Conferencing Service Provider PGi Demonstrates Its Commitment to Connection during the Colorado Wildfires

For the last week, devastating wildfires have ravaged more than 29 square miles of the Colorado terrain. Tens of thousands have been displaced – including PGi’s Colorado Springs office, which received a mandatory evacuation order. And while the security of its team members remains a top priority, PGi is also determined to preserve on-going quality service to its customers.

PGi meticulously designed an in-depth crisis plan – already in place – that includes several offices as mirror sites that allows processes and communications to be seamlessly routed to another in the event one is compromised. This puts PGi in a position to provide at or near 100% redundancy in the face of emergency scenarios.

Rallying together, PGi associates from around the world are uniting in the effort to address customer needs. PGi’s dedicated IT team has been working around the clock to ensure all customers continue to experience both uninterrupted service and support. Worldwide, associates are taking on vital roles in the provider’s IT crisis plan response as well as responding to the considerably higher call volumes throughout the week.

More About PGi

PGi is a leading provider of audio, web and video meeting solutions. Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, PGi has established a strong customer base and is building the next generation of online meetings that are focused on making user experiences simpler and more intuitive. PGi’s award-winning video, audio and web conferencing products bring over 17 million people together in nearly 4 million meetings – every month – helping many of the smallest and largest businesses around the globe become more efficient, mobile and eco-friendly. Moreover, with more than 1,700 employees and a global reach to 25 countries, PGi serves over 35,000 customers and 75% of the Fortune 100.

About Conference Shopper

Here at Conference Shopper we represent and work with the top video, web and audio conferencing providers in the industry in order to find you the best possible solution for your business. You can rest assured knowing that all of our partners have meet strict guidelines in terms of their commitment to the quality of products and services, pre and most customer sales/service support, network and financial stability and competitive pricing.

If you are interested in finding the ideal audio, web or video conferencing solution for your business, give one of our professional account managers a call today!

Audio and Web Conferencing Services Keep Companies Competitive Inside and Outside the Office

Today, an ever-increasing number of employees in all aspects of business are calling for a greater freedom of choice in regard to where and how they work. And frankly it makes sense; by allowing your staff to conduct their daily operations from multiple locations, your business not only becomes more efficient and competitive, but you also lower your overheads.

Statistics indicate that expanding collaboration and UC across your enterprise can bring as much as two hours extra of productive work per day from your staff. And according to a recent Cisco Connected World Technology report, more than 200 million employees around the globe will take advantage of employer-provided conferencing services by 2015.

The good news for you: the technology is already here, and it is leaps and bounds from where it once was during the early pioneer days of conferencing. Modern audio and web conferencing services provide a powerful and economical alternative to traditional in-person meetings. Forget the weeks of planning, and booking and paying for expensive flights, car rentals, hotel rooms, meals, per diems, etc.; conferencing services eliminate the costs and wait, letting you meet with one, one hundred, one thousand or more attendees whenever, wherever, and any device you choose (tablets and smartphones included).

For example, PGi’s iMeet solution offers an easy, personal way for you to meet with your customers and/or employees. PGi understands that work should not take time away from your personal life, and has designed iMeet to eliminate the hassle. As a result, iMeet is extremely user-friendly – you only need to see it once to understand it – and offers real time video for a more engaging experience with your attendees.
Each attendee gets an individual cube that glows green when he or she speaks to avoid the familiar “wait, who just said that?” confusion, and offers bios and links to participants social networking sites for a more comprehensive end-user experience. Documents, files and Power Point presentations can be uploaded, presented and distributed among the group, and meeting rooms are customizable to suit your needs. Moreover, because iMeet can call-out to you and your participants to join a conference, the days of having to remember your dial in number(s) and password(s) are long gone.

Additional Information


For more information on conferencing services provided by PGi or any other one of today’s leading conferencing providers, give one of our professional account managers a call today!

