Trim the fat from expense accounts--meet online

TechTalk
By Ken Doyle

In the weeks following September 11, 2001, industry analysts made two sweeping predictions: a prolonged slump in business travel and a meteoric rise for the stocks of videoconferencing companies. While the former prediction was largely fulfilled, videoconferencing has yet to live up to the expectations it generated in the early days.

Personally, I’d much rather conduct a business meeting online than deal with flight delays, lost luggage, skyrocketing hotel rates, and the other vagaries of business travel. However, many business travelers are reluctant to give up those fat expense accounts, and travel is still the first choice for most companies when it comes to off-site meetings.

Initially, videoconferencing was never a serious alternative to a face-to-face meeting. The technology was encumbered by hefty bandwidth requirements and expensive equipment, and it produced poor-quality, jerky video. Further, participants could do little more than see each other and carry on a conversation—essentially, the technology amounted to a glorified telephone call with moving images—and there was no opportunity to exchange files or collaborate on documents other than holding them up to the camera.

That was then. Now, online meeting planners have a variety of technologies to choose from, and the market has exploded with the advent of web conferencing services that go far beyond just audio and video.
For home users or small businesses who need one-on-one interaction, a simple videoconferencing solution consists of a broadband Internet connection (cable or DSL), a webcam with a fast USB 2.0 or FireWire connection, and instant messaging (IM) software. IM, long considered the domain of school kids and computer geeks, has now matured to the point of being a viable means of business communication. The major IM services include America Online, Microsoft Network, and Yahoo. The best setup for Macintosh computers is, not surprisingly, Apple’s combination of the elegant iSight webcam and iChat AV software (www.apple.com/ichat). PC users, despite the prevalence of Microsoft’s bug-ridden Windows Messenger, will find a smoother experience with Yahoo Messenger (messenger.yahoo.com).

Businesses that need multi-user videoconferencing can set up a basic system for as little as $6,000, according to leading vendor Polycom (www.polycom.com). For those companies that require only the occasional meeting, equipment can be rented or the entire conference can be arranged through a third-party provider such as Kinko’s.

Web conferencing goes a step beyond videoconferencing, and is probably the next-best thing to meeting in person—in some ways, even better. Participants can chat, exchange files, collaborate on documents, view multimedia presentations, and more. All that’s needed is a desktop computer and either a web conference provider’s software, or a subscription to their service. One of the pioneers in web conferencing, WebEx (www.webex.com), still dominates with about 65% market share. However, Microsoft and Cisco recently jumped into the arena, and the market could look very different a year from now.

No, web conferencing won’t replace a filet mignon dinner and a bottle of Chateau Lafite. But you can order those online, too.