What Is the Difference between Telecommuting and Teleconferencing

Telecommuting and Teleconferencing are normally used interchangeably but in fact both of them are very different from each other. Both of them can be used for different purposes due to their unique features and capabilities. While using them you should assess their features according to your needs to choose the right technique. In order to know difference between telecommuting and teleconferencing you must know these terms individually.

What Is Telecommuting?

Telecommuting can be defined as a working process in which employees are free to choose their working hours and location flexibly. In this working system the employee is not bound to work from the same location or from the central location of the business, for which he/she is engaged to work, every time. He can change his location as per his convenience.

What Is Teleconferencing?

Teleconferencing is a process in which three or more people can communicate in real-time with each other through an online conferencing toll like ezTalks Meetings etc. Virtually teleconferencing brings various people situated at different locations can be brought together under one roof by using a teleconferencing tool.

Difference between Telecommuting and Teleconferencing

There are three main difference between telecommuting and teleconferencing – their operability, quality of performance and cost. These differences are briefly described here under to know them more precisely.

1. Operability

Though main aim of both of these technologies is to create an exciting environment for face-to-face or boardroom communication but the strategies used by each of them to achieve their goals are somewhat different. Teleconferencing offers more options to reduce distractions to its users whereas telecommuting tools offer a straightforward interface to its users to respond the calls instead of asking anything else. Moreover telecommuting software can be used to share audio messages whereas teleconferencing can be used to share audio as well as video messages between the participants. The tools used for telecommuting also allow third parties to initiate and schedule calls to the users. It provides free access to the participants to use it as they want.

Main drawback of telecommuting system is that most of the services providers do not care to make it compatible with the competitor service providers. For instance, the functionality can be limited between to people if one of them is using telecommuting software of one service provider and the other is using of another service provider. This drawback has been solved by the developers of video conferencing software like ezTalks Cloud Meeting etc. They have developed the products that have increased compatibility with the software developed by other companies. Still products used for teleconferencing lack the simplified interface used by the most successful tools of telecommuting.

2. Quality of Performance and Call

Normally the quality of performance of telecommuting software is much better than teleconferencing. In fact, the consistency and reliability of the systems developed for teleconferencing is doubtful in many ways. Most of the developers of videoconferencing software are trying to fll up this gap to improve the quality of calls and performance eof their software options.

3. Consideration of Cost

So for as the cost of both of these means of online communication is concerned teleconferencing is considered more affordable than telecommuting. The cost of later one is many times more due to its better performance as compared to teleconferencing tools. It may take time to get better performance from teleconferencing tools as their providers are still working on making them comparatively better than telecommuting tools. So the businesses should evaluate carefully while choosing between telecommuting and teleconferencing as the first one offer better environment to work whereas the teleconferencing is a cost saving option.

Thus, both telecommuting and teleconferencing are different from each other even if both of them are used for similar goal. The trend of using teleconferencing tools like ezTalks Cloud Meeting etc. is increasing day-by-day among business communities because of the attractive functionalities and lower cost offered by them even if the costly alternative tools of telecommuting offer better performance. As the providers of teleconferencing tools are trying to make them comparatively better and more practical the future of teleconferencing tools is supposed to be better than telecommuting. Still, both of the communication tools, telecommuting and teleconferencing, are in use these days despite several differences between them.