Facilitate.com Compares Web Conferencing Software
Web based meeting software comes in all shapes and sizes.
Which one is right for you?
Many products and services on the market today talk about supporting work team collaboration and web meetings. And in fact, they all do. So how do you decide which ones to use? It depends on the need you are trying to address and the objective you want to achieve.
Web-based collaboration tools offer great flexibility and potential cost savings to an organization by liberating team members from the constraints imposed by schedules, location, and time. As e-mail is to the traditional paper letter, web collaboration tools are to the meeting space. However meeting tools come in many varieties, and just as using a using a screwdriver to hammer in a nail wouldn't work; using a web meeting tool for the wrong purpose can be ineffective.
Is your objective to be able to easily share data with your audience during a teleconference? Web conferencing services may be the answer.
Is your objective to be able to enable more creative ideas and focused decision making during a meeting, whether it be hosted by a conferencing service or in a meeting room? Meeting facilitation software may be the answer.
Is your objective to be able to use your desktop for online meetings and collaboration? Desktop collaboration tools may be the answer.
Is your objective to be able to gather all the data and communications needed to support a work team in one easily accessible place? Collaborative team rooms may be the answer.
Web Conferencing Tools: Webex, Placeware, Linktivity, Interwise, and Centra
One of the earliest technologies that proved very effective and economical over the past 20 years is the call-in conference center that enables people to dial a single number and participate by voice in a meeting. Web conferencing offers the possibility of enhancing traditional audio conferencing with web based presentation, application sharing and whiteboarding services. Web conferencing services have proven most effective for Webcasts and Web conferences. In Webcasts one or a few people communicate with, potentially, thousands of participants. In Web conferences the communication flows mostly in one direction but with fewer participants. Most Web conferences have an audio component, usually through the telephone. As participants speak or listen, they direct their attention to their desktop monitors, on which they all view the same source of visual support, be it a memo, PowerPoint slide, product spec, invoice, or other source. Separate windows may let participants submit a simple ballot or carry on a chat session, and may even allow them to see other participants if video cameras and the supporting technology are available. Webex and Placeware are two examples of web conferencing service providers.
Using this basic technology, vendors are coming out with more specialized applications. As examples, Linktivity offers a solution geared to product marketing and sales that enables demonstrations of products over the web. Interwise and Centra specialize in knowledge sharing with multipoint videoconferencing, voice over IP, online chats, and document sharing enabling large scale training seminars over the web.
Meeting Facilitation Software: Facilitate.com, GroupSystems, MeetingWorks, and Council
FacilitatePro falls into an application category that was originally developed to make face to face meetings more productive. These tools help to foster the process of generating and formulating new ideas and innovations by allowing a team to rapidly and effectively discuss, categorize, prioritize and drive through the decision making process to implementation planning. Examples from this category are GroupSystems, MeetingWorks, and Council. Some, Facilitate.com being one, are also designed to support distributed meetings, so that the benefits of rapid group decision making are augmented by the cost and productivity advantages of any-time any-place meetings. These products are geared to smaller meetings that are focused on a series of topics, or larger meetings where two-way exchange is a priority.
Desktop Collaboration Tools: Microsoft and Lotus
Another category is desktop conferencing applications that provide video, audio, desktop and application conferencing. One of the most common tools discussed in this category is Microsoft’s Windows NetMeeting. Lotus Sametime offers online meeting capabilities and audio- and videoconferencing services.
Collaborative Team Rooms: Documentum
Web based document management applications have evolved into online collaborative team rooms, where not only documents, but also work team communications are centrally stored and managed. They may offer meeting functionality as one of the collaboration tools; they are first and foremost an online collaboration workspace focused on content management. For example, they typically do not offer integrated video and audio services and have rudimentary or no audience response features like chat and voting. Documentum eRoom, is an example of this category.
More Information on Facilitate.com
Please take the time to explore our site and learn more about how Facilitate.com's collaboration software can improve your meetings.