Web Conferencing: A Boon to Businesss
by : Denise Bridgens
According to leading web conferencing service providers, the
typical sales cycle can be cut two to three weeks with web
conferencing. Providing a virtual conference room.
environment, web conferencing eliminates the need to travel,
linking geographically disperse workgroups and
telecommuters. The return on investment for web conferencing
can be measured not only in dollars and cents, but also in
personnel efficiency, knowledge distribution and increased
sales opportunities.
The ability to virtually link workgroups and project teams
enables real-time collaboration, a task that once required
lengthy email threads or face-to-face meetings.
Web conferencing enables businesses to:
Reduce operating costs
Minimize unnecessary travel
Close sales and negotiate contracts faster
Enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of communication
Deliver clear, concise and consistent training
Encourage real-time collaboration between distant and local
co-workers
Engage in greater levels of communication with clients and
business partners
Since its inception, web conferencing usage has expanded to
a number of business applications such as daily sales and
marketing efforts, interaction with co-workers and
customers, corporate presentations and training initiatives.
Financial corporations use web conferencing for internal
meetings, customer briefings, employee training, client
consultations and investment workshops. Healthcare and
pharmaceutical companies use Web conferencing for product
promotion and marketing, sales presentations and
demonstrations, and product training and development.
Educational institutions use web conferencing for project
teams and student workshops. And, government agencies rely
on web conferencing for training and inter-agency
communication.
Most organizations use outsourced web conferencing. Why?
Because of the quickly changing technology, businesses opt
not to invest in what could soon be obsolete. In addition,
on a day-to-day basis, it is more cost effective to have web
conferencing outsourced. Additional reasons include:
Leading edge functionality provides greater levels of
security, moderator control, and participant options.
Your people can now focus on your core business, not support
systems.
The external company makes the investment in new features so
that your fixed costs are reduced and your overall
expenditures are lowered.
With no capital expense, new technology can be implemented
with minimal impact to the bottom line.
When beginning the search for a web conferencing solution,
start with setting your objectives and determining the
features you require. Here are a few basic questions that
should be answered:
How many participants do you anticipate attending your
online meetings or events?
Will the number of participants remain consistent from
meeting to meeting or will the number change?
How many meetings will be conducted each week, month,
quarter? Will usage fluctuate depending on the time of the
year?
What type of content will be presented (Power Point slides,
software applications, web-based applications, documents, or
spreadsheets)?
What degree of interactivity do you require (Q&A,
polling/voting, application sharing, text chatting, live
video, file sharing, etc.)?
Do you want your own software or a hosted solution?
How much technical support or event management support do
you require?
What is your monthly budget?
Are there any special security requirements?
Once you have determined your requirements, screen a number
of vendors. Visit their web site, review live demos, and
seek client testimonials. Here are few suggestions for
choosing a vendor:
Select a pricing model. Determine whether you want to
pay-per-use (you pay only for the time you and your
attendees spend in web conferences) or pay-per-seat (you pay
a flat monthly fee for a certain number of “seats”).
Pay-per-use pricing is the better conservative choice for
most companies learning to how to use web conferencing for
their business. You avoid set up charges and you don’t have
to monitor the number of concurrent users in order to avoid
overage charges. You can always start with a pay-per-use
plan and switch to a pay-per-seat plan once there is a
clear, long-term financial advantage.
Get the features you need. Some web conferencing solutions
only support online presentations while others offer
full-featured packages that include polling, chatting,
application-sharing, white boarding and group web surfing.
Make sure that the product meets your needs.
Check into customer support levels. Is training and ongoing
support available? What hours? Is there an extra fee? Is
there a telephone number available so that you can contact a
support person or is only email support offered? What are
their support hours? Call each vendor’s customer service
number and see if you get a live person vs. a menu or voice
mail. You don’t want to be in a situation where an attendee
has technical problems joining a critical meeting and not be
able to contact a live person immediately.
Consider security requirements. Depending on the audience
and the information being sharing, security may be a
concern. Most solutions are secure enough and do not store
meeting data any place except on the presenter’s PC.
Participants only see a graphical representation of the data
through a standard web browser. Some services provide pass
code authorization, basic encryption, and the ability to
lock and unlock the meeting.
