Web Conferencing Blog

We were quite intrigued when we stumbled upon 3D tools during research – and couldn’t wait to test them. There are different ways of bringing the third dimension into web conferencing. We started with the one tool that seemed most fun: Tixeo WorkSpace3D.

What’s fun about web conferencing you ask? Well, for starters, Tixeo lets you create an avatar and gives you the choice between different hairstyles or differently colored shirts for example. You can then chose between a set of meeting rooms in which you see the other participants’ avatars during a meeting and can walk up to them to literally join the group. If someone wants to present a document, a screen pops up and hovers above the ground. The avatars are pretty fast too, but you cannot jump or punch the other participants…

So much for the fun part, which really is more of a gimmick. A scenario where the 3D bit offers additional value is e.g. if architects or realtors want to give the participants a feel for the planned building or the apartment for sale. With Tixeo you can walk participants through the rooms.

If we step down one dimension again and look at the basic functionalities, Tixeo doesn’t do too good in comparison to other tools. There is no Outlook integration for the invitation process, the host cannot lock the meeting room, and meetings cannot be recorded. Then again, this is an early version, and all the basics are there. But to consider it for our ranking we will have to wait for improvements in future releases.

So what do you think about 3D for web conferencing: Yay or nay?

We have done a lot of testing in the last couple of weeks including one of our top-5 old timers.

Every tool in our top 5 undergoes close scrutiny at regular intervals. They really have to earn it! Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 couldn’t cut it any more and has lost its top 5 ranking. The solution is still one of the better ones on the market, but the other vendors are not keeping idle and have made greater improvements to their software than Microsoft.

Fuze Meeting has improved its ranking. The new version 3.1 includes significant enhancements. A “remote desktop control” functionality has been added and the invitation process is a breeze.

GoMeetNow has made the biggest jump in our ranking: From number 11 to number 4! This online collaboration tool offers a load of functionalities without cluttering the interface, and keeps usage easy and intuitive. And it runs on Windows and Mac. Really an impressive job by the developers.

You can have a look at our ranking and detailed evaluations of the online conferencing tools here.

Our first impression of PGi Netspoke was: Wow! Neat interface, easy to use, and a feasible set of functionalities. Also, PGi Netspoke is one of the few web conferencing solutions that include a specific contingent of audio minutes in its pricing.

When looking more closely we noticed that pricing information is only available for the American market. That was the first turn-off. Other discoveries followed.

E.g. the invitation process is a bit complicated, there being no possibility for integration into Outlook. The tool can only be accessed by logging into the online portal, instead of offering access through the toolbar or a desktop-shortcut.

So PGi Netspoke really is a decent tool for online meetings, but not top-ten-material.

Read the whole evaluation.

Voxwire is a basically good online conferencing solution. The user interface is very well-structured and all the basic functionalities are included. But during our tests we were disappointed. And here is why:

• If you want to activate application sharing you have to install a software, which is a common practice. However, Voxwire demands that you close your browser after the installation, which means you have to leave the meeting and reenter again.
• File sharing is not as easy as it sounds since the tool makes it hard for you find and understand the function.
• After all our testing we still don’t know how a meeting can be ended. You can close your browser window, but the meeting continues.

Even though Voxwire shows a lot of promise the online collaboration tool seems reluctant to reveal its functionalities. The basis is good though, and we believe that the next version could greatly improve with some minor changes.

Read the whole evaluation.

We took another look at Meeting Efficiency, even though it is not in our testing focus in that it is no web conferencing solution. This time we sat through an entire day of training to really learn every aspect of the tool. Now, why do we even bother?

Well, we value software that actually helps users accomplish something, be it organizing a conference spread over continents or “simply” organizing a meeting as such. Anybody who has ever faced this task will know that it is hard work. What do we need to discuss? Where should we start? How do we prioritize the single issues? Who will take care of the protocol? How do the meeting attendees get access to the protocol? That is enough to make an overworked secretary jump out the window…

Meetings are hard work and require a lot of thought from those who plan them. And this is where Meeting Efficiency comes in because all that thought has already been included in the software. Meeting Efficiency is not a tool to organize documents and create timetables, but rather helps you define goals, shift priorities during the meeting, and create a protocol while you are discussing.

Meeting Efficiency divides a meeting into four phases:

1)    Preparation
2)    The meeting itself
3)    Documentation
4)    Communication

For every phase the software offers tools that actually lead the user towards reaching a concrete goal. And since Meeting Efficiency allows users to enter information while the meeting is in progress, the protocol pretty much takes care of itself. As a bonus the software will create diagrams and presentations so that the attendees will get the results in a visually appealing form.

But the software is not only of benefit to meeting host. Every participant will get more out of a meeting. When it comes to web conferencing, Meeting Efficiency will help create more concrete results for all participants since the information is structured very clearly and the diagrams and status screens are intuitive. So whenever the host shows his screen the participants can easily see at what stage of the meeting they are, what will be discussed next, and what priority the upcoming topic has.

