subject: Conferencing for the Internet and Web: 3 Keys to Choosing the Right Solution [print this page] The Internet - and the World Wide Web that sits directly on top of it - represents an amazing opportunity for businesses, non-profits and other organizations to communication at great distances in a way that is not limited to purely voice communications in the way the telephone is.
Rather, with conferencing over the Internet and Web, there is a huge range of communication modalities to choose from depending upon the system you buy. There are actually 10-20 excellent providers of Web conferencing solutions to choose from in the marketplace today. Each one could potentially be your top choice, once you factor in the intended purpose of each system, its features, and of course pricing.
If you are considering getting a software solution to support conferencing for the Internet and Web for your organization, here are 3 keys to choosing the right solution:
1. Talk to members of your organization about how they plan to use your new system:
You may have an idea in your head right now about you would use an Internet conferencing system if you had access to one right now. However, that image may be very different than the image that other members of your organization hold in their heads. With human (and particularly business) communication being such a complex thing, it is no wonder than no two people would use a Web conferencing solution in exactly the same way.
That is why it is very important for you to talk with others in your organization about how they would use such a system if they had one right now. Ask 3-4 people to describe to you, in detail, about how they see themselves using the system (i.e., use-case scenarios). This will help you decide if you should focus on a system that specializes in training & education vs. simple desktop sharing vs. high-definition video conferencing.
2. Develop a list of preferred features:
Next, build for yourself a composite picture of the various use-case scenarios you collected as input. Meaning: create an overall picture of how your organization will be using the new system, based upon the input you received from the others.
Now, you need to distill that master use-case scenario into a set of specific desirable features. Some to consider: voice over IP (VoIP), video streaming, application sharing, whiteboards, polling, chatting, texting, rich media sharing, remote control & support, and desktop sharing.
Be sure to divide the features you choose into "need to have" and "nice to have" categories.
3. Build a list of solutions that meet your desired criteria:
Now, it is time to go out and create a list of solutions providers (and solutions) that meet your needs. Make sure to take customer service, reputation, implementation options (e.g., hosted vs. locally installed) and pricing into account.
Consider these 3 keys to choosing the right solution for conferencing for the Internet and Web.
Conferencing for the Internet and Web: 3 Keys to Choosing the Right Solution
