Getting Started
If you are sick of teleconferences, then finding a web conferencing company may be a good idea. To begin, you should find out the cost of starting and operating the service, if the service is secure, the number of people that can use the service at one time, what the service includes, and what businesses currently use that service. Of course, like any other type of conferencing, there will be initial set-up costs. You will have to make sure you have the correct audio, video, and other software. You’ll also need computers with plenty of memory on them, USB ports, a web camera, a noise-cancelling microphone and speakers, or headset, and the Internet (with a high speed connection using cable, DSL, or T1), and software provided by the web conferencing company.
Specifications
Find out what the web conferencing company does to make sure documentation used over a web conference is secure. Is there an encryption system? When you are setting up your software you will need to come up with a password, which will also help keep documents and other information used in a web conference secure.
There are limits on the number of people that can be involved in a web conference at one time, and that limit depends on how much you pay for your service. The number of people you may have ranges from 2-25. Of course these people can differ from conference to conference. The cost can be anywhere from $30-$500 per monthly subscription. A basic subscription should at least include document sharing, a group calendar, group text chat, file storage and sharing, and some type of white board that allows you to mark up documents online during the web conference presentation.
Finding the Best Service
Find a web conferencing company that allows you to log on quickly. For example, if you want to have a web conferencing, and you need to quickly pull people together for a meeting, the software from the company you are using should allow you to do so. This is done through email. The person putting the meeting together simply has to email those who are invited to the meeting. The email you send out telling them about the meeting, will also allow them to download the needed software so they are able to easily log into the meeting.
Conferencing companies have very similar options, so your decision might come down to customer service. Find out how many, and what kind of, companies use that particular type of web conferencing. Ask the company to give you testimonials. Ask them what types of companies they do business with. Are those businesses similar to yours? If not, you may want to reconsider. Some companies offer web conferencing, teleconferencing, and video conferencing. If you feel that all three of these would be a benefit to your company, it would be best to go with a company that provides all three services, rather than a company that only does web conferencing.
By Clint Hunter