Huddle Up – Huddle.net's Official Collaboration Blog

How Can Web Conferencing Help Your Business?

Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by Joe in Collaborative Top 10's

Whether it’s a simple small-scale project collaboration or a much bigger long term collaborative project, web conferencing can prove to be an indispensable tool to have in your business toolbox. Why? Well, web conferencing allows you, as a business owner or employee, to reach new levels of productivity, reduce operating costs, boost efficiency and more.

Web conferencing allows you to quickly and easily setup meetings with clients or employees, share your desktop, make online presentations to any number of people and provides a way to collaborate with others without having to actually be there. The obvious advantage being that you can collaborate with people around the world without actually having to travel there.

There’s a common misconception about what exactly web conferencing is and how it works. Many people associate it with online video chats, messaging, VoIP or IM, but the fact is that web conferencing goes way beyond these features by encompassing all of them into one application. You not only have the ability to collaborate through video feeds, but you can also chat in real-time, talk to participants via phone conference, markup whatever document be viewed and even share desktop or workspace controls. It’s almost as if each participant is sitting right next to each during the web conference even though they may be halfway around the world – it’s this unparalleled functionality that is attracting cutting-edge companies who are choosing to utilize this technology for conducting business and working on collaborative projects.

Huddle recently announced free web conferencing to all of its customers, and this is really a big deal. Essentially, this new feature can help any business – large or small – to communicate and collaborate more effectively on a project. But what are some of the other benefits that web conferencing can bring to your business that I haven’t already mentioned? Here’s a more detailed look at the features and benefits of web conferencing…

Visual and verbal Communication

Web conferencing allows you to combine the benefits of a phone conversation with the benefits of a live video feed. The result is quicker and easier collaboration with business clients or associates. Not only that, but you also have the ability to chat via IM during the web conference so you have the power to type text, communicate verbally and see the other participants during the event. You also have quick access to the Internet and local data files since you’re already in front of your computer. Essentially, you have everything you need at your fingertips.

Schedule Recurring Meetings

Say for instance you have a weekly team meeting on Monday mornings via web conference. You can setup automatic recurring meetings that have all of the participants information, time of the conference, phone conferencing options and all other settings pre-filled for you. This saves time and effort on your part, which helps to boost productivity and efficiency.

View, Edit and Share Documents Online

Sharing and manipulating virtually any type of document or program via web conference is one of its greatest features. For instance, you can share a Word file with your editor, or look over an Excel file with your accounting department. And you, or any other authorized participant, can make edits to these files when necessary. Additionally, you can view and share any programs, training materials or presentations with any conference participant.

Share Your Desktop

During a web conference, you have the option of allowing remote access to your computer’s desktop to any of the other participants. Likewise, they can authorized access to their desktops as well. This is a powerful feature that allows you to manipulate documents as if you had the document on your own local computer. This streamlines document management by virtually eliminating the need to email revised versions of documents back and forth several times. Instead, edits can be made in real-time between team members via the conference.

Save Money on Travel Costs

This benefit may not seem so obvious to everyone, but it is possible to save money on business trips. Web conferencing can reduce the amount of business travel necessary when you can complete the same type of work via web conference than you would in person. American Express recently reported in their annual global business travel forecast that the average cost of a domestic or international business trip in 2009 is up big time over 2008. They report that the average cost of an international trip leaving North America is $3,452 (including hotel, rental car, airfare, etc-), which is up nearly 4% from a year ago. If you could cut out 2-3 business trips per year, that’s a big savings on the bottom line.

Setup Remote Offices Around the World

The whole idea of a web conference is centered around the idea of more efficient collaboration, and so it is an exceptionally useful tool for companies looking to expand worldwide. A company could have an office in China, one in the UK, and one in the US, and they can all collaborate on projects as if they were in the same office together.

Even smaller businesses can benefit from global online collaboration by expanding the reach of the small business worldwide. For instance, a small business can collaborate with international suppliers, work with manufacturers in different countries, make a presentation to a potential client and much more all from the business’s home office. Web conferencing allows you to invite anyone you choose to attend the meeting, so your options are seemingly endless.

Ease of Use

Setting up a web conference couldn’t be easier. It only takes a matter of minutes to setup the date/time, description and location, phone conferencing options and users who will be notified for the meeting. While web conferencing may be a powerful business and collaboration tool, it certainly is easy enough to use for anyone.

To get an idea of what it takes to get a new web conference up and running using Huddle’s new web conferencing feature, check out this short video: Web Conferencing Video Tour.