The Internet has helped many businesses expand their reach across the globe. No longer are we confined to the office space around us. Now we can speak, see, and show information to people around the world, in real-time.
How is this accomplished? One of the many tools available is Web Conferencing.
Web Conferencing came about several years ago to provide a set of collaborative tools for visually sharing information. It is a service that has evolved from posted “bulletin board” style message spaces to full-featured, graphical, web-based software portals.
There are many players in the Web Conferencing world that you may have heard of. Companies like WebEx, GoToMeeting (Citrix), and Live Meeting (Microsoft) have similar services for conducting meetings over the Internet.
In a nutshell, these services have a central location for the meeting organizer to transmits video, sound, and/or streaming desktop images to one or many users over the Internet.
The meeting leader can send and accept instant messages, use graphical tools such as a highlighter to circle or identify key areas on the screen, and send/receive files.
Many businesses are also utilizing these web services for product demonstrations and sales oriented meetings.
For example, software companies will use WebEx to demonstrate the abilities of their software package.
By providing a link via email to the customer, the software salesperson can share their desktop with the potential customer and give an excellent demonstration of their products' functionality.
This can be extremely efficient when you factor in reduced sales expenses such as travel and time.
One other great use for Web Conferencing is training. Smaller businesses don't always have the room to crowd people around a computer or two. By utilizing a Web Conference, the trainer can assemble the users in a virtual classroom and conduct the training from anywhere. The users can be at home, office, or mobile.
There are several pricing structures for using these services. Some offer flat-rate, monthly fees for unlimited conferences, with limited attendees.
Take the time to research a few of the service providers I have mentioned here. I'm sure you find that Web Conferencing expands your “communications reach” across the company.
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