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The Killer Features of Web Conferencing (Not What You Might Expect)

M-fitzpatrick_12

Posted by Michael Fitzpatrick
November 6 2007 2:17 PM EST

 4 comments
End-user feature innovation in web conferencing has gone stale.  There, I said it.  The last major innovation in web conferencing was screen-sharing, and that happened a long time ago in the world of software solutions.  If you compare the leading vendors feature-sets side-by-side, you’ll see that each of them has been able to button-up the obligatory set of end-user features (screensharing, whiteboard, chat, VoIP, …) you’ll find on the standard set of RFPs.  Given this evolution, one might conclude that all solutions are now created-equal, and therefore, purchase decisions are hinging on price.  Fortunately for customers and vendors alike, this is not the case.  In the past year, I’ve witnessed a dramatic shift in evaluation emphasis towards ease-of-use, reliability, and flexibility, and believe these will be the “killer features” of web conferencing for the next several years.

Ease-of-Use:  With web conferencing adoption extending beyond the early-adopters, today’s average user has a much lower technology-pain threshold than the poor souls who attempted web conferencing of yester-year.  Web conferencing’s various features must be extremely easy-to-use, and avoid putting hosts and participants through a variety of software and client-side installation experiences.  It’s not acceptable in the physical world to take fifteen minutes to get through the door of a conference room, and it shouldn’t be for virtual meetings either.  As a result, vendor “checklists” of features may look the same, but customers need to experience them first-hand to be confident of broad success within their own organizations.

Reliability:  What good are a comprehensive set of features if the service is down?  Web conferencing, by nature, is a social experience, and if the service fails you in the midst of an event or important meeting, it’s not just the vendor who has egg on their face.  Vendors who can deliver exceptional service levels will produce the most successful end-user experiences, and ultimately, drive customer success.

Flexibility:  The days of silo’d web conferencing are over.  Organizations expect to be able to leverage integrated web conferencing services directly from their existing enterprise systems.  This includes web applications for events, registration systems, CRM applications, etc.  Web conferencing solutions that are able to deliver open, standards-based web services for integration with these systems will maximize the potential of embedded web conferencing.  Furthermore, extensive configuration capabilities will empower organizations to adapt the solution to their specific requirements.

Moving forward, do I think innovation in web conferencing is dead?  Of course not (but that earlier statement did get you all the way through this post)!  Looking towards the future, new advances in network infrastructure, mobile platforms, and embedded workflows will drive extensive innovation and greatly improved end-user experiences.  I’m looking forward to what customers and vendors will enable.

Tags: web conferencing, embedded conferencing, event management, integration

  

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Comments:

  • We get exactly the opposite reaction. PresenterNet offers interactive data collection and auto-insertion into Salesforce.,com databases, among other things. All of our customers are ex-major-player-web-conferencing customers who wanted to go beyond simply sharing their screen. As far as reliability, it is time for users to stop relying on 'proprietary' networks. Systems that rely solely on the internet are far more reliable. Any browser, any platform. Why would anyone want to have to download custom software and updates every few weeks? I don't mean this to sound like a sales pitch as I know this isn't the proper place. But one does need to look past the major vendors to find innovation. Great Blog!

    Posted by Doug Wolfgram
    About 1 year ago

  • Hi Michael, Outside of screen and application sharing, I think a major innovation is VIDEO. In fact, I'm calling it the "next killer feature" of web conferencing. VIDEO being sharing your web-cam, recorded video, or even live video. High quality, low bandwidth video codecs are obviously vital here. Think Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro does a nice job with video. ;-)

    Posted by Peter Stewart
    About 1 year ago

  • It’s the simple things that make a huge difference. Why do I have to memorize my conference phone number, passcodes, urls so I can type them into my email/meeting form when I schedule a conference? And what about typos? Nothing is more frustrating than to start a conference and no one joins because I typed in the wrong number. There is that button I can put on my Outlook screen that opens an appointment with the information already on it. But it’s not correct; sometimes I do an audio and web, sometimes just audio. Besides, that’s not the process I use to schedule a meeting. A conference is no different than any other meeting, so why not the same process? I prefer sending emails. How come they didn’t give me an email button? What I need is an integrated solution. One that allows me to schedule a conference call the way I schedule any other meeting. Why can’t I go to an email form, press a button and get the web conference information added, press another and get the audio information? And how about, since I’m in an email, take my schedule information and add the meeting to my calendar, and attach an iCalendar file so the participants can easily add it to their calendar. Actually I do have that tool. JCS Collaboration Addin for Microsoft Outlook does all that for me. Check it out at http://www.jcstechnologies.com/Index_files/EmailLogo1.htm or tell your service provider to give it to you for free.

    Posted by John Svercek
    About 1 year ago

  • Doug is entirely right about accessing a WebConference from any browser on any computer. Not having to download an app is a huge plus today since so many of us are mobile. I can access our companies WebConference from an airport Kiosk computer if I would need to. I would have to disagree with Video being so important though. Most of our clients we enable with video don't even bother to use it a lot of the time. If you are training CPR, then it would be important, but other than that it detracts from the information, and uses a lot of bandwith which can slow down the conference. It has a big "coolness" factor, but usually is not needed. The JCS Outlook plug-in is a huge benefit. This goes back to ease of use like mentioned in the article. We offer it for free to any of our clients that use either WebConferencing or TeleConferencing and they love it. The real killer feature today is service. The big names leave you to your own training and offer tutorials and such, but the personal service is lacking. My company offers Free ongoing training and support to anyone in your organization for the life of your account with us. Also you get a Dedicated Account Manager so there is one person you are dealing with for all your needs. Another perk just not available from the huge players. Anthony Russo Conferencing Consultant Great America Networks Conferencing arusso@ganconference.com www.ganconference.com 312-432-5377

    Posted by Anthony Russo
    About 1 year ago

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