Conferencing Software
GoToMeeting versus WebEx
GoToMeeting versus WebEx? It's an age-old battle and you'll find both in the workplace of small and medium-size companies. Here's our take on these two leading web conferencing software providers.
Web conferencing gives your company the ability to conduct face-to-face communications with employees, clients and contractors.
Although it's possible to create your own video interface, the process is complicated, cost-prohibitive and unrealistic for companies that regularly conference with external participants. So instead, most businesses rely on convenient, third-party providers for their videoconferencing needs.
GoToMeeting and WebEx are behemoths in the third-party videoconferencing arena. If you're asked to participate in a business videoconference, there's a good chance you will use one of these platforms. The conferencing services offered by these fierce competitors are similar. However, there are also some critical differences that can have a big impact on your business' web conferencing experience.
WebEx
Many business users prefer WebEx over GoToMeeting because it has a reputation for being more reliable and easier to use than any other web conferencing solution on the market. It is a highly polished video conferencing platform with a simplified registration process and a virtually foolproof user interface.
Like other platforms, WebEx gives you the ability to share presentations, documents and applications, and the ability to record your meeting for later viewing. WebEx can now even be accessed with an iPhone or Blackberry. For $49 per month, you get unlimited meetings with as many as 25 participants.
GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is known as a more feature-rich web conferencing solution. It supports multiple computing platforms including Mac, Windows, Linux and UNIX. Like WebEx, you'll have the ability to share documents, presentations, drawings and more. One of the unique features of GoToMeeting is that it offers a variety of meeting formats. In addition to standard video meetings, GoToMeeting facilitates webinars and training sessions in an environment that is designed specifically for those purposes. This solution also provides self-service registration and e-mail reminders for conference participants.
The downside is that some users consider GoToMeeting to be a less reliable and more sluggish application then WebEx. Pricing is now competitive at $49 per month, but you will only have the ability to include 15 participants in each web conference for that price. More participants can be added for an additional fee.
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