Tired of fighting traffic, juggling busy schedules and paying travel expenses? Take your meeting online! - August 2007

Time is money and as a Small to Medium-sized Business (SMB) owner, it is all too easy to spend your time driving from site to site to conduct meetings with Clients. Benefits of face-to-face meetings are nearly impossible to replicate, especially as the initial point of contact with a new Client, but after a relationship is built, SMB owners and their Clients often times consider alternative meeting methods. Obvious downsides to meeting with a client on-site are the need to juggle schedules, fight traffic and charge travel expenses. A great tactic to avoid this madness is to schedule an online meeting. Online meetings are not right for every Client interaction, but can be worth their weight in gold in certain situations.

Online meetings are offered by a variety of companies ranging from GoToMeeting to WebEx to AT&T. The basic goal behind all three is to enable the user to conduct a virtual meeting, harnessing the power of the internet.

What is an Online Meeting?
In short, companies like GoToMeeting and WebEx offer Customers the ability to take teleconferencing to the next level. In addition to communicating with your Clients via voice, the application enables your Client to simultaneously view your computer screen. This role can be reversed to also allow you, the facilitator of the meeting, to view your Client’s screen. 

http://www.webex.com/smb/web-conferencing.html

What are the requirements for Online Meetings?
Online meetings are offered by a variety of companies, but startup is relatively similar. Typically, a user begins by registering online allowing him/her to pay a monthly fee to host an unlimited number of online meetings or to pay-per-use. Your Clients are not required to be registered users and it costs them nothing to ‘attend’ the meeting you initiate. From an installation standpoint, GoToMeeting will download to your PC within a matter of minutes and no configuration is necessary. When it comes to scheduling meetings, you have the option of doing so through GoToMeeting’s or WebEx’s website, via Microsoft Outlook or through an instant messenger application like AIM.

What are the security features for Online Meetings?
Hi-tech does not always mean hi-security, but most of the Online Meeting providers offer security features. Basic security features include: the inability for non-meeting attendees to view meetings through End-to-End Encryption Industry-standard SSL and U.S. government- standard 128-bit AES encryption and User Authentication Strong passwords. As the facilitator of the meeting, you have the ability to grant one-time meeting passwords and by using Desktop Sharing Presenter you always have complete control when sharing keyboard and mouse with attendees, creating a secure environment for all users.

What are the advantages to using Online Meetings?
SMBs can use Online Meetings to demonstrate products and services, share presentations in virtually any format, and resolve Client issues in real-time. The teleconferencing aspect of the process facilitates open communication while the ability to share graphs, what-if calculations and/or presentations via the internet makes for easy display and interpretation of ideas. Many large companies also use online meetings as training tools- enabling a facilitator to connect with employees from any office, school or home around the world. Online meetings are not appropriate in every situation, but can save SMB owners, and their Clients, time and money when used appropriately. Monthly subscriptions vary depending on which service you select, but most hover around $50 per month and include unlimited meetings. Please don’t hesitate to contact VSI for guidance in your effort to explore how Online Meetings could benefit your SMB.

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Small business tip of the month - Applications such as Online Meetings can enhance your ability to serve your clients. As SMB owners, we are usually quick to alert our Clients to new products or services, but in the case of Online Meetings, since we are not truly selling the product, we may neglect to notify our Customers. Online Meetings can empower SMBs with new, quick, and more efficient ways to serve Clients and when visiting with a current Client or trying to close a deal with a new one, it is important that you include any unique method or application you use to better serve them. In today’s saturated market, the services we offer may be similar to those of others, but if we can package it differently, it may make the difference between a lost deal and a sale.