Web Conferencing

Web Conferencing Lowers Travel Cost and Raises Productivity

Abstract:

Are you facing tightening travel budgets but finds it impossible to appreciably reduce travel due to business demands? Do you have employees that work from home and need a good alternative to commuting for face-time? Web conferencing may be the right solution for you, a great substitute for travel and commuting. This article also lists critical attributes to look for in a web conferencing service provider.

Article:

Are you facing tightening travel budgets but finds it impossible to appreciably reduce travel due to business demands? Do you have employees that work from home and need a good alternative to commuting for face-time? Web conferencing may be the right solution for you, a great substitute for travel and commuting. Gone are the days when you had to buy expensive equipment for video conferencing and yet settle for hazy picture and unsettling time lag in voice. Web conferencing technology has made great strides in the past few years. It provides greater capabilities, range and flexibility. Now every computer turns into conferencing equipment with the click of a mouse. It is a cost effective alternative to travel. It also improves your productivity by saving on the travel time.

Web conferencing solution uses the internet as a conferencing medium. It enables meetings among multiple participants. It also allows one-way live or recorded broadcast of information, often accompanied by extensive use multimedia including charts, audio and video. Additionally, web conferencing may be between selected audiences or it could be open to public where anyone can join at will.

What are some of the uses of Web Conferencing?

Web conferencing solutions can be used to facilitate meetings among groups in multiple locations or to convey detailed information across to any part of the world. Here are some examples:

• Deliver sales presentation to single or multiple locations
• Conduct training sessions, live or recorded.
• Quarterly reporting of financial results to shareholders, analysts or directors
• Briefings or staff meetings between managers or staff members.
• Enable collaboration between team members or colleagues physically separated by a few miles or several time zones.

What are the benefits of Web Conferencing?

Web conferencing provides several short-term and long-term benefits depending on the type of usage.

• It connects people who may be too busy for face-to-face meetings or separated by large distances.
• It is easier to arrange a meeting over web conference than in-person with a high level executive or professional who cannot afford travel time and would like to meet from the comfort of her office.
• Executives can reach out to multiple locations at the same time, say for an all hands meeting, an impossible task to accomplish otherwise.
• You can avoid setting up multiple meetings to present the same material over and over to decision makers that are spread out to several locations. Just do one web conference that everyone can join at the same time!
• And if someone misses the presentation, he or she can view a recorded version at leisure. Access would be as easy as visiting a website.
• These solutions can lead to drastic reductions in travel costs and make the money available for higher priority tasks.
• In addition to saving time, web conferencing also saves employee time that is otherwise spent in traveling. This time can be used for doing valuable company work, thus, increasing company output.
• Web conferencing is a perfect solution for those who work from home. Demand for at-home workers is growing. Businesses are able to save on real estate costs and other office expenses while they get qualified personnel that are unable to move close to the office.

Choosing a Provider for Web Conferencing

Here are six critical attributes that should be considered while looking for a web conferencing services provider:

1. Live support: Especially critical when you have audiences from multiple organizations.
2. Billing arrangements: inquire about various plans. If your usage is low, go in for per minute charge. If the usage is high then a flat rate per user billing makes more sense.
3. Multimedia Integration: A presentation or a training session without charts and video is going to be insipid. Make sure support for multimedia is included.
4. Recording and Playback: Very critical if you want to allow repeated playback of a presentation.
5. Tracking and reporting: Want to catch those slackers! Ask for tracking and reporting information about attendees.
6. Security: Keep the unwanted participants out. Ask for password enabled conferencing sessions.

Web conferencing opens the door to effective cost allocation, enhanced productivity, and better return-on-investment. The right provider can ensure that you make the best use of web conferencing solutions. To get the best price remember to compare price quotes from multiple Web Conferencing vendors.