The 3 Best Business Web Conference Solutions

With businesses always looking for ways to trim costs, more and more are turning to online web conferencing to achieve efficiencies in both time and expenses. The main benefit of using web conferencing to conduct meetings is, of course, financial. But some of the many benefits that online conferences and presentations offer may not be entirely obvious at first. Using an online meeting instead of a traditional face-to-face business meeting is beneficial in many ways.

Benefits Of Web Conferencing

• Efficiency - With a web conference you don’t need to worry anywhere near as much about schedules and fitting into someone else’s diary. Online meetings and presentations are time-efficient and allow presenters and attendees to be flexible.
• Increased Productivity - Making money means increasing productivity, which is something online meetings excel at. Staff can easily interact with clients fielding questions, giving answers and completing tasks faster.
• No Travel - Not only do you not need to buy tickets, you also get the benefit of not having to go anywhere outside the office. That member of staff who was going to travel 2 days to make a presentation will be available in the office instead.
• Reduced Carbon Footprint - Often overlooked but fast becoming more of a concern, it’s your personal and corporate carbon footprint. Replacing the usual business meeting with an online solution means vastly reduced carbon emissions.

3 Of The Best Web Conferencing Solutions

If these benefits pique your interest and you’d like to start benefiting from using online meetings, then you need to pick a service to fit your needs and those of your clients. Here are the best web conferencing applications currently available.

• WebEx
  When it comes to presenting an online meeting we think it is hard to beat WebEx. One of the best points about WebEx is that it really is cross-platform with regularly updated versions for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Even more beneficial for your business is that your Mac-based office can seamlessly present an online meeting to a client running Windows. Screen refresh rate is excellent, even if you are fortunate enough to be using a widescreen 24″ monitor. The numerous features such as integrated VoIP, which allows attendees to call a pre-determined number and listen into the meeting. Screen sharing is easy, editing documents is simple, changing presenters is also very simple and is ideal when multiple department heads are involved in the same meeting. If you want to start using online meetings in your business then, without doubt, go with WebEx.
• GoToMeeting
  For businesses looking into the possibility of using online meetings to cut costs and improve productivity, GoToMeeting is a great place to start. This easy-to-use online meeting tool is integrated with Outlook and Lotus Notes to handle invites and reminders, which is a load off your shoulders. All the key features are here: GoToMeeting supports multiple presenters, lets presenters start meetings from their instant message client, hide all the other applications and documents open, share the presenter’s screen as well as draw and point to things on the screen. Attendees can also call into the meeting using a single conference number. This is also a solid solution to business web conferencing.
• Live Meeting
  Not all companies are mixed OS environments, so you choice of web conferencing solutions is largely determined by what operating system your company and client uses. If you are based on Microsoft Windows then their Live Meeting application is worth looking into, but it should be noted that it will not be compatible with Mac OS X and Linux systems. As you would expect with a Microsoft product, Live Meeting integrates with the Office suite. Some of the most interesting features relevant to business use include support for a wide range of file formats including popular Office documents, built in video conferencing for a face-to-face element to your online meeting, two-way VoIP and PSTN calls, meeting recording and, importantly, the ability to annotate documents and share ideas on the whiteboard. Again, if you are a business based around Microsoft products then this is worth looking at.

VoIP-Sol.com Recommends

If we were in the market today for a solution to online meetings then we would go with WebEx as our first choice. It is simply the most rounded solution and because it runs on all three flavours of OS (Windows, Mac OS X and Linux) you’ll be able to present your meeting on any computer to attendees without worrying about compatibility. WebEx is reliable, affordable, easy to use and will help you get the most from your online conference.