Nick Imrie aims to free up conference call fees

Sep 10 2010 by John Hill, The Journal

MANY businesses now use conference calls frequently to talk to clients and strike important deals - but at what cost?

Those that use the service are becoming increasingly aware of the savings available in not travelling to meetings, but are often stung by premium call charges and confusing tariffs.

North East entrepreneur and 21st Century Media founder Nick Imrie aims to undercut the culture of charges in the industry by co-founding 03Talk, which offers basic no-fee conference services with an option to add extra features at a monthly cost.

Imrie is working with Zimo Communications CEO Kieron James to develop the service, which uses Ofcom-registered phone numbers that are included in the provider’s bundled minutes.

Imrie said: “Lots of companies have woken up to the benefits of conference calling and conferencing companies have not really kept up. Many are deliberately keeping their pricing models unclear.

“I think the modern business consumer should have a very clear view of what a tool is costing them. We’ve got a big job to do out there to combat some of the perceptions about telecoms companies, that they never really tell you what they’re doing and what they’re charging.

“We have to say that we’re not like other telecoms companies. We set out to make things crystal clear. I want people to have a service that’s free to use, and if they want to pay small amounts for additional features they know what they’re getting.”

According to statistics from Wainhouse Research and UniComm Consulting, the number of bridged audio conferencing minutes clocked worldwide jumped by 55% worldwide between 2006 and 2008, approaching nearly 60 billion minutes. However, Imrie said his conversations with small to medium enterprises uncovered frustrations over the fact that conference calls are often charged at premium rates that are subject to increase, cost more for mobile phones and are not priced in an accessible way.

Imrie said: “It was always more expensive than I thought it should be. I found out from SMEs that a lot of people didn’t know what they were paying. When they found out they were using premium rate lines a lot of people were shocked. There’s a general criticism of mobile and landline companies. For example, why is O2’s business tariff booklet hundreds of pages long? The impression of the industry is that it’s all about smoke and mirrors.

“We’re saying that should be as free as it can possibly be. That’s where we’re being disruptive and we’re probably not going to be well liked for it. I think the conference call market should have a shake-up and people should know what they’re paying. If you use conference calling, you’re more likely to want advanced features from there. Our method is to supply a very good basic service, but if you want to do something like record a conference for exit interviews or a pitch, it’s in these features that we’ll charge a monthly fee.”