Collaboration Tools – web conferencing software

Kieron J James asked:




Telephone conferencing is one of the best collaboration tools available for businesses today. There are times when it may not be enough to just send an email, you just have to talk to the people concerned. This is when telephone conferencing comes into play.

Imagine a scenario where you need vital feedback on a presentation that you have put together not only in terms of just the content but also on the delivery. If your colleagues are scattered all over the world, which is how most businesses are nowadays, through telephone conferencing you can receive valuable input from them no matter where they are situated.

Telephone conferencing allows you to host conference calls, collaborate on presentations online or run training sessions, no matter where in the world the participants are. Conferencing solution providers use a conference bridge to connect participants who dial into it. While phone conferencing is about call conferencing only with voice, there are also video conferencing services available with vendors.

A teleconference is quite easy to organise and to host. The first thing you need to do is to schedule the meeting and to invite the participants. Ensure that when the participants dial into the conference call, they have all pertinent bits of information at their fingertips. It is not a good idea for any member to rummage through his or her files or computer while the teleconference is in progress, making all others wait.

There are different technologies and methods that enable telephone conferencing. Most telephone companies offer three way calling facility. The person who is the host calls two other people, each person in the group can also call two other people thereby enlarging the group. But most conference service providers use a conference bridge for telephone conferencing. Here the members are given a number to dial and an access code so that they can directly join the conference.

Telephone conferencing could be either between two people or more. More often than not numerous parties are involved in a conference. Phone conferencing allows many people to connect to a single call using a telephone line. People who are busy can save on the travel time by conducting the meeting through phone via telephone conferencing. Even those who may have difficulties getting to the office during the meeting can dial in from the nearest telephone and join the conference. Not to mention the money that can be saved by not having to book a meeting facility or to host a lunch meeting.

Justin

Jacob Bainton asked:




With the advent of the Internet, massive development has taken place in different spheres of our lives. Like for example, it is now possible for us to keep in touch with our friends and relatives located thousands and thousands of kilometers away from us in some other countries of the world. What’s more? These days, the web based collaboration tools that are available help workgroups to collaborate on spreadsheets as well as documents and even create libraries containing different types of project related documents, reference materials, shared to-do lists, and so on. Few examples of these tools include knowledge management systems, online spreadsheets, project management systems, electronic calendars, extranet systems, enterprise bookmarking, and so on.

These tools enable the workgroups to start off at a very little cost. Moreover, what is more interesting is that there is no need for you to be an IT manager in order to set up these tools. In other words, they can be set up very easily. Doesn’t it sound interesting? If so, then just have a look at some of these collaboration tools.
Google Docs: Google Docs is regarded as an outstanding application for the purpose of collaboration. With the help of this application, you can share your spreadsheets as well as documents with your clients or team members in real-time. This is a browser-based application and online storing of your work implies that your work will be readily available at any place having an Internet connection. Skype: Have you ever heard of Skype? If not, then let me tell you that this is an excellent application for making telephone calls via the Internet. This technology has been termed as Voice over Internet Protocol, or in short, VoIP. Free calls can be made to those who are using Skype as well as to toll-free numbers. Apart from this, the application has built-in features for the purpose of file sharing, instant messaging, as well as for video-conferencing. Spicebird: If you are planning to manage your projects with the help of a desktop application, Spicebird is the most appropriate application for you. It has built-in features like for example instant messaging chat system and several other features like an address book where you can store the contact details of your team members, a group calendar, and so on. Thinkature: It is also one of the popular tools for collaboration. It provides you a workspace so that you can visually communicate by way of chatting, drawing, and so on. Dabbleboard: It is basically an online whiteboard that is very simple and easy to use. You can make use of Dabbleboard for drawing flow charts, creating network diagrams, creating Toolkits (which is a set of drawing objects that is reusable), and so on.

Phillip

Tom Cruz asked:




The use of online collaboration tools enable people across the globe to work together on specific tasks or projects via the internet. Such tools enable people to quickly and easily share ideas and thoughts seamlessly with others no matter where they are located in the world. As a result it means that many businesses are able to make more strategic decisions that can impact on their revenue margins more quickly.

So of course the biggest advantage is that such decisions can be made not only more quickly, but help to reduce costs relating to travel expenses. Plus it also means time is being saved as there is no need to arrange meetings for all concerned to meet in one specific place. Instead using online collaboration tools those involved can meet online at any time that has been arranged.

But what sorts of online collaboration tools should one consider using? Below we offer some tips that may prove helpful in finding the right tools for your business needs.

Tip 1 – Choose an online collaboration tool that enables it to be easily integrated into the operating system you currently run on your computers. Plus look to see if they allow for any customisation of the tools so that they run better alongside your own particular business processes.

Tip 2 – Make sure that all the collaboration facilities you require for your business to ensure that it runs effectively are available. If not then look elsewhere to another online collaboration service to provide you with what is required.

Tip 3- It is vital that you use a collaboration tool online that runs on a secure network and also is compliant with all the top firewall protection systems. So check out not only how secure the tool is but how easy it is for you and others who require the tool to use.

Tip 4 – Look to see what the online collaboration tool offers in respect of backing up and storing information that is produced during its use. If it is unable to provide enough of this for your business then this could result in vital information or data discussed during your online meetings to be lost and could end up affecting one’s revenue margins.

Tip 5 – Along with making sure that your have adequate bandwidth to run the online collaboration tools on check out how much it is going to cost to install. Plus look at how much will be needed to be spent on installing the system especially if certain specialist hardware or software is required in order to run the tools you are thinking of using.

Above we have offered some tips that could help you to select the right online collaboration tools for your business. Before you do make any decisions it is worth comparing several different ones and if at all try out several. This way you can then determine just which of them is going to fit in with the way your business runs currently.

Bobby

Dinesh Kharakiya asked:




Evolution in the field of telecommunications over the past few decades has enhanced the way of communication. There are many collaboration tools which have helped in the growth and development of various businesses. Among all these collaboration tools, web conferencing collaboration has really changed the functioning of business organizations all over the world. It has enabled the people to stay in touch with each other through world wide web, whether for educational, recreational or business affairs.

It is one of those technologies which has enabled the sharing of business applications and documents over the internet. It allows you to conduct live presentations, demonstrate products, conduct group discussions and is an easy solution to organize polls. Web conferencing not only saves time but also money. It is because of this reason that this web based collaboration tool is gaining popularity among the business organizations all over the world.

In this conferencing, professionals use their computers to stay connected with each other on the internet. Availing the services of conferencing, clients and employees of an organization, located in different parts of the world can easily collaborate on common blue prints, business documents etc.

There are several benefits of using web based conferencing over other means of communication such as instant messaging, message boards, chat rooms etc. For instance, business organizations using video web conferencing can watch each other while working. Even majority of the communication procedures through internet requires a person to set up an account in order to log in, results and techniques are different.

Online communication is one of the real times interaction where more than two individuals can have conversation over the internet, either using latest techniques like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or typing in. Although, there are some applications which have integrated sound but only those applications which are intended for web based conferencing are based on VoIP.

In the present times of cut-throat competition, this conferencing software has turned out to be one of the basic necessities for business organizations for an easy collaboration with all their employees and clients. Using web conferencing tool, you can conduct meetings, presentations and seminars for all your business delegates, situated in different parts of the world. Web-conferencing is a cost-effective medium that enhances productivity and efficiency of an organization. It alleviate documents and file sharing and organizing professional presentations.

Brian