Business Web Conferencing - Part 2

Choosing the right vendor is almost as important as choosing the appropriate Web conferencing system. You should therefore carefully consider each seller. You can visit their Web sites, ask for demonstrations, or verify its track record by checking the comments or reviews made by its existing and previous clients.

Pricing is essential in every product or service sale. Hence, you should decide if you want to pay only for the time that you and the other participants actually spent on the online conference (pay-per-use), or if you want to pay a fixed monthly charge based on the number of participants (pay-per-seat).

For companies that are new to the technology, it is advisable for them to opt for the pay-per-use pricing scheme since they would be using it quite sparingly during the period when they are still learning how to use it. Once they’ve already mapped out a concrete or viable plan on how to utilize the system or service, then it would already be advisable and cost-efficient to shift to a pay-per-seat plan.

Web conferencing in businesses usually involves many tasks, such as file-sharing, chatting, and presentation of reports. You should determine which of these features are essential or needed in your business or activity as some Web conferencing systems offer these functions separately.

Customer support is also vital, especially if you’re still just getting acquainted with the technology. Check if they provide 24/7 support, or only during certain days or hours. A good way to determine this is to call each provider’s hotline number. Needless to say, it would be very desirable, if not vital, that you get connected to a live person instead of a voice machine system.