Meetings, Virtual Style
Looking to cut back on travel costs? Or maybe you’re one of those newwave
companies where employees are spread across the country, or at
least, across town.
The idea of meeting virtually—without needing planes, trains, and
automobiles—is catching on, even among smaller businesses, as technology
becomes readily available and prices come down. Until recently,
technologies such as videoconferencing, online collaboration tools, and
Web conferencing systems were out of reach for most smaller businesses,
but today, many can be accessed with a simple phone and Internet connection
and for a few-hundred-dollar investment.
These new platforms aren’t a substitute for all meetings.Experts say faceto-
face contact is still a must for many situations, including when you’re
meeting a new client, trying to close that killer sale, or delivering a product
that warrants demonstration.Yet used in the appropriate situations,with the
proper etiquette, these virtual meeting tools can boost your business’ productivity
by cutting out wasteful travel time, not to mention, take the sting
out of costly T&E budgets.Here’s a look at some of the options:
Videoconferencing: Using video, computing, and communications technologies
to allow people in separate locations to meet online.While the early systems were highly sophisticated and expensive and aimed primarily
at large corporations, Webcams and low-cost software are bringing
this medium to the masses.
Products: Polycom Inc. and LogiTech offer low-end systems.
Web conferencing: This medium combines traditional teleconferencing
capabilities (meetings via the phone) with the ability to present
interactive presentations using PowerPoint, Excel, or plain old documents,
over the Web. A phone and an Internet connection are all that’s
needed.Most offerings are priced based on length of call and number
of participants, although many are offered with a monthly subscription
rate.
Products: Microsoft’s Office Live Meeting and WebEx are two of the
most popular.
Online collaboration tools: These are packages that allow you to establish
private Web areas where team members or colleagues can share files and
documents as well as communicate about projects. Most offerings are
available on a subscription basis and priced from a couple of hundred
dollars per month.
Products: Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services; HyperOffice; Groove
Networks’s Groove Virtual Office for Small Business
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