The development of society and civilization occurred through the improvement of technology, thanks to inventions and discoveries. Every year, from century to century, progress not only gave impetus to the introduction of innovation, but also created enormous flows of information.
In the Middle Ages it was enough for progressive scientists to exchange letters once a year or two to keep abreast of all innovations and inventions. An old Russian merchant opened a storehouse in the taiga wilderness and put a clerk in there, who handed in his proceeds once a year, with the onset of summer. The breeder Demidov visited the Ural enterprises once a month, and learned about the state of affairs of his foreign manufactories from reports transmitted “with a chance”.
All this testified to the fact that the speed of decision-making, the level of technology and reactions to changes in those days made it possible to exchange information in a slow mode with a low frequency.
The growth in the geometric progression of the amount of information over the past hundred years, the universalization of production and the need for instant response have created the need to create a system of fast communication between decision-makers.
In the middle of the last century, there was already a telephone, telegraph and radio, but there was no conference communication system, the prototype of which was intercom. She began to be called a selector because of the "principle of selectivity" of participants. That is, there was an initiator of the meeting and the main control panel, which allowed connecting or disconnecting the necessary subscribers in real time. Selectivity allowed the meetings to be made more focused, without the participation of people not involved in a specific topic.
A conference call has come into use largely thanks to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. A rigid hierarchy implied the presence of one boss with many deputies and responsible in areas. Initially, the "debriefing" in the party environment and at large enterprises was carried out through meetings, "flyers" and telegrams.
When conference equipment was created, it created a sensation in the "ruling elite." Every major boss considered it his first duty to hold a conference call at any time and on any issue.
Of course, in addition to party whims, such equipment brought and continues to bring undoubted benefit. Large enterprises and companies with disparate geographically dispersed units use intercom for the operational management of people and resources without the need for travel and business trips. Moreover, the key to the development of modern companies is the speed of decision-making.
Modern conference calls are not quite similar to those that were even twenty years ago. If earlier intercom was a direct wired connection between separate intercoms, now everything is much simpler.
A conference call can now be organized, regardless of the remoteness of the participants, time of day, or time zone. Mobile phones, the Internet and wireless technology allow for a briefing at any convenient time. At the same time, the participant in the conference call does not have to be in a suit. If tasks and circumstances allow, he may well participate in it, watering, for example, cucumbers in the garden.
Also, a modern conference call can be held using video conferencing. Internet accessibility and minimal equipment requirements make creating conferences a simple task, accessible to any leader. Even without special skills, by a few keystrokes.