Do you need a speakerphone in your conference room? And if so, do you prefer the high-end features of an advanced Polycom speakerphone?
You probably answered “yes” to both questions. Most businesses, even small ones, need to conduct teleconferences at least occasionally. Conference calls bring multiple people together, wherever they are, to brainstorm and problem-solve in a way that’s efficient and cost-effective. They’re essential to keeping everyone “on the same page” in your organization and in keeping your business agile.
But low-quality speakerphones make it difficult to understand what others are saying — defeating the conference call’s purpose. These teleconferences often end up being frustrating and a waste of everyone’s time.
Until recently, high-quality speakerphones required an expensive infrastructure to support them. Typically, to use a top-notch Polycom Conference Phone and other branded speakerphones, you’d have needed an advanced, office-wide PBX system with VoIP lines and subscription fees, which sometimes cost $400 to $500 per month.
Thankfully, all that’s changed. Today, you can combine a cloud-based contact center like MightyCall, which is easy to install and use, with top-notch speakerphones from Polycom and other vendors. It’s a much more affordable set-up overall, but you still get the benefits of a high-end phone system.
For example, Polycom’s VoiceStation 500 conference phone connects to smartphones, computers, and other devices via Bluetooth. This makes it easy to use your Bluetooth-enabled iPhone or Android phone to conduct teleconferences in a meeting room or office. MightyCall works with your existing smartphones, office, or VoIP phones without requiring any new equipment or special services.
Polycom’s VoiceStation 500 costs about $345 new, though I’ve seen it for $335 at Amazon and $300 from FactoryOutletStore.com. The Polycom VoiceStation 500 is ideal for conferences of three to four people (in the same room).
Though Polycom is the gold standard of conference call phones, you might also consider the Bluetooth-enabled Philips WeCall AECS7000/37 ($150) and Logitech P710e ($130) speakerphones.
The important takeaway: A small businesses doesn’t need to spend a lot of money every month to conduct enterprise-quality conference calls.
