Future of Web Conferencing

Web conferencing is important for sharing information, effective collaboration and active communication. It is efficient and saves both time and money while bringing groups together from all over the world. An excellent collaboration tool for law firms, corporations and other organizations, web conferencing allows organizations to tap into expertise that is geographically dispersed. In the future think of web conferencing for increased interactivity, engagement and accessibility from any device (Smartphones and tablets), improving presentation tools, simplifying shared documents, and enhancing Q and A.

There is solid growth for business web conferencing. This form of meeting has gone mainstream. In a recent Frost and Sullivan survey of C-Level executives in N. America, 78% indicated an awareness of the benefits of web conferencing and 60% of these respondents use it routinely. Prices continue to decline making this technology available to all, from large to mid-sized and small businesses.

Current desirable web conferencing features include:

• Ease of use with no software installations or downloads
• High quality video streaming eliminating buffering and pixilation
• Clear and easy to use audio that is both of high quality and reliable
• Ease of showing information through a slideshow presentation feature
• Access for attendee document sharing and recording use
• Public and private chat capabilities
• Recording capabilities for future use
• Reporting capabilities for monitoring
• Application and desktop sharing
• Mobile access

Some key trends are customization (tailoring meeting requirements with custom solutions), integration with other systems, high quality video, and access and support for mobility platforms like iOS, Android and Blackberry Playbook. Organizations will leverage their existing investment through custom functionality and lower cost solutions.

Future desirable web conferencing features might include 3D capabilities to bring to life product design and lower bandwidth requirements making the tool available to smaller businesses without the resources for high speed service.

One key trend is mobility. Vendors are predicted to focus on development of mobile experiences by offering more robust host as well as user controls. Smartphones and tablets will be the choice for online collaboration with video for everyone over iPads and smartphones.

Video continues to grow with increased cloud-based video conferencing services. There is a market preference for communication solutions, offering connectivity regardless of the location and set-up. Traditional expensive hardware-based solutions will be pushed out in favor of software solutions and cloud services. Another trend is an integrated collaboration focus replacing discrete online meetings. It will be a unifying experience combining, project management, file sharing, chat and social media all into one. Business is moving away from email to shared workspaces.

Another innovation is Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC). WebRTC facilitates browser-to-browser connectivity for real-time applications without software plug-ins. WebRTC will make it easier for organizations regardless of size to build and implement their own web conferencing solutions. These future trends mean quality web conferencing solutions will be readily available at a nominal cost.

Tell us what you would like to see in the future regarding web conferencing services.