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Web Conferencing Products and Options
Web conferencing today allows more meetings, presentations and business deals to happen online. There are numerous products and options to choos from so define your needs before choosing. If you are just beginning to get acquainted with the concept of web conferencing and are trying to figure out what really suits you, then this may help you find what you are looking for.
Web conferencing is basically a tool that allows two or more people to actively interact online. This is an active form of communicating unlike email. Web conferencing uses audio, video, text and interactive features to communicate in real time or in an asynchronous environment.
Products can be roughly categorized into free web conferencing and hosted web conferencing. There are many free web conferencing tools online available for downloading. Some popular products are Skype for audio; Yahoo Messenger for instant messaging, audio and video (webcam required); and Vyew for text chat and slide presentation. Not having to maintain an account and pay for incremental charges makes these products more cost-effective. There are security risks to consider when using a free web conferencing tool. Hackers can gain access to your “conference room” to steal vital information because the internet is free.
Hosted web conferencing offers the advantage of security. Host providers offer the benefit of increased security measures and standards to help prevent unauthorized users from gaining access to your information. A typical hosted web conferencing works by allowing its subscriber to use its server where it can conduct online conference (sometimes with a designated URL). Security pass codes will keep unauthorized users from gaining access. Often referred to as Shared Hosting, this refers to using the host’s server to conference. Hosting Companies can also allow you to use your own server or lease one of their servers for better security, ease of use and technical support. Packaged solutions are also offered where vendors can give a set of useful features for a specific price.
Payments schemes are differ but usually, vendors are paid per month, per minute of use or per named user. There may also be a yearly membership fee. Depending on the features needed pricing ranges from $40 up to one hundred thousand dollars. When you consider the amount of time and money saved because you don’t have to fly somewhere or pay for accommodations the price sounds much more reasonable.
Web conferencing provides a number of features not available from typical online communication tools; desktop sharing, PowerPoint presentations, file sharing scheduling and co-browsing to name a few.
These features were developed to facilitate customer service, sales and marketing, business proposals, seminars, presentations and training meeting. These things should be noted when choosing a particular Hosting Company.
For security reasons larger companies often prefer to use a hosted service. Either kind will work.
With the ever-evolving need to communicate, web conferencing is globally the choice of businesses today.
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