Webinar Product Review - GoToMeeting
The concept of holding virtual meetings online has always made sense. Until recently, however, technology seems to have failed to deliver a product that could make it a practical, realistic option for everyday use...
There have been options available but whether it was poor performance, prohibitive cost or an overly complex product, there was always something that rendered it more trouble than it was worth.
iStart had the opportunity recently to take a test drive on the latest and greatest version of a well established web conferencing solution – Citrix GoToMeeting v4.0 – and we were left thinking “we want one!”
The online meeting tool (GoToMeeting) allows you to connect to a colleague or client –anyone who is online – and share whatever is on your screens. You get to “see what they see” and can even take over control of their machine using your mouse and keyboard to demonstrate a point.
You both view whatever is on your screen (or theirs) so users can share documents, demonstrate applications and effectively collaborate with colleagues all over the world, without leaving their desk.
With the “Meet Now” function, initiating a meeting is only a click away – just add the attendees’ e-mail addresses and you are away – or you can schedule a meeting.
For attendees joining a meeting it is simply a matter of clicking a link in an e-mail – no software download is required before the meeting begins. You can invite up to 25 attendees at a time (although we suspect that could get a bit chaotic).
For the audio component of the meeting there is now integrated VoIP functionality (read “free” – from anywhere) using your PC mic and speaker (or headset). If that’s not an option for you, GoToMeeting also provide you with a local New Zealand phone number to get access to the audio or you can use your normal teleconferencing facility.
If a participant has a noisy background you can mute them and if they have a question they can type it into the messaging facility. GoToMeeting has some clever features like scheduling and analysis and it keeps a record of all meetings for future reference. If security is a concern you can password-enable meetings. The webinar feature (GoToWebinar) is an efficient way to broadcast to a large group at once. According to Citrix this product can support up to one thousand simultaneous webinar attendees.
The technology is smart enough to determine the connection speed of the users and adjust transmission accordingly. This means that your demo won’t be compromised by a user’s slow connection. The latest version of the technology spans across PC and Mac so you can include all the advertising people and the graphic designers.
After the webinar, participants can be asked to complete an exit survey, allowing the host to gather data to learn from the experience or to confirm one-on-one follow ups.
“Some web conferencing products charge the host for audio costs associated with an online meeting or webinar” says H.R. Shiever, Managing Director of Citrix Online Asia Pacific.
“With the new audio capabilities of GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar there are no audio extra charges. Organisers pay for the use of our services and attendees can either join for free using VoIP or access one of our many PSTN numbers and pay either local or IDD rates. Therefore, users can join a meeting in the U.S. or Australia and only pay for the cost of the local call or if they use our VoIP functionality, then it’s completely free.”
The licence structure is also friendly. Once users are licensed then – as Citrix say – it’s “all you can meet” with no additional per-meeting or per-webinar costs.
Our business culture is changing. With rising fuel costs and carbon footprint concerns we no longer move people around the way we used to.
Citrix GoToMeeting is a simple-to-use, cost effective product that utilises standard technology and allows people to collaborate effectively online. It is a tool that has the potential to streamline the sales process and significantly reduce the cost of sale for companies.
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