The web conferencing software industry is growing at an explosive rate. The recent gains in this technology have made for an extremely competitive market. Web conferencing programs allow you to meet with anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world without leaving your office. No special software or equipment is required, but it is important to have a high speed internet connection.
This technology allows you to train remotely and manage geographically dispersed project teams. Sales presentations can be performed from anywhere. Remote support can be offered without the expense of constant traveling. Web conferencing can be a tremendous asset when implementing cost savings and productivity enhancement strategies.
Features available with online conferencing software include:
- Whiteboard availability during conference
- ‘hands up' feature
- Video conferencing (generally an add-on service)
- Desktop viewing
- Application sharing
- Share keyboard and mouse control
- Drawing tools
- Record and playback
- Conference archiving
- Voice over IP (avoids conference calling)
- Email notification
- One touch scheduling
Major Vendors in the web conferencing arena include:
- Microsoft
- Webex
- GoToMeeting
- Convoq
Some of the factors to consider when making your web conferencing selection include:
- Who are you meeting with – it should be compatible and simple for them too
- How many sites do you need to work with
- Must have appropriate bandwidth to support this without degrading business
- System resources: Not usually an issue, but sometimes small business environments are on over-taxed hardware already.