When it comes to business communications, emerging channels like social media and video chat get a lot of ink – and deservedly so. But the tried-and-true ways of collaborating in the workplace persist, and in fact they are growing in usage. Nowhere is that more evident than in audio conferencing, which is still seeing impressive continued growth, driven in part by the rising adoption of unified communications (UC).

Audio conferencing is used for key applications like company-wide presentations, webinars, lectures and training events; but it’s also part-and-parcel of everyday business meetings, bringing together disparate and remote employees, partners and customers. Back in the pre-VoIP days (remember those?), a bridge had to be planned with a “reservation” made well in advance, and toll charges applied for every person dialing in. Can you imagine?

Today’s audio conferencing norm is clearly reservation-less and VoIP-based, and the combination of voice and on-the-fly bridging makes it a critical tool for supporting strategic business processes and collaboration. That’s why it’s still a sought-after tool for getting things done – even though it’s not as buzzy as some of the other collaboration channels out there.

Reservation-less service means that starting a call is as easy as dialing in and entering your conference ID number; so users are empowered to connect anyone, anytime with dedicated conference calling bridges. This alone increases ease-of-use (and adoption); but it’s the integration of conferencing with UC that boosts that value even further.

While standalone suites for audioconferencing are available, its inclusion in UC packages means that it can be seamlessly woven into the rest of the UC feature set: you can IM someone to join the bridge on the fly, or escalate a one-on-one call to conferencing with a click, all with support for IP phones, soft clients and mobile handsets. All of this goes to the improved user experience for team collaboration that remains at the heart of UC’s value proposition.

Plus, there’s no need to manage a separate contract, nor to deal with support and integration overhead with a third-party teleconferencing provider – and there aren’t any additional subscription or toll charges.

TPx’s industry-leading, award-winning UCx suite provides audio conferencing as a standard feature – meaning everyone in your company can have their own bridge. Reach out to your TPx representative today to find out how we can support all of your conferencing needs – and make collaboration easier and better.