Title: The Pros and Cons of Web Conferencing
1Web conferencing is a broad term that loosely
defines the different kinds of online collaborativ
e services which include webinars, webcast and
business meetings held online. Web conferencing
rose in popularity with the rise of the internet
and real time communication methods. The most
recent of which was Skype. Web conferencing types
have proven themselves to be very essential in
the business world, the educational world and in
general to the sharing of information
globally. Web conferences may be central
disseminated where a middle person offers
information to other people in different places.
This form of web conferencing is more common for
lectures and educational information. The other
form is webinars where conferences are held
between two different people in different
locations. Most of the time, the meeting is real
time and has many or just two different
participants.
Web conferencing is very common in our world.
There are actual companies which offer free cloud
video conferencing such as ezTalks. Some of the
web conferencing advantages and disadvantages
will be discussed below
Pros of W eb Conferencing
2- Cost and time efficient
- In the olden days, before the popularity of web
conferencing, business meetings involving people
from different geographical locations required
months of preparation, a lot of expenditure in
terms of hotel services, transport as well as
travel fees. Days were spent in procuring
tickets, visas and in airports. - With web conferencing however, you only need an
hour in the most to allow everyone to log into
their account, and settle in for the conference.
There is no need for settling, no need for
hotels and tickets. - Even in cases where the company does procure a
web hosting service provider, the cost
difference is incomparable. - No location fees
- With the hospitality industry becoming more and
more expensive, it is a welcome relief to find
ways of passing messages across without having to
pay for a room or a conference hall. Web
conferences can be held from any location as long
as it has no background noise. - Increases productivity
- Planning for and scheduling for any meeting takes
a long time. Booking rooms and planning for the
attendees, the schedules and monitoring
attendance is more work that is not cut out for
an individual. In most cases, the whole process
wastes time that would have otherwise been spent
on the actual meeting. - Web conferences are an efficient way of
increasing productivity by reducing preparation
time. - Application and desktop sharing
3- availability of material in real time and without
the need for photocopy. Web conferencing - bridges the constraints of physical location.
- Employee training is made easier
- In companies where active participation of
employees is integral, finding time to stop
working and attend training meetings is almost
impossible. Web conferencing allows the
employees to be trained in their own time and
with the same information. In advanced
trainings, it is even possible to create simple
exams to gauge their understanding of the
information provided. - Improved customer services
- Good customer service is based on the promptness
of response after a complaint is lodged by a
client. The constraints of time and physical
location make it impossible to give clients the
kind of prompt and immediate response they so
deserve. - With web conferencing however, customer service
personnel can be reached in real time and be
able to sort the complaints of the client. This
goes a long way in improving the rating of your
company on these ranking websites. A great
advantage of web conferencing in business. - Flexible
- Web conferences allow for impromptu meetings that
would otherwise be impossible to hold on short
notice. Web conferencing has allowed meetings to
be held among people on completely different
time zones. - Diversity
Cons of W eb Conferencing
4- As with every coin, there are two sides. The
following are some of the disadvantages of - web conferencing.
- Hacking
- Hacking is a real threat in our society right
now. Even with the tightest of securities, there
is bound to be a few loopholes here and there
which if explored can and will open the door to
breach of security. Hackers can get access to
private conferences and leak information that
may be paramount to a company. - Sharing is open to breach of privacy
- Due to the sharability factor, it is very
possible to get information which want designed
for the public reaching the public. Slight
openings may bring with them massive loses in
trust. - Information which should otherwise be obtained
through a fee may become accessible to
individuals who hadnt paid for it. - Conferencing servers may prove to be additional
costs - In an attempt to protect the integrity of their
meetings and information, some companies are
choosing to invest in their own servers. This is
a move geared towards eliminating the risk of
hacking and unintended sharing. - The cost of setting up cloud servers beats the
logic of engaging in web conferencing to save
costs.
Conclusion
All in all, web conferencing is definitely a step
in the right direction. Even with the
few challenges here and there, web conferencing
still remains one of the best ways of passing
information across. https//www.eztalks.com/video
-conference/pros-and-cons-of-web-conferencing.html