Service Comparison: Web Conferencing Solutions

Due to dwindling travel and marketing campaign budgets, web conferencing is fast becoming a mainstream in today’s sales cycles. An abundance of solutions and features have popped up virtually overnight. Today’s users want more than the ability to share PowerPoint slides; they want a cross-continental, instantaneous, and collaborative environment.

If you’ve been tasked with selecting the best web conferencing solution for your department or entire enterprise, the undertaking can be daunting. The true difficulty is not necessarily choosing the best features, but finding the level of reliability and service needed at an affordable price. What’s right for a start-up seeking a tool to assist selling efforts is different from a larger company deploying training for thousands of employees.

Browse our helpful hints below and then review our Web Conferencing Provider Matrix detailing the basic solutions offered by WebEx, Raindance, Genesys and PlaceWare. Enterprise class customers with sophisticated needs and those companies seeking a training partner should check out the providers’ websites for more info.

Common Uses
  • Sales demonstrations
  • Training
  • Internal meetings and collaborating
  • Seminars


Connection Methods
  • Installed on company servers
  • Hosted through the providers' servers
  • Connected via peer to peer link (participants connect directly without using Web servers)


Features
  • Share files, applications, desktop
  • Control access between participants and presenters
  • Interactive and private chat
  • List attendees and conduct polls
  • Archive sessions
  • Piggyback voice and video over the connection
  • Integrated/shared technical support


Benefits
  • Make smarter decisions more quickly
  • Slash travel and operational costs
  • Expedite sales process – increase revenues
  • Improve internal effectiveness
  • Augment partner, customer and prospect relationships
  • Safeguard confidential information
  • Language interfaces ease language barriers globally
  • Easily archive company data like meetings and applications


Pricing
Subscription Pricing Example: WebEx Meeting Center offers unlimited service for a 50-person office at approximately $2,000 per month, though most customers negotiate unique pricing agreements. Service includes unlimited usage, 24/7 support and automatic service updates.


The key to pricing with subscription is length of agreement. Check on provider’s standard duration

Pay-per-use Pricing Example: Raindance Web Conferencing Pro Meeting provides a 50-person meeting at $.39/minute for 60 minutes or $1,170, with integrated audio at an additional $.24/minute for 60 minutes or $720.00


Ask about additional set up and teleconferencing charges.

Best-Bet Process
Step 1: Document your objectives, features required, participant size and monthly budget
Step 2: Attend free demos on the providers’ websites
Step 3: Consider starting with a per-minute pricing solution
Step 4: Review first month/quarter data to discern your break-even point
Step 5: Reassess pricing models to decide whether you’ve chosen the best solution for your needs

Did you know?

Frost and Sullivan expect the web conferencing market to reach 2 billion by 2008!

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