Online Web Video Conferencing

To be sure, the Internet has revolutionized the way people communicate with each other. And no one industry has experienced the impact more than the business industry. New technologies such as online web video conferencing have brought drastic changes to how companies communicate and people conduct their business relationships. In an effort to reduce the cost that intermittently comes with offsite meetings, companies today are looking for ways to communicate and collaborate without leaving the office. And thus, enter online web conferencing.

The surge in demand for online web video conferencing is rapidly increasing. IDC predicts that by 2007, the market for online web video conferencing will have increased from nearly US$600 million revenue in 2003 to more than $11 billion in 2007.

But what is online web conferencing? And how is it different from other conferencing systems?

By its name alone, online web video conferencing refers to a browser-based application that enables you to participate in an online discussion as though you are actually there when if fact you aren’t. It is different from text-based conferencing in that it lends a sense of being in a “live” environment, thus increasing that face-to-face atmosphere of being in a real meeting.

Perhaps the most basic feature of online web video conferencing is screen sharing. This is when you and other meeting participants are allowed to view and cooperatively manipulate the desktop of the presenter. In its basest sense, online web video conferencing is similar to remote access in that you can have limited control over other participant’s computer with just a click of the mouse and Internet connection.

Online web video conferencing is often accompanied by voice communication to make the discussion more interactive. Lately, video conferencing has also been incorporated into online web conferencing to give even more diversity to an already diverse medium. By fusing all these multimedia aspects, online web video conferencing looks set to blur the lines between audio conferencing and video conferencing so that each is no longer disparate but a single application offering similar solutions to your meeting needs.

The question that many first adopters of online web video conferencing and web seminars ask is how to find an audience. Some Internet marketing experts say that the answer is different depending on your purpose.

However, most strategies for acquiring audience are to involve more traditional email campaigns to established customers. Variations involve invitation to potential customers who make initial contact through phone or by visiting websites.

According to Frost & Sullivan’s David Alexander, online web video conferencing is developing more into a collaborative meeting environment for all sizes of audience. It offers more than just one-sided presentations as it changes that way people are working and at the same time bridging the gap of distance.