|
Home >
How Web
Conferencing Works
How web conferencing works -- exposing the realities of virtual collaboration
December 9, 2004
By: Lucy P. Roberts
The words web conferencing encompass so many functions
these days that sometimes people aren’t sure what really
falls under the umbrella of the term and what doesn’t. Is
web conferencing an activity, a type of software, or a set
of features? In the simplest terms, the answer is “yes” to
all three questions -- it can be all of these things in one
form or another. To understand how that can be, you need to
understand the basics of how web conferencing works.
Web conferencing is basically any kind of collaborative
conference that takes place via the World Wide Web between
two or more participants in different locations. It doesn’t
matter if they are in different rooms or halfway around the
world from each other, so long as the meeting is being
conducted over the Internet. Audio, text or video can be
utilized for communicating, sometimes in real time,
sometimes in an asynchronous environment, depending upon the
type of web conferencing system being used.
Add-ons make all the difference
The key to web conferencing, however, is that it always
includes additional components that take it beyond simply
communicating back and forth as though using a video phone
system. Web conferencing enhances communication with the
addition of several other collaborative technologies to
enhance meeting functionality. Some of these may include:
- Co-browsing of the Internet
- Text messaging
- Applications and file sharing
- Desktop sharing
- PowerPoint presentations
- White boards
- Surveying
- Meeting rooms or private URLs
- Store, record and replay capabilities
- Scheduling programs
Web conferencing works by combining one of more of these
additional elements with the audio/video elements of
conferencing so that participants can have what seems to be
literally an “in the room” meeting with visual aids, shared
papers and files and exchanges of information in real time.
Co-browsing
This is the ability for two or more remote members of a
web conference to simultaneously browse the same sites on
the Internet. It can be a very effective customer service
tool -- walking an important client through information on a
corporate website as you are conferencing is an effective
and personal touch. It can also be used to walk customers
through specs or product descriptions during a sale while
you are on the line with them.
Text messaging
The traditional instant messaging option, which is great
for sending questions around during a presentation or when
you want a hard copy of a response. It can also be used in
lieu of audio when audible conferencing isn’t practical.
Applications and file sharing
This isn’t just zapping a file back and forth via email.
This means actually sharing a file or files and applications
because you have a shared workspace to be used and accessed
by all members of your conference group.
You can tailor file sharing so that documents you show
may be simply viewed by everyone in your conference group,
with all of your ongoing edits being visible, or so that
others may also do real-time edits of the document from
their remote location.
In fact, you may grant access to your own desktop during
the conference if you wish to allow access to your
applications. This is the desktop sharing feature,
and is quite a common feature for technical conferencing
with computer systems specialists who need to be able to
network into your computer to see what’s up if there is a
problem.
Other web conferencing functions
- PowerPoint presentations, the dearly loved
presentation tool, can be simultaneously presented to all
participants in your web conference for visual impact. With
file sharing, everyone can download and keep the
presentation for future reference.
- White boards are just like the marker boards in a
real office, but done online. You may set them for broadcast
only so that everyone can see your mark-ups and additions in
real time, or make them interactive so that all participants
can make their own changes and revisions to the board.
- If your conferences rely on feedback from participants,
automatic surveying features can be built in to make
it easy to tabulate and record responses. Store, record
and reply capabilities also make it easy to record
entire conferences for later playback. If someone misses a
conference, they can replay it at a later date and reply at
their leisure to individual or group participants.
- Scheduling programs make web conferencing quick
and easy by sending alerts to participants and updating and
synchronizing group web conference calendars. A variety of
security features include encryption to prevent tampering by
those outside the conference administrative team.
There’s a web conference solution for every size
business
Ten years ago web conferencing was the domain of
enterprise size businesses because it was a costly, high-end
investment. It only made sense if a company was going to use
it on a very large scale to defray the hefty price tag.
However, with Internet costs going down and broadband
connections making web conferencing more practical, more web
conferencing options have become available. And, as always
happens, with competition comes competitive pricing. Today
there are web conferencing packages from enterprise
solutions to small business packages.
