Web conference is a process in which the internet is used to conduct live meetings, trainings and presentations.
Participants in a web conference sit at their own computer and are connected to other participants via the internet.
Participants are invited into a web conference by prompting them to download an application to get them connected or have them click a link distributed to them through email to enter the conference.
Web conferencing is claimed to be one of the most revolutionary development in communications technology and offers major advantages to businesses in terms of reduced costs, increased employee productivity, enhanced customer support capabilities, and reduced time to develop products and communications.
Also users can participate in a web conference in the comfort of their living rooms and need not travel to a common location for conference which reduces travel costs and saves fuel.
Conventional conferences take a lot of time for preparation but web meetings can be arranged anytime anywhere which reduces the consumption of materials required for implementing face-to-face meetings.
A lot of companies have also acknowledged that their productivity has greatly improved by adopting to web-based on demand conferencing services.
Since web conferencing has become a rapidly growing market there are hundreds of providers to choose from and companies that are considering deploying web conferencing services should look into a lot of factors in order to pick the optimal web conferencing provider.
Here are some tips that could help users choose the right web conferencing vendor: Price - Companies have to analyze the amount they are willing to spend on web conferencing and they have to look for a provider they can afford.
Some providers offer different types of services with different price tags and companies can choose the model that satisfies their requirements.
Apart from basic charges users should carefully check whether there are additional or hidden costs they have to pay for a web conference tool.
It is always better to choose a vendor who has a transparent pricing policy.
Scalability- it is imperative to look for the number of participants that a web meeting service can support.
For instance there are some providers who even offer conferencing service for free but they support only a limited number of participants.
If a company schedules a conference for limited number of persons than they can opt for the free service but if they expect a lot of participants to join in then they have to look for a model that scales accordingly.
Demo- Users should attend a product demonstration if it is available to get more detailed information about a product.
At the demo users can also query about the product and try to figure out whether a vendor is willing to take in customer feedbacks and is able to distinguish their solution's advantages from products offered by other competing vendors.
Users can also check about a vendor's support staff and customer contact services and test whether the vendor is fast enough to meet future inquiries and needs.
Review- Users cannot acquire a detailed view about a service by looking only into a prospective vendor's marketing brochure.
They have to see into the expert reviews and other users' comments about the web conferencing tool that they are considering to buy.
Comparing different solutions from different vendors will also provide users with the knowledge about the additional or lack of features that a web conferencing service has.
Advanced functionality - users need to check the technology behind the meeting software they are going to pick because high-end technologies enable high quality conferencing even at lower internet speeds.
It is also beneficial if they pick a service that is web based as there is no need for any software or hardware to be deployed at the desktop side.
Users should also check the security measures that a vendor has implemented in order to protect the systems and privacy of the user and their web conferencing participants.
A serious and reliable vendor will always offer a solution that is both flexible and beneficial to the customers.
Also a good product will get rave reviews from users who have already used it.
A company that is planning to deploy a web conferencing service should acquire it from vendors who are serious, reliable, and flexible and have also proven themselves as efficient providers.