As Ellis notes, there are dozens of applications and tools on the market th
at purport to be the solution to all of your company's meeting woes. Furthe
r, there are many different ways to use those tools, such as doing your own
hosting or using an application provider.
Ellis lists these basic features common to almost all services:
application sharing
document sharing and editing
presentation viewing
instant messaging
real-time chat
polls and surveys
whiteboards
integrated telephony services
group scheduling and calendars.
To select an online meeting solution, Ellis advises you to consider these i
ssues:
number of participants
hosting: outsourced or in-house
security
platform versatility
technical support
ease of set-up
cost.
The article concludes with a chart listing six online meeting options, with
information about features, system requirements, and costs.