Enterprise Solutions
The leaders in enterprise level web conferencing have
always been WebEx and
Raindance. Both of these providers
offer a choice of bundled options that provide everything
you could think of in the way of web conferencing bells and
whistles.
WebEx offers a variety of options, including Meeting
Center, Training Center, and Support Center, all web
conferencing applications designed with specific corporate
needs in mind. One of their stand-out offerings is
Presentation Studio, an on-demand web conferencing
application that can be used to offer training tips, sales
presentations and follow-ups to whole teams or entire
companies at the convenience of each staff member.
WebEx’s SMARTTech is a web based technical support
application that enables access to thousands of centrally
linked computers. It uses web conferencing for applications
only access to do routine maintenance, software upgrades and
troubleshooting remotely, even without the remote operator
present.
Raindance excels at client service, providing support
personnel for those enterprise level clients who may need
support in the event they only occasionally use web
conferencing. You can contact Raindance and have a personal
assistant aid you with your Web Conferencing Pro conference
for up to 2,500 participants, from pre-polling participants
to wrap-up and maintaining a participant list for your
corporate records.
Raindance Meeting Edition is for smaller groups and
provides greater interactivity. Moderator features like
muting, chat and participant disconnect mean precise control
of all meetings for the leader of any group.
SMEs and SOHOs can choose leaner versions of web
conferencing
Small and medium enterprise businesses have a wide range
of choices right now because the market is filled with web
conferencing companies that provide mid-range services in a
buffet-style so that they can pick a range of features to
fit their needs. Some of the better known web conferencing
companies in this mid range include
IMConferencing,
Vcall and
GoToMeeting.
Small office and home office users have less choice
simply because they don’t have the available cash flow (in
most cases) to spend on a regular web conferencing solution
that would tie them to multiple users on a regular basis.
Fortunately, in most cases they also don’t need to be
networking via the web with 2,000 people simultaneously, so
they won’t necessarily be missing the features that aren’t
available in the more streamlined offerings for SOHOs. Two
leaders for small business web conferencing that do provide
reliable service are
GRCLive and
Voxwire, although their
approaches are quite different.
GRCLive caters to the small business owner who will grow
into a medium-sized business owner, or the medium business
owner who is just starting out with web conferencing. The
company offers three levels: GRC Lite, which can link 5-10
users for text chat and document sharing with a few other
features, but no audio or video (a good start for those not
yet comfortable with broadcast style meetings), GRC Business
Edition, which adds audio and video, and GRC Pro, which
significantly increases the users capability. The costs
range from $30 to $500 per month, with options and price
differences within each group.
Voxwire is a “strictly basics” web conferencing service.
Yes, you can post documents for viewing. Yes, you can do
audio/video conferencing and text messaging. No, you can’t
have a white board or document interactivity. The beauty of
Voxwire is the price; you can have ten people in a virtual
conference room for unlimited use for only $29.95 a month --
much less than your long distance bills would be. If you
have a home office and one person you regularly need to
contact, get a personal meeting room for only $9.95 a month
for the two of you and talk all you want.
Web conferencing will continue to grow and expand, with
new features and more interactive features every year. As
the global community and Internet connectivity continues to
explode, it’s only natural that more and more companies will
take advantage of how easy it is to bring their far-flung
teams together with web conferencing.
About the Author
Lucy P. Roberts is a successful freelance writer providing practical information and advice for
businesses about everything related to
web
conferencing software and
web based meetings. Her numerous articles include tips for saving both time and money; product reviews and reports; and other valuable insights for persons searching the Internet for information about
the history of web
conferencing and related topics.
Also See:
[
History of web conferencing -- online conferencing comes of
age ]
[ Interactive white
boards -- convert dry erase boards using eBeam ]
[ Interactive
white board capture devices -- Mimio Xi for virtual meetings ]
Home Page:
[ Web-Conferencing-Zone.com ]
[ top of page ]
|
