The Conference Coach™

My blog post this week about InterCall caused quite a stir.  My position on how they treat their customers and what they have now become remains unchanged.  However, I’d like to take a moment and acknowledge both InterCall and AT&T for changing how businesses communicate.

AT&T was the only game in town in the conferencing industry for quite a while.  When we started InterCall in 1991, they were the company to beat, given they had about 95% of the market.  When I started calling on companies, I wondered if we could face down that giant who could crush us anytime they wanted to.  What we found is that AT&T was disinterested, unrepentant and didn’t seem to care if their customers went somewhere else.  They kept prices high, their service clunky, and were very difficult to do business with.  Thank you AT&T for giving us the opportunity to show people that there was a better way to do business and it didn’t cost a fortune.  You helped launch an entire industry.

Now to InterCall.  I think this company helped transform how companies communicate.  Conferencing, initially audio conferencing, was brought to companies that had never used it before, primarily with their sales operations.  Using conferencing has totally changed how managers works with their employees.  It used to be that directives came down from management and employees did as they were told.  Conferencing has allowed groups of employees to share their ideas, collaborate, give input and be part of the decision process.  It totally transformed how businesses operate and how employees are treated.

So, thank you InterCall for showing businesses that they could run their field organization more efficiently and more collaboratively.  And thank you again, for becoming just like AT&T.  For every customer you fail to satisfy, for every price you raise without notice, for every hidden charge, for every complex invoice, you make companies like Copper Conferencing possible.  Yes, you are way bigger than we are.  But just like in the early days of InterCall, we have a living example of how we can thrive when you forget who brought you to the party.  Thank you.