Internet / web conferencing represents a huge leap forward in organizational and corporate communications. Never before have fellow employees and collaborators been able to share information so readily in real time with each other, regardless of where they are physically located at the time.

You can leverage web conferencing to carry out live meetings, collaborate on projects, share ideas, look at streaming video together, conduct webinars (one-to-many presentations), present your products or services to prospective customers, and conduct training or educational sessions.

Systems can be accessed via the Internet as a web application, downloaded locally to users’ own computers, or be hosted on a corporate or organizational server while being managed by your own internal IT department.

Typical features found in most or all major web conferencing software applications include:

* Slide show presentations like PPT or Keynote slides

* Live or streaming video

* VoIP (voice over IP)

* Web tours where URLs, data from forms, cookies, etc. can be pushed to other participants, enabling them to be pushed through web based logons, etc. This allows for interactive web site usage.

* Meeting recording

* Whiteboard with annotation (for both presenter and attendees)

* Text chat for live Q&A sessions; these can be public (all participants) or private (only a selected subset of participants)

* Polls and surveys

* Screen sharing

* Collaborative workspace

* Dedicated URL for your virtual meeting room, which can be included on a business card

Internet / Web Conferencing Benefits

Not sure if your organization needs web conferencing? There are a number of benefits to investing your time and resources in an Internet/web conferencing system.

The most obvious benefit is that Internet/web conferencing allows you to communicate with any (connected) person, anywhere. It overcomes distance barriers in a big way by eliminating them.

While Internet/web conferencing does not replace face-to-face (in-person) communication, meetings, presentation and training in all ways, in some ways it is actually better than face-to-face communication. For example, with web conferencing, you can actually record and archive your meetings, presentations, and training sessions for later reference. Also, functions like built-in whiteboards are not always available in face-to-face communication situations.

Here are some examples of what you can do with web conferencing:

* Make sales, engineering or management presentations to anyone, anywhere, regardless of distance

* Show streaming or live videos, comment on them

* Leverage low-cost voice communications capability of Voice over IP (VoIP)

* Conduct live web "tours" of the Internet, while narrating and allowing for audience participation

* Record and archive meetings, including text, video and audio for future reference

* Use whiteboard capabilities, such as taking notes and making diagrams

* Acquire and record attendee feedback, including polls, voting and surveys

* Conduct working groups that collaborate on projects, regardless of distance

* Conduct webinars (webcasts) to hundreds or thousands of people at once

* Conduct urgent management meetings that require face-to-face communication

Range of Internet / Web Conferencing Providers

There are at least 10-15 major players in the Internet/web conferencing space. Internet-mediated conferencing is still growing as a field. However, it has been gaining popularity since the late 1990s and is not looking back.

A smart way to narrow down your range of choices when looking for an Internet conferencing provider is to get a handle on how you will primarily be using the system. Will you use it for enterprise-wide work collaboration? Or, maybe for your IT department will use it to support remotely-located employees. Your goal could be to use it to make rich media (video and audio-heavy) presentations to prospective customers. Or, maybe you plan to use the system for education and training. Or, simple meetings . . . you get the picture.

What to Look for in Secure Internet / Web Conferencing

For many governmental entities, companies, and educational institutions, Internet/web conferencing security is a major requirement. As with features and functionality, providers also differ by the types and levels of security they offer to their users.

Here are some of the security features that providers offer:

* Allows meeting organizer to have full control of meeting, including scheduling and inviting attendees

* Records and archives all text, video and voice for monitoring and review at a later date

* All data is encrypted using 128-bit SSL/TLS encryption and configuration

* Authenticates users via user names and use of strong passwords; requires frequent changing of passwords; PKI-based authentication, whereby a third party certification authority verifies the identity of a client and binds a certificate to the client; server authenticates itself to the clients using public key certificates, and vice-versa

* For on-site hosted solutions, users can be authenticated against LDAP server

* Offers option for fully managed services, including hosting with physical security, advanced compliance and archiving

* System developed with rigorous testing, peer review and industry best practices in development

* System "threat models" are developed and tested to ensure high levels of security

* Protection of data during upgrades and migrations

* Ability to manage user permission levels and security

* Allows ability to retain user records and manage access to them

* Administrators can audit system activity with server logs

* Administrators can enable or disable system functionality on a per-user basis

* System offers flexible deployment options; hosted vs. managed service vs. install on your own network

Check with the specific providers you are evaluating to determine which of the above-mentioned security features they offer.