The Future of Web Conferencing?

One example of an Internet-related technology that has evolved remarkably in recent years is web conferencing. So, where is web conferencing going?

From its ancestor, the ‘conference call’, it is easy to note that the path of web conferencing has now taken us to VoIP.

VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) took web conferencing to the next, less expensive level, by allowing data as well as voice to be transmitted via Internet connection. This eliminated expensive long-distance charges while enabling a more convenient, sophisticated virtual experience.

The VoIP breakthrough shows that the path of web conferencing will be in the direction of least resistance, i.e., the direction of least cost and least inconvenience.

Users Determine Where Web Conferencing Is Going

But no matter how sophisticated any piece of technology becomes, no matter how inexpensive, the ultimate factor that will determine the direction of web conferencing will be its users.

Vendors say it’s convenient and many users agree that web conferencing beats traveling to a meeting. However, it seems that the question shouldn’t be “Where is web conferencing going?” but rather, “How applicable is it?”

In the virtual business world, colleagues interact via web conferencing across disparate time zones. But where is web conferencing going if its users are offset from each other’s work schedules by 6 hours, 12 hours, or even 20 hours? And even if they’re in the same time zone, will their schedules necessarily see them at their desks at the same time?

To know where web conferencing is headed, users who have actually tried implementing web conferencing in their businesses must answer the preceding questions. Manufacturers or vendors who jumped on the web conferencing bandwagon and are now forced to make good their investment will not determine where web conferencing is going.

A number of individuals who rolled out web conferencing in their businesses have discovered that they exist in a virtual business world where their contacts can be anywhere and can have any kind of schedule.

Where is web conferencing going if schedules across terribly disparate time zones can’t be synchronized? So, quo vadis—maybe in the direction of asynchronous web conferencing? Can technology find a way around the laws of time and space? (Who knows!)

Furthermore, where is web conferencing headed if it can’t be useful on a daily basis? Just try setting up a web conference between 50 people across widely disparate time zones and you may need to seriously think how often you want to do it!

Until half of humanity decides to work by moonlight, the usefulness of synchronous web conferencing will remain limited.