology.
A meeting outcome depends on two things: the quality of the
participants and the quality of the facilities. This buyers guides
focuses on the latter. Offline, those facilities are the meeting rooms and the equipment
available in them. Online, those facilities are web, audio and video conferencing solutions, and
the tools they provide. Conceptually, theres little difference. You wouldnt put your in-person
conference in a broom closet. Its too small, with poor acoustics, and primitive equipment. But
today, businesses still conduct their online conferences in the digital broom closet: using
inexpensive (or free) conferencing solutions.
Use this buyers guide to understand what you need to consider when shopping for an audio
conferencing provider.

1. Network Infrastructure
When considering different conferencing technology solutions, the network infrastructure
should be at the core of all purchasing decisions. Having a strong and reliable audio
infrastructure is crucial, and there are a variety of components that support it. When looking at
the network infrastructure, consider the type of network, redundancy, capacity and global reach
the provider offers.

1.1. Leveraging a Tier 1 Carrier Network

Top providers are leveraging tier 1 carrier networks to support high quality audio conferencing.
A tier 1 carrier network is a carrier who owns or controls sufficient portions of its underlying
network infrastructure to connect customers effectively.1 Tier 1 networks can peer with every
other tier 1 network without purchasing IP transit or paying settlements, which ultimately
reduces the amount of downtime end users experience.

Tier 1 providers can offer and meet market-leading SLAs (service-level agreements), which
promises a higher level of service and uptime for customers. If your organization is really
dedicated to having the best online conferencing technology, then you need to select a solution
that is leveraging a tier 1 carrier network.
1.2. Network RedundancyAccording to vtech, sound quality still plagues conference calls.
Office workers say the following have a major impact on the effectiveness of calls: 3
77% - good sound quality
78% - background noise
69% - call clarity

If you have ever experienced downtime in your organization, then

you know how detrimental it can be to your business. When looking
for the right online conferencing technology, always factor in the
importance of redundancy and security. Providers who value the
importance of redundancy and security will be able to ease your
mind by providing you with detailed information on where their
operations are housed or how they are monitored. They will also be
able to explain why they can promise more uptime and better
service.
Here are some key features you should look for when selecting an
online conferencing solution:
A quality online conferencing service has multiple
data paths across many Internet providers, which allows
data to travel along the shortest route and bypass downed
routes and Internet connection failures. This allows for the
fastest routes no matter where in the world meeting
participants are located.2
Another important feature to look for in an online conferencing technology is a
service that uses encrypted network paths to communicate with the central service, and
therefore, other meeting participants. A service that initiates a Secure Sockets Layer
(SSL) connection using HTTPS protocol will encrypt data sent over the connection,
which means that the message privacy and message integrity is maintained during that
secure session.
Some audio conferencing providers set up clients to have calls on a dedicated
set of bridges, but if there is some sort of technical issue either en-route or to the bridge,
the provider has to manually reroute the clients calls, which can cause a significant
amount of downtime. Instead, find a Level 3 provider or a provider that uses dynamic
call routing, which enables them to automatically reroute calls to another location when
there is a failure. Level 3s network is designed to continually evaluate the health of
each network route and the bridges. While a call in progress could potentially be
dropped due to a fiber cut, when affected callers dial back into their meeting or when
new callers dial in for their meeting, Level 3 will not continue routing the calls to the area
of failure. Rather, all parties will be automatically redirected to a new bridge allowing
them to quickly carry on with their business.
Dont be afraid to ask potential providers about their redundancy infrastructure and about their
track record. The companies who know what theyre doing will not only answer your questions,

but they will also be transparent about the problems theyve faced and the steps theyve taken
to fix those problems.

1.3. Capacity
Capacity planning can be tricky when it comes to online conferencing technology, and the right
provider will not only understand the challenges associated with it; they will be able to provide
you with a solution that effectively tackles those challenges.
When it comes to capacity planning, you not only have to think about your organizations size,
but you also have to think about your business scalability. Look for a provider that can offer
you the largest and most effective capacity plan for your audio conferencing software, but also
look for a provider who can easily scale with your business.
Here are some aspects of capacity planning your provider should be able to offer:
1. Top providers will have mechanisms in place to monitor for sudden growth and
usage spikes for client accounts. For example, when a bridge goes over 90% of
reserved ports, traffic should be able to be balanced effectively. If all the bridges reach
this usage threshold, the provider should be able to deploy additional ports to scale with
you.
2. Many providers will put new customers through an on-boarding process while
assessing the size and amount of projected minutes they will be using. Top providers
perform additional evaluations and project growth analyses with the client to ensure
they have ports to support the customer at all times.
3. Finally, top providers will monitor the number of subscriptions that were added or
removed from a given access number for each client. If the subscriptions increase
dramatically, then the provider can expect post usage to increase and planning
measures are initiated to support this.
Capacity planning is something you cant ignore. Use these as guidelines when choosing your
provider.

1.4. Global Reach

In todays digital world, employees, partners and clients could be anywhere. When trying to
work together, the last thing an organization needs is for their online conferencing technology
to be a limitation to connectivity.
Finding a provider that has a global reach is imperative to success. Top providers will have a
geographically dispersed architecture so that users can connect virtually anywhere, and this
also supports worldwide disaster recovery, protection and reliability.

2. Features

Online conferencing technology should also offer a variety of features that can support
everyday productivity. Here are some key features you should know and ask about when
searching for the right conferencing partner.

