The benefits of web conferencing

Technology is helping SMEs bridge the divide between the need for communicating with staff and customers and the need to streamline costs. As rising fuel prices make physical travel ever more expensive, virtual travel is become easier and cheaper.

It seems unavoidable that as a business grows, so does its travel budget. Interstate and international offices and clients mean increased costs in airfares and accommodation for management, sales and support staff; add to that the hidden costs of lost productivity.

But it doesn’t always have to be this way. As an increasing number of businesses are finding that technology is providing satisfying ways of linking remote locations using high-quality audio and collaboration tools. And where teleconferences and videoconferences have failed, web conferencing tools are providing the vital spark of interactivity that is making all the difference.

For the Perth-based software developer BMS Solutions, using a web conferencing system from WebEx means it can service customers in locations it couldn’t otherwise afford to deal with. BMS Solutions develops software for safety and risk management software for the mining, manufacturing and utilities sectors, and has offices as far-flung as Houston, Moscow, and Paris. Its customers are in even more distant locations.

According to BMS Solution’s technical services manager, Paul Pree, the sales cycle for his company can take up to three years. The cost of constantly visiting a prospect—which may be located at a mining site far from the beaten track—would be prohibitive.

“To have to visit them in far-flung parts of the world means we would either have to forget about that part of the planet, or find some other way of servicing them,” he says.

With the cost of having staff on the ground proving too high, web conferencing software from WebEx has become the answer. The system is also used for internal support purposes, to conduct knowledge-sharing sessions between head office and sales offices.

“That cuts out the to-ing and fro-ing in trying to get an idea communicated,” Pree says. “They can have a conversation across a group of 10 people and, at the same time, multiple people can take turns at controlling the screen to demonstrate things.”

Tech Spec

Web conferencing systems work by presenting each participant with a common screen view, delivered through their web browser over the internet. This can include elements such as a slide show or a whiteboard, which users can mark up during the presentation. Users can also swap control of the screen among themselves.

Audio is delivered via the phone network, with participants dialling in as they would with a conference call. Some systems can deliver the audio–and even the video–conferencing component through a broadband internet connection.

Systems differ widely in their features and cost. Major suppliers of web-conferencing software include WebEx, Citrix Online, Microsoft, and IBM (through its Lotus software division), and there are also numerous specialist suppliers.

The technology can both be managed and hosted by its supplier (this is known as a hosted model) or run by the company itself. Charges are determined in various ways, in some cases on a per-user or a per-minute basis, or as a flat-fee or on a standard software licence basis.

Every technology supplier markets a range of products, each with variations in functionality, usage and pricing, so it is wise to plan carefully what your requirements will be. Many of these tools integrate with other so-called presence technologies, such as Instant Messenger, to enhance a business’ collaborative computing capabilities.

According to David Mario Smith, senior research analyst at Gartner, a global IT research firm, the use of web conferencing solutions is growing rapidly among SMEs as they strive to find new ways of using technology to improve customer service while cutting costs.

“It makes so much sense to replace a certain amount of travel with a web conference,” Smith says. “It’s really easy to make the justification. But you have to make sure that you understand what kind of conferencing needs you have. If you are paying for something you hardly use, that becomes a detriment, so it is really about planning and understanding usage, and deploying it accordingly.”

Because not all forms of web conferencing need to be installed on the network (they are instead accessed through a browser) they are easy to set up.