Convincing the Board to Use Your Conferencing Provider
Posted by Kathleen S on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 09:35 AM
As a professional in a nonprofit organization, you know there are many ways to help your organization save money, but convincing the board that you know a better way can be a challenge. Board members and executive directors have been in the nonprofit sector a long time and they have a certain way of doing things that they prefer. Hopefully, they are not still flying all over the country for meetings. If they are using web conferencing, have they chosen the best provider?
Many companies go with big names they know because it feels safe, even though those companies are charging too much money for too little service. All audio, Web and video conferencing solutions provide essentially the same tools. The trick is finding an affordable service with an intuitive design and excellent customer support.
The big names don’t have the monopoly on conferencing tools. The same services are available in most places, such as whiteboards, conference recording and instant messaging. So why does that service cost so much more from the big names?
Find out how much your organization is spending on a monthly conferencing plan and work out how much time is being spent on that plan. Do the math and you will find that there are other providers available for much less. Chart a graph showing what you spend now versus what you could be spending.
You will also need to point out times when problems arose with that big name plan. Point out how you need to download software to use the plan. These things can be avoided simply by choosing a browser-based provider with 24/7 live customer support.
Take your graph and these arguments with you to the board with a bullet list of benefits, savings and other ways the money could be better spent. Explain that the cheaper conferencing provider has all the same tools, but better support and a lower cost. Offer to hold a test conference so they can try it out and show them the superiority of the new service. It is likely they will at least agree to a 30 day trial. Once they have tried your new system and see how well it fares against the big names your organization will never switch back.