2.1. Audio Types

Audio quality is the most important feature for users.
Online conferencing comes in different forms; the most common
among them being VoIP, broadcast audio streaming and traditional
telephony. Top providers will be able to offer all of these in an
affordable package with a high quality promise.
Heres a breakdown of each and why each are important:
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) delivers reliable, high quality audio using a
computers microphone and speakers. This method is a modern way to incorporate a
hybrid audio experience by using a combination of a traditional phone with VoIP for
remote users. This option is popular because it combines voice, data and video all into
one experience.
Broadcast audio streaming is used though the users computer speakers
supported by an operator, which allows participants to listen over the web or dial in with
a telephone. This form is used mostly for webinars, training or digital classrooms.
Broadcast audio is a one-way type of communication for participants when using a
phone is not convenient, and it is also a way to create a non-disruptive atmosphere for
learning.
Traditional telephony includes toll, toll-free and dial-out connections. This
feature is generally combined with other forms of audio conferencing. This audio type
enhances the benefits offered by Internet-based technology, and it is beneficial for large
conference calls and online meetings.
A full-service provider should and will have each of these options available.

2.2. Connection Options

Different audio types also means different connection options, including connecting via
computer, mobile apps or telephone. The key is to find a provider that will support the
operating systems, browsers, software and mobile devices your organization uses so that
functionality and collaboration is seamless.
Most providers support Microsoft Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh, along with supporting
browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. When connecting
through mobile devices, meeting participants can download the provider app or most
recordings can be played by Apple and Android devices. Users can also make connections
through a traditional audio type, such as the telephone.

Source: http://www.readytalk.com/support-training/documents/readytalk-system-requirements

The goal is to be able to connect anywhere, everywhere and seamlesslythe right provider for
you will make it easy.

2.3. Web Portals

Every online conferencing software needs a corresponding web portal. If you are conducting
meeting with a large group of participants, audio conferencing can be difficult to manage, but
having a web portal for meeting management will everyones lives easier. Integrating with the
online conferencing dashboard during audio conferencing will help you:

manage the number of participants on the call and their dial-in numbers,
adjust muting and unmuting capabilities,
identify where disruptive background noise is coming from,
connect new participants to your conference and
set your conference to listen-only mode or set up call continuation.

Using the web to manage audio calls will help build better awareness of who has dialed into
the call before it has even begun. This feature will help give your company peace of mind
during the meeting because they will be able to see what is going on at all times.

2.4. International Coverage

A digital world means that the workplace can be anywhere. On a global scale, that means
businesses need to be able to collaborate and connect seamlessly through online
conferencing technology. A quality provider will offer users international toll-free, toll and dialout numbers. This will allow users to connect quickly and efficiently with any participant
worldwide.

3. Customer Support
Network infrastructure and features aside, the other most important factor to your online
conferencing solution selection should be customer support. There are a number of questions
you should be asking when selecting a provider:

Is operator-assisted support available if you need it or want it?

Operator-assisted support ensures that audio conferences run smoothly so that you can focus
on the call instead of the technology. The operator will manage people coming in, muting and
unmuting participants as needed and the overall operations of the call. In audio conferences
with more than 150 participants, an operator-assisted meeting is recommended to keep the
meeting distraction-free.
Finding a provider that offers this service will help you stay productive during large scale
meetings and webinars, along with taking another item off your plate so that you dont have to
troubleshoot issues or manage the connection.
Is there 24/7 support? Can your employees call them directly? Are the participants on
your employees calls supported as well?
Meetingsonline and offlineare the bedrock of collaboration, and they need to be
supported.
Top providers will not only have 24/7 support, but they will provide support in a variety of ways,
including phone, email or online conferencing. Documentation, live training sessions and
integrations should be offered as well.
Furthermore, top providers will make it easy for every participantregardless of whether they
are an employee or external partyto reach out to support and resolve any problems they are
experiencing.
How does the provider handle the transition to a new technology?
Theres an understandable concern that transitioning to a new conferencing solution becomes
a giant resource vacuum, imposing burdens on IT and other resources for provisioning,
configuration, setting up user accounts and other administration and user tasks.
Top providers make it easy for you to transition to their software, making the technology
intuitive and providing the right resources to your team upfront. And transitioning shouldnt be a
black hole for your IT team; instead, it should be easy for your to get started immediately.
_____________________________
Finding the right online conferencing technology for your business can be tough. Use this
guide to identify the criteria for purchasing and start comparing different providers. This
checklist will make it easier for you to find the solution thats right for you.
Hosting a webinar shouldnt be rocket science. Audio and web conferences arent brain
surgery. And, customer care shouldnt include a system of beeps and prompts. Technology
should be user friendly, reliable and supported by a team of professionals, which is exactly
what ReadyTalk delivers.
ReadyTalk provides audio and web conferencing services that are reliable and easy to use, so
you can focus on the substance of the meeting, not the technology behind it.
Request a free trial today.

Sources:
1. http://www.networkworld.com/article/2330793/lan-wan/what-is-a-tier-1carrier-.html
2. https://na3.salesforce.com/sfc/p/#500000007Zge/a/500000008g0O/LAm.TpahW
ZDSIzTf47kl6bN77C073mN1IuxPhh1NI6Y
3. http://www.zdnet.com/article/conferencing-loud-clear-infographic/