We live in a world where every corporation and company must be willing to adapt to business trends and consumer feedback. Each business owner must have the option to meet and brainstorm with those responsible for their company's success. Only two decades ago, that process was to fly managers from their office to a central location for meetings, spending a great deal of money to do so. Now with a decent internet connection, business owners have the option to easily set up a meeting and hold it instantly with quality video, audio and images.
Web conferencing services allow participants to hold impromptu meetings or scheduled meetings. The users collaborate through three different means: video conferencing, teleconferencing and web conferencing. The beneficial tools such as a whiteboard and quick editing allow for complete interactivity. Typically, there is a monthly cost for each of these services, but it is small when compared to the cost of transportation that would have been required without this technology. The efficiency of these web conference services enables quick results with training as well. A presenter can quickly produce a slideshow, record the meeting and send it to those who need the training.
Businesses come in all shapes and sizes and the web conferencing services cater to all sizes. It is important that you find the program that caters to your company's specific needs. The way your business communicates makes a difference for your credibility and rapport. It's crucial the quality and speed of your communication is the highest quality possible. Read our reviews of Infinite Conferencing, InterCall and ClickMeeting for our highest ranked web conferencing services. For more information on this subject, check out our articles on web conferencing services.
Web conferencing has become a common way to hold meetings for businesses and work at home employees alike. As the internet has accelerated due to new methods of data transfer and new telecommunications, media like VoIP, web conferencing has been enriched further, making it possible for meetings to occur in real time, with hands-on interaction and advanced multimedia integration.
Despite the advances made by web conferencing, not all programs are created equally. Below are the criteria TopTenREVIEWS used to evaluate web conferencing services:
Video and Interactivity
The purpose of web conferencing is to provide a means by which companies can effectively present and demonstrate visual media that cannot be shared over the phone. Because if this interactive presentation, a web conference offers you many more features than a regular conference call. A great tool that must be high quality is the whiteboard. The whiteboard allows presenters to draw and highlight images on the shared desktop image or a blank white screen. The participants must have the ability to comment and be recognized by the presenter or other users.
Audio and Teleconferencing
Teleconferencing shouldn’t be a cheap substitute for physical, location-based meetings or conference calls. Rather, it should be an improvement upon them or equal to them. By offering participants without webcams toll and toll-free calling options while presenting meetings with a variety of feedback and annotation and chat tools simplifies the meeting process and make improvised meetings a possibility. Web conferencing with clear audio features can improve the quality of meetings, making them more focused and interactive.
Security
As the internet has advanced, evolved and expanded, so too have its threats. Web conferencing programs should offer seamless security with user registration and authentication and end-to-end encryption while remaining firewall-friendly.
Help & Support
Web conferencing is complicated. Even those with experience in teleconferencing and video conferencing may find themselves in need of assistance. Web conferencing programs should come with built-in help menus and systematic guides for every stage of the meeting, from initiation to termination. Web conferencing services should also provide helpful resources on their site in the form of tutorials, guides, FAQs sections, knowledge bases, direct chat and moderated forums. Many web conferencing providers also offer 24/7 support for meetings.
Web Conferencing Services are an efficient and cost-effective technology that allows your business to stay up-to-date and enable everyone, from business owners to work-at-home employees, to keep in steady communication with their peers.
At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don’t Have To.™
| Rank | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 |
|
10-9 Excellent
8-6 Good 5-4 Average 3-2 Poor 1-0 Bad
|
Infinite Conferencing | InterCall | ClickMeeting | ReadyTalk | Adobe Connect Pro | MegaMeeting | GoToMeeting | FUZE Meeting | iLinc | WebEx |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Reviewer Comments |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lowest Monthly Price |
$35.00 |
$42.00 |
$10.00 |
$49.00 |
$55.00 |
$45.00 |
$49.00 |
$29.00 |
$49.00 |
$49.00 |
| Ratings | 9.75 | 9.35 | 8.78 | 8.58 | 8.13 | 7.78 | 7.33 | 7.20 | 6.83 | 6.63 |
|
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
|
||||||||||
| Price Comparison | ||||||||||
| Monthly Price (dollars) | 35 | 39 | 40 | 49 | 55 | 49 | 49 | 69 | 39 | 49 |
| Per Minute (cents) | 6 | 10 | 20 | 32 | 7 | 8 | 33 | |||
| Video and Interactivity | ||||||||||
| Ease of Use (%) | 100 | 95 | 90 | 90 | 80 | 85 | 80 | 75 | 75 | 70 |
| Public Chat | ||||||||||
| Private Chat | ||||||||||
| Whiteboard | ||||||||||
| Real Time Screen Sharing | ||||||||||
| Preparation Mode | ||||||||||
| File Transfer | ||||||||||
| Multi-Point Video Display | ||||||||||
| Select User Display | ||||||||||
| Remote Desktop Control | ||||||||||
| User Polling | ||||||||||
| Meeting Scheduler | ||||||||||
| Application Sharing | ||||||||||
| Mobile App | ||||||||||
| Participant Annotation | ||||||||||
| Webcam Compatibility | ||||||||||
| Audio and Teleconference | ||||||||||
| Maximum Web Attendees | 1000 | 125 | 1000+ | 25 | 50 | 250 | 25 | 100 | 25 | 25 |
| Toll Calling | ||||||||||
| Audio Streaming and Broadcast | ||||||||||
| Full Duplex Support | ||||||||||
| Leader-Synchronization | ||||||||||
| Record Meetings | ||||||||||
| VoIP | ||||||||||
| Call-in & Call-back | ||||||||||
| Toll-Free Calling | ||||||||||
| No Required Installation | ||||||||||
| Security | ||||||||||
| Specific Application Control | ||||||||||
| Unique URL | ||||||||||
| User Authentication | ||||||||||
| 128-Bit AES Encryption | ||||||||||
| 256-Bit AES Encryption | ||||||||||
| Help & Support | ||||||||||
| User Support Wait List | ||||||||||
| Online/PDF Manuals | ||||||||||
| Telephone Support | ||||||||||
| Email Support | ||||||||||
| Instant Chat Support | ||||||||||
| FAQs | ||||||||||
| Remote IT Support | ||||||||||
| Mac Compatibility | ||||||||||
| Java Requirement | ||||||||||
| Tutorials | ||||||||||
| Flash Capability | ||||||||||