Web Conferencing: Sensible Solution in Nonsensical Times
Posted by Kathleen S on Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 03:02 PM
The market today is ever changing and as a small business owner, you need to be able to embrace those changes to effectively compete. Whether it is in the way you communicate with your customers or the process by which you deliver services, an innovative approach is necessary to remain on top.
With the economic roller coaster of the past year, it is likely you made specific changes in the way you do business in order to remain viable and profitable. Technologies available today make it possible for you to compete on a major level, as well as maintain effective communications regardless of location.
Your industry is most likely national, if not global, which can present certain challenges when you are hit hard in a recession. With web conferencing solutions, you no longer need to worry what necessary travel will do to your overall budget. The advanced solutions today ensure this is not the conference call of yesterday, but the innovation of real-time, high quality, unified communications of today.
According to the T3 Group, a Telecom Intelligence Firm, web conferencing is seen as one of the top five unified communications applications viewed by enterprise managers as offering the clearest or fastest return on investment. In fact, 52 percent of respondents described web conferencing as delivering a fast return.
According to a recent Frost & Sullivan report, 83 percent of executives view communications and collaboration tools as useful when providing cost reduction benefits and 81 percent report they also allow for faster decision-making. If any of your staff, customers or partners is located outside of your geographical area, web conferencing can deliver measurable benefits.
If your primary supplier is in Hong Kong and you are based in Chicago, you need to be able to effectively communicate and collaborate with your supplier to be sure you are driving your key strategic initiatives. With web conferencing capabilities, you can access and share specific reporting tools, collaborating as often as necessary without wasting valuable time on an airplane.
The options available with web conferencing include both on-premise and on-demand options that can provide remote access and firewall penetration that are designed to be easy to access and use.
All you really need for effective web conferencing is a computer, a Webcam, Voice over IP (VoIP) for real-time audio, appropriate software and enough space on a server and/or bandwidth to support the meeting.
Your budget, plans for growth and current conferencing needs will determine the right fit for you. Either way, once you make the implementation, you will be much better positioned to drive collaboration, reduce costs and enjoy the benefits of web conferencing.