Meeting Efficiency is no web-application but rather has to be installed on the meeting host’s own computer. But with a good web conferencing solution that at least offers screen sharing the information will be available to everyone.

As little as you want someone to read your letter labeled “classified” you certainly do not want anybody to have access to a presentation you are giving on your company’s new product release via web conferencing.

So security is an important issue when it comes to online collaboration, and the question is: Are the documents and the information I share transmitted securely? We have taken this issue into account from the very beginning. After analyzing the security issue again, we found that we can shift our evaluation criteria a bit.

So far we rated the security of a web conferencing tool by looking at the software-specific security features on a higher-ranking level and then the meeting-specific security features, counting them into the overall results at a 50% – 50% ratio. As our analysis has shown, online conferencing software itself is standardly very secure. It is the meeting specific security – often adjustable to a certain degree by the meeting host – that weighs in more heavily, which is why we now adopted a 30% – 70% ratio.

To give a concrete example this means that a 128 bit SSL encoding and a meeting specific ID increases a tool’s security score.

Many thanks to all the users that have expressed their concerns regarding the security of web conferencing software. We always like to hear your comments on online collaboration, so please keep ‘em coming.

With it’s Magic Quadrant for web conferencing Gartner offers a comprehensive study of the web conferencing market which includes a detailed evaluation of online collaboration tools. Now we have been approached with a justifiable question: Why do their results differ from ours?

The answer lies within another question: What are you looking for in a web conferencing solution? Which brings us to the criteria of evaluation. Gartner takes a very close look not only at the software itself but also includes the vendor in its evaluation. Overall viability of the vendor e.g. has high priority. Here Gartner assesses the financial health of the provider and the placement of the web conferencing tool in question within the organization’s product portfolio. The marketing strategy of the vendor is also ranked high priority.
This prioritization naturally favors the big players who have the high marketing budgets and are financially better situated than a small vendor who just introduced his 1.0 version to the market.

We have a different focus when analyzing and evaluating web conferencing solutions. The web conferencing solutions we evaluate should e.g. offer an approach different or complementary to what Gartner calls the on-premises-model. Users should not be required to install additional hardware or software to their IT-infrastructure to run an online collaboration solution. We give vendors a higher ranking if they enable you to run the software without great preparatory effort (SaaS – Software as a Service). This is important to us since we test with small to medium businesses in mind, who often cannot afford the costly and time consuming installation. You can find a detailed description of our testing approach and evaluation criteria here.

Gartner also features tools that are not included in our ranking. Most of these tools have been rejected by us previously because they did not comply with our basic requirements, e.g. offering a free test version and pricing information. We will definitely take another look at AT&T Connect, Intercall Unified Meeting, and PGi Netspoke to see if they can be included in our ranking now.

If you know of other tools that we have not tested so far and you feel fit all our criteria for evaluation please let us know. We will definitely have a look at the suggestions.

The web conferencing solution sococo is still being completed and has yet to be released as version 1.0. However, it can already be downloaded free of charge.

So, what does this software do? Well, not quite what we are looking for in an online collaboration tool, the main restriction being that it can only be used for collaboration within an organization.

Still it has some very neat features and we like the approach. You can create virtual offices and meeting rooms and see on a map of that virtual office who is currently in a meeting with whom. There is a chat functionality and screen sharing is also possible. The user interface is very straight forward, which means great ease of use.

Because of the exclusively internal usage scenario we will not evaluate the software in detail. If you want to find out more you can go to the vendor’s website and have a look at the how-to videos or download the free version and just try it out yourself.

Making a meeting effective is quite a task: Who needs to attend? What is the agenda? Is there even an agenda? There is some effort involved in a meeting before it actually begins.

This effort is increased when it comes to online meetings. When you remove the meeting from a physical space you loose many ways of interaction. You get no feedback on the other attendees’ body language. And, let’s face it, the other attendees might just be checking their email while you lead the discussion. As you can see, the planning of an online meeting or any face-to-face meeting needs to be given a lot of thought.

So we did just that. We sat down and thought about how to best plan a meeting ahead. Well, to be honest, we were shown how to do this. We sat through a presentation of the software “Meeting Efficiency“ which was developed by the Parmenides Foundation. And we were impressed. Although the tool offers a ton of features and functionalities we could instantly follow the workflow involved.

“Meeting Efficiency” can be a valuable aid in organizing and structuring meetings. If you want more than simply a mind mapping tool to assist you, you can check out the Parmedines Meeting Efficiency website.

No time to lean back and take a breather! With 30+ tools we do offer a very broad overview of the web conferencing market. However, there are many new solutions being pushed on the market and those tools that we already tested need a lot of re-evaluation to keep you up to date on upgrades and enhancements.

So we will sure be keeping busy and have some new evaluations and upgrades for you soon. To our list of evaluated tools.