AccuConference has, what Black calls, three basic flavors. The basic tool included with all audio calls is insight, which provides basic operator tools and allows conference callers to exchange PowerPoint presentations and other files through AccuConference’s file management system. These features do not require a download and can be used through any corporate firewall, Black says.

Meeting Central and Meeting Central with video, the other two AccuConference products, give users the full compliment of web-based controls and desktop-sharing features, as well as the ability to broadcast live video and audio to hundreds of users.

These products, which can be purchased on a monthly or per-minute basis (Meeting Central, depending on options, runs 14.9 to 25 cents per minute), give conference users easy-to-use options that enhance the audio conference experience. A meeting participant can share computer applications with others in the meeting, up to and including granting full control to another user. Meeting Central also allows web-conference participants to use a “white board” feature, giving them the ability to mark up and comment on text documents or other applications like a play-by-play analyst in a football broadcast.

To use Meeting Central, however, company IT managers have to facilitate a software download and set up a company firewall to allow Meeting Central traffic to flow freely to and from AccuConference.

Uno’s has put the web and video aspects of AccuConference’s products to good use. Labatte says his company has monthly bar or culinary video broadcasts, where restaurants across the country use their unique PIN to sign into what Labatte calls a “Larry King Live” style presentation. An executive chef might demonstrate to restaurant chefs how to prepare a new pizza, or bartenders can learn how to make a new drink special live over the internet.

“That’s just such a great tool in this industry to be able to have the executive chef be online, live, showing them something, taking questions and answers in real time, and they can see him,” Labatte says.

Labatte says the video conferences have been so popular with employees that the company sometimes has too much participation in the calls.

“It’s been extremely well-received. Calls have to be cut short because there are so many questions and participation that we will run out of time before people run out of questions,” he says.

The PINs, some of which are moderator PINs and allow more control over the call, also tell Labatte which restaurants are attending the call and which ones are skipping.

Labatte had nothing but praise for the service, saying that aside from the fact that almost anyone can use AccuConference’s tools, the service can be used for anything from external investor calls to internal sales meetings. AccuConference’s scalability lets Uno’s make daily smaller conference calls, or host huge video broadcasts like the culinary training sessions.

“We use it for a whole gamut of other internal communications,” Labatte says. Uno’s area supervisors can have conferences about building sales, or discuss a new menu roll out. Corporate-wide communications are possible also. For example, a vice president of operations can talk to all of the managers, or maybe human resources is doing new benefits program and they want to talk to everyone about it, Labatte says.

Although Uno’s is a private company, they issue private bonds and use AccuConference for quarterly meetings with bond holders.