by Rochelle Johnson
Web conferencing products have many capabilities that will be valuable to your organization. They can facilitate the way you conduct business, leading to more savings and better management, all which will contribute positively to your bottom line. But in order to maximize the benefits of web conferencing, one must choose the right tools. Because various products have different strengths, you should keep a few things in mind as you select these tools.
Different web conferencing programs are created for different tasks. Thus, knowing what your organization needs is the first step in the selection process and an integral part in successfully implementing and integrating the software as part of your business.
The spider spinning his web for the unwary fly. The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield.
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)
Web conferencing products can be basically categorized into four main groups. Firstly, there are those products that are used for General Business Communications. These products are all-inclusive meaning their capabilities are multi-faceted yet integrated. For example, they can host meetings, do broadcasts, hold training sessions and perform customer service and support tasks. Another group of products can help you in designing Collaboration Strategies. These products are geared more towards meetings and work which requires a high level of collaboration between various teams. They focus more on the specific functions required by small to medium enterprises. Project Management Focus software meantime allows people to map out how one task leads to another and who is doing what on a particular project. This is ideal for projects that require the collaboration of different databases and run in different locations. Finally Training tools are interactive programs where web conferencing can be used as a training medium.
Firstly it is important to determine exactly what it is you intend to achieve with a certain tool. You should know the end result that has to be accomplished. You should also ask yourself the sort of activities one intends to carry out to meet these goals. For example, will you require a brainstorming session or a presentation lecture? It is also important to know the number of people you will need to connect with. Will you be delivering your presentation to a small or large group of people? Once you have determined this, it will also be helpful to know what sort of computers the people you intend to conference with have. Having this information can help you decide if you will pursue software that can support different types of computers or operating systems. Similarly, having an idea of the type of Internet connection the attendees of your conference have can help you eliminate some conferencing solutions. For example if most of your participants have dial-up connections, you may choose to no longer consider those conferencing tools that will work only with high-speed connections.
You will also have to decide if you want a web conferencing program that you can purchase and install on your computers or if you will opt to pay for the service each month. A web conferencing provider may be ideal as this can liberate you from the technical matters and you can concentrate on your presentations and deliveries.
But pale despair and cold tranquillity,
Nature’s vast frame, the web of human things,
Birth and the grave, that are not as they were.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
Choosing the latter option however opens up a new set of questions to consider: choosing a web conferencing provider. Here are a few helpful guidelines to aid you in this phase of the selection process. Providers offer services at price per minute formulas or at a flat rate. Most experts agree that a flat rate can offer the same level of functionality. You should look for openings that will let you call conferences as many times as you want without suffering extra costs. It may also maximize the potential of the concept of web conferencing if you select a provider that offers Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). VoIP allows you to make long distance calls over the Internet, making your sessions more fruitful than if they were conducted only through text chat. It is also important to choose a provider that gives you easy access to customer service in case you run into technological glitches. The degree of interaction your vendor or provider takes in setting you up and guiding you through your web conferencing journeys will keep you from getting lost in this rapidly expanding sector of the computer industry.
Whatever you decide, you should always make sure to try the technology before actually committing and purchasing it. A mere demo on how the technology works may not be sufficient to give you an idea of how well the tool works or more specifically how the tool will work for you.