Speek.com: A Highly Useful Tool for Small Businesses

Published on May 31, 2013

Small business owners, big company employees, and independent contractors are all subjected to the inevitable conference call.  Conference calls are relatively simple, in theory - everyone calls in at the right time with the right information and a successful communicative conference call ensues.  However, there is a lot that can get lost in the shuffle.  You have to first co-ordinate a time that everyone is available to conference, which entails planning far enough in advance (and then hope that everyone remembers), select a provider (a host service for the call), send out PIN numbers, passwords... there is a lot that can get lost, and too often the call starts late, if at all, while everyone sorts our the details.

Enter Speek.com.  In place of a personal phone number, Speek provides the user with a simple link (like speek.com/geek, or speek.com/johndoe) as the conference call source.  You can then e-mail the link, text it, or put it directly in a calendar invite (we prefer Google Calendar).  Then the attendees visit the link either from a computer or a smart phone, enter their own phone number or text Speek their name, and then Speek will conference everyone together.

During the call, Speek has some cool features that aren't possible with a normal conference call:

 

Speek highlights names of who is speaking and allows you to share files- On-screen icons indicating who is part of the conference call are highlighted when they are talking

- You are able to share files directly within the call by dragging and dropping them on-screen

- Accessibility to the call from smart phones or computers, without any download necessary

Speek eliminates the amount of "pre-arranged" information needed and leads to an overall more functional and efficient conference call.  Being online-based, it is easy to share information and files during a call, rather than as a follow-up to a call.  We find it makes work conferences more timely, efficient, and organized.  If you'd like some more information on how to set this up for your company or how it works for us, send us an e-mail or give us a call!