Remote Conferencing Advances

Though many corporations are holding more face-to-face meetings this year, the use of remote conferencing tools for virtual meetings also is on the rise, according to industry executives. Suppliers said they are rapidly developing new functionalities to meet demand for faster, cheaper and more effective Web-based conferencing tools.

Rick Faulk, chief marketing officer for Santa Clara, Calif.-based WebEx Communications Inc., said his company facilitates about 50,000 meetings each day and controls a 65 percent market share for remote conferencing tools.

The key to future growth is developing specific conferencing tools for different types of events, Faulk said.

"WebEx has an entire suite of meeting products. Most of the other players in the space only have one product, just for horizontal meetings," he said.

The company recently announced a new product in a partnership with AOL's instant messaging function that allows chat users to quickly open a small virtual meeting through WebEx tools.

"This is significant is because you can start with basically a chat session—a lot of meetings start with chat—then, through just one click, you can take that chat session to a full WebEx meeting and do screen share. You can also take it to a voice-over-Internet-protocol call or a video call with just one click. It's a whole new paradigm for meetings," Faulk said.

WebEx also has its own proprietary network, Faulk said, so that the Internet connection that customers access is of a higher quality than on public connections.

Though cost savings by replacing travel with remote conferencing can be significant, Faulk said most corporate customers are more concerned with improving their business practices.

"The way most customers think about this is not just saving money on travel, although clearly that's a benefit, and it's not just about making people more productive, although that's also a benefit. It's really about new ways of doing business. It's about creating new business models. It's allowing a small business in Oklahoma to sell products abroad. It's about a training manager being able to reach thousands of people instantly. The way most of our customers think about this is really accelerating their business processes, not just saving money on travel," WebEx's Faulk said.

One WebEx customer, Victoria Newman, marketing manager for Liberty, S.C.-based tech company KeyMark Inc., said her company uses WebEx tools in every department. KeyMark adopted WebEx in April 2004, Newman said, and has held several online events on the tool.

"It doesn't replace a trade show but it gives us the ability to touch people," she said, adding that Keymark aims to hold eight Webinars per year of about 100 attendees each.

Implementation of the system and training end-users was fairly straightforward, she said.

"It's a vast product and there are still a lot of angles that we're probably not taking advantage of, but what we are using right now has done a really great job," Newman said.

Lillian Meyers, founder and president of Sonoma, Calif.-based Meyers Financial, last month adopted remote conferencing tools from Genesys Conferencing, which has global headquarters in Montpellier, France.

As a new user of remote conferencing tools, Meyers said customer service and support was crucial.

"I have never used a new technology as easily as this one. It's so user-friendly. It was absolutely incredible. I was very impressed with their hand holding in the initial process," she said.

Meyers said she might hold some small virtual seminars through the tool. Previously, she held about five client education events per year with between 10 and 15 attendees.

"I can probably do more now because I won't have to travel," she said. "I can develop something really nice."

Tony Terranova, vice president of product marketing and sales training for Genesys, said his company recently began offering VoIP technology to users in response to market demand.