Those in the IT departments are constantly being challenged to help incorporate the newest technology in web and  audio conference tools into their overall company platform. Being able to seamlessly make the various tools work so that teams can meet remotely and share ideas and meet while not physically being in the same location. They also need to keep these channels secure so that no matter what business information is shared there is little chance that it can be accessed by competitors.

With so many communication channels now available like through smartphones and the internet being able to deploy audio conference solutions that have a mix of collaboration and interaction is the latest technology challenge. If you have been on a conference call in the past 6 months more than likely you have been given access to the content via an online sharing tool or web conference solution. It is well known that plain conference calls have less impact if they are over thirty minutes if there is no interactive part of the presentation. We have all been on those calls where they ask for feedback and there is nothing but silence. It is so easy to get side tracked and people will multi-task while on an audio conference call. So the challenge for the company and it’s technology staff is to offer solutions that will enable your teams to access the call and have the content visible. This is where the latest smartphones are starting to play a big role or even the latest explosion in tablets that allow you to join in an audio and video conference no matter where your team is located. There are experts in this field that specialize in Audio and Web conferencing solutions at the Conference Group that will help you set up and host many of the hardware and software solutions for your company. They take all the guess work out of setting up the call and allow you and your team to focus on the business needs and results. While bringing this in-house sounds like a good propositions the costs and expense to get everything up and running may outweigh the cost to simply outsource to experts like those at the Conference Group who live in this space 24/7.

I have also uncovered some good sites that are dedicated to help you draw in capital investors and are looking at investing in growing brands. These sites are devoted to the start up business that is looking for partners and possible opportunities. The site is broken down into various resources for those looking for potential opportunities, recruit talent, and get expert advice. So if you are a start up business then you will want to check them out and take advantage of all the resources and connections that they have to offer. For both our local and international readers these resources can be very valuable to your overall business success.

You will also need a business plan and understanding of your customers so that when investors do look at your proposal you will have hard data to show the potential success. As you gather your information this will help customers identify with your offerings and create that space in their mind for the types of products and services that you offer. To target your customers you will need to have a high level metrics system set up that can capture the location and other demographic information so that when your customers visit your website it will appeal to their tastes. A great little addition that I have seen is where the script that is running in the background can determine a location of an IP and then create a welcome to that person with that specific city. You have now personalized their experience and they are more likely to come back.

Since most people on the internet have email why not use that vehicle to keep them up to date on your blog and keep them coming back. There are several companies that offer a way in which to easily publish and manage your RSS feeds through email. The great thing is that most are free to sign up for and can be easily integrated into any blog. Having a company that you can partner with to provide email analytics will help to make sure that the contacts you do receive are valid and can be maximized. Then having them to develop a series of RSS feeds and newsletters you can systematically role out new services and products to your customers. We would look to use this to push content out to our customers when we get a new service or some new content that they would be interested. Several of the companies that we use offer you the blogger some great reporting tools to understand how many subscribers you have, who is reading your emails, and much more. They are all Spam compliant as end users must opt-in to receive the emails. With companies like Omniture they can help deploy marketing automation software for your business in order to help you stay connected with your customers through customary channels like email and provide a 24/7 response to your existing and new customers.

The nice thing about the site is that they are not trying to push one avenue in which to make money. They are not making any outrageous claims to try and get you to send money for your trial offer. (Sound Familiar)They offer up several options so you can find one that may be right for you. At the end of the day you have to love what you do and the money will come. If you are dreading the work the money won’t be worth it. Please let us know what has worked for you and let others give their opinion.