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Audio and Web Conferencing Etiquette and Best Practices

As business’s travel budgets continue to shrink in today’s tough economic times, a growing number of companies come to find that audio conferencing and web conferencing are a cost efficient method of communicating and collaborating with those who are unable to meet in-person. Recent studies have indicated that over the next decade, conferencing services could amount to more than 10% of external travel, and an impressive 70% of internal travel. According to Bernstein Research, this could result in a collective 21% reduction of corporate travel.

When used effectively, conferencing services are a valuable tool that allows users to interact with all participants, permitting stronger involvement and communication. With that being said, however, virtual conferences also pose a few unique challenges. For instance, with a large number of participants it can be difficult determining who is speaking, let alone managing the meeting. Moreover, the growing number of devices as well as the combination of video and audio can render conference communication inconsistent across attendees. Thankfully, advancements in modern conferencing technologies help to combat many of these issues, such as PGi’s iMeet solution, which provides each participant with an individual cube that, when somebody talks, glows green.

Research has shown that 55% of communication is expressed via nonverbal clues, while 38% comes from the tone of our voice and only 7% from our words. So if you are relying on an audio-only conference, the collaboration and interpersonal dynamics that you would find in an in-person meeting are likely lost. What’s more is that creating a team structure and building trust is much more of a challenge when participants cannot see each other, and a lack of nonverbal clues leaves much room for misinterpretation.

To help eliminate these potential problems, we’ve compiled a list of best practices for your future audio and web conferences:

Prior to your conference

• Limit your total number of participants for easier meeting management
• Create and distribute a conference agenda to all participants that identifies your meeting goals
• Email copies of your presentation documents as a backup in the event of a technical problem

During your conference video

• Introduce all participants
• Establish rules for proper meeting etiquette, such as identifying yourself before speaking, using the mute button to eliminate distracting background noise, etc.
• Limit the length of your conference; the longer it is, the more likely your participants will lose focus and begin to multitask
• Realize that all of your participants might not have the advantage of seeing your nonverbal clues, so to avoid a misunderstanding, your content and tone of voice should be carefully chosen

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Conferencing Services - Audio and Web Conferencing to Increase Company Sales

While it might not apply to everything, the phrase, “bigger is better” often rings true in the world of sales. That’s not to say that all customers are won over by a company’s luxury office, 3-D business cards or any of the other “frills” that a well-known brand can provide, but start-up companies and SMBs can find it difficult to be taken seriously when competing against a company that can. Since start-ups and SMBs do not have the capital that larger, more established enterprises do, they need to get more creative when it comes to keeping up with the competition.

One of the easiest ways this can be accomplished is by integrating an audio or web conferencing service. Beyond all the bells and whistles, truly savvy start-up and SMB owners have learned that the best return on their money can be found by investing resources in audio and web conferencing technology. Audio and web conferencing technologies allow even the smallest company to expand their customer base to areas they otherwise would not be able to afford by making themselves available both vocally and visually to current and potential customers across the globe.

What’s more is that not only are audio and web conferencing services easy-to-use, but they are no longer limited to the office boardroom or desktop computer. Today’s leading providers of conferencing solutions offer applications that make meetings available on laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other favored devices. This freedom allows you to arrange a meeting wherever and whenever you see it fit.

There might be times when you require a more effective form of communication than an audio-only conference can require. For example, if you are working on making a sales pitch, creating a new logo, launching a product, a simple audio-only conference might not cover all the bases. Enter: web conferencing. Web conferencing allows you to share your ideas, documents, presentations – even your own desktop – with your audience in real-time.

When it comes to web conferencing, most software is already compatible with your current computers or devices, provided they have (or you can purchase) a microphone and webcam – providing a benefit that exponentially outweighs its cost. By eliminating the need for expensive phone plans or pricey specialized equipment, more of your capital is freed up for other expenses or investments.

To find out more, give one of our professional account managers a call today!

Source: Conferencing Services