Weather conditions spike use of InterCall conferencing solutions

CHICAGO (February 09, 2011) – Despite crippling weather conditions, school closures, thousands of canceled flights and treacherous roads forcing people to stay at home, it was business as usual for many companies during snow storms this January. According to emergency officials, the record snowfall and blizzard conditions have affected one in three Americans – and most of them likely continued to work and expected to remain connected with their colleagues.

InterCall, the world’s largest conferencing services provider, surveyed its customers and learned that the storms on January 12 and 27 drove an increase of over 3.3 million InterCall conferencing minutes in the northeast. In that region, the storms contributed to a 29 percent increase in conferencing minutes over the average January business day.

Additional findings include:

• The number of InterCall conferencing minutes in New Jersey over the two snow storm days went up by 37 percent, the highest increase of any state surveyed.
• Throughout Connecticut and New York, InterCall conferencing minutes increased by 33 percent over these same days.
• The cities of Newark and Philadelphia also had substantial spikes in their dependence on conference solutions with a minute increase of 33 percent and 32 percent, respectively, on January 12 and 27.

In today’s mobile workforce, people depend on conferencing and collaboration technologies to stay in touch. Conferencing enables workers around the world to collaborate without traveling, saving businesses time and money while increasing worker productivity. Therefore, service providers like InterCall play an integral role in helping to keep companies connected at all times.

“These findings confirm the important role that technology plays in our everyday lives,” said Kathleen Finato, senior vice president of marketing and product marketing, InterCall. “Our conferencing solutions can help businesses and their employees remain connected and productive despite the weather outside. Whereas the current paralyzing weather in the Midwest and Northeast has the potential to derail travel and personal plans, conferencing is something that people can count on in rain, sleet or snow.”

For more information on InterCall’s web, audio, video and streaming solutions, please visit www.intercall.com or follow InterCall on Twitter at @InterCall.

About InterCall

InterCall, a subsidiary of West Corporation, is the largest service provider in the world specializing in conference communications. Founded in 1991, InterCall helps people and companies be more productive by providing advanced audio, event, Web and video conferencing solutions that are easy-to-use and save them time and money. Along with a team of over 500 Meeting Consultants, the company employs more than 1,500 operators, customer service representatives, call supervisors, accounting, marketing and IT professionals. InterCall’s strong U.S. presence, which includes four call centers and 26 sales offices, is bolstered by a global reach that extends to Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. For more information, please visit www.intercall.com.

About West Corporation

West Corporation is a leading provider of technology-driven, voice-oriented solutions. West offers its clients a broad range of communications and infrastructure management solutions that help them manage or support critical communications. West’s customer contact solutions and conferencing services are designed to improve its clients’ cost structure and provide reliable, high-quality services. West also provides mission-critical services, such as public safety and emergency communications.

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, West serves Fortune 1000 companies and other clients in a variety of industries, including telecommunications, banking, retail, financial, technology and healthcare. West has sales and operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America. For more information on West Corporation, please call 1-800-841-9000 or visit www.west.com.

All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their registered owners.

Source: InterCall

Related Links
http://www.intercall.comhttp://www.west.com