Business Software

WebEx

Hold A Meeting Anywhere

Collaboration software firm WebEx on Wednesday released the final version of AIM Pro Business Edition, which entered beta testing in June. The software, designed for large corporations, follows AOL’s release of the standard AIM Pro beta that is targeted at small to mid-size businesses. WebEx AIM Pro Business Edition enables corporations to deploy and manage a company-wide IM infrastructure based upon AOL’s Triton platform. It supports the standard AIM communication features, while adding online meetings and live demonstrations with desktop sharing using technology from WebEx. Like the standard AIM Pro, Business Edition delivers added security over AIM with message encryption, along with the voice and video capabilities offered by the WebEx MediaTone Network. But features for corporate users aren’t the main draw of the service: WebEx notes most other enterprise IM solutions require a dedicated server. “There is a reason EIM software hasn’t taken off, companies simply don’t want to b.u.y and maintain complex IM servers,” said David Knight, vice president of messaging solutions at WebEx. “WebEx AIM Pro combines the reach and productivity benefits of web-based IM, the administrative controls of an on-premise EIM solution and the cost advantages of on-demand.”

The software will connect with AOL AIM, ICQ and Apple iChat users, as well as business-oriented IM clients through the AIM Clearinghouse service. The new client also integrates with Outlook to enable users to see their instant messages, calendar and e-mails in one place.

When you’re on the road, collaboration with colleagues and customers can often be difficult. Long-distance conferencing used to consist of individuals calling into multiple speakerphones situated in a con-ference room, with meeting attendees constantly updating one another as to which page of a PowerPoint presentation they were viewing or sharing the URL of a Web page that everyone was viewing. Annotating existing documents, sharing meeting notes, and other collaborative tasks were huge hassles, which oftentimes convoluted a process intended to make things simple.

If the company you work for uses WebEx, the unified “Web Conferencing, Video Conferencing, and Online Meeting Service,” you’re in luck. WebEx makes long-distance collaboration not only possible but remarkably easy. The host of your meeting will define the parameters for your teleconference, including time, date, available services, and communication types.

Make Sure You’re Invited

Before the start of the scheduled meeting, each attendee will receive an email containing a URL to click to enter into the meeting. This URL will indicate to WebEx all the necessary information required to place you into the proper meeting and notify the host that you are attending, so all you have to do is click the link. However, if you are a late or ad hoc participant or you cannot find your email, it’s still very simple to join a meeting in progress. Simply go to


and click the Join link in the upper-right corner. You will be prompted to enter the meeting number, as well as pertinent information, such as your name and email address.

When you first join a WebEx session, you will be prompted with the telephone number and meeting number to join the teleconference.

Now that WebEx knows who you are and which meeting you are attending, it will automatically begin loading the meeting utility. If it is your first time using WebEx, you will have to download the WebEx player. It’s a small download, installs quickly, and requires no “tweaking” to work behind a firewall or other infrastructure; all that is required is a Web browser. A window will pop up asking you to download the WebEx software. Click Yes to Accept. Once it has finished installing, you will automatically enter the meeting.

If your host chose to enable teleconferencing, a small window will appear that will prompt you to call a toll-free number. Once you dial the number, you will be asked to enter the meeting number and your attendee ID and you will be automatically connected to the teleconference. (You’ll only be connected if the teleconference is in session; if not, you will be placed in a hold queue until the host or hosts arrive.) Some meetings will have “callback” enabled, so that when you enter the meeting the host will be prompted to call the number you provide. This goes a long way to reducing the number of cellular minutes spent on the teleconference. The host may also enable VoIP, allowing you to hear and speak via your notebook’s speakers and microphone.

Get To Know Each Other

Now that you’re connected and participating in the meeting, it would probably be helpful if you knew about some of the features that might be used during your conference. In the upper-right corner of the screen, locate the Participants window. This window will list the names of both the attendees and the hosts for the meeting. It also indicates which attendees are connected to the ongoing teleconference and whether or not their microphone is muted or active. To set these options for yourself, simply right-click your own name and select either Mute or Unmute, according to your preferences. The host also has the option of either locking or unlocking the Mute option for any or all attendees.

Just below the Participants window is the Chat window. This section of the application allows attendees to chat with the entire group, individual attendees, or the hosts via text. This is an extremely helpful function when you have an individual question or comment that you’d like to ask without interrupting the current speaker during the teleconference. Click the Recipient drop-down menu to select the persons you’d like to chat with, type your message, and click Send.

See who’s in attendance and chat with them in real time during meetings.
Underneath the text Chat window, if enabled, you will see the videoconference window. If the host has a Web cam or camcorder attached to their computer, they can share visual presentations to further enhance the meeting. There is no action required on your part to view the video feed; it will either appear or disappear based on the availability of the camera on the host’s end.

Compare Notes

In the main window, you will see the screens, applications, and documents that compose the main presentation. Most presentations will proceed much like a PowerPoint slideshow, with main points and notes being called out in regular presentation form. WebEx also features Desktop Sharing, which lets the host make his desktop visible to all attendees and even allow them control over the applications running on their machine. For example, if a financial analyst has a spreadsheet open with the figures for the yearly budget displayed and there needs to be an adjustment to a column, the host can allow an attendee to modify the actual spreadsheet residing on the host’s machine.

WebEx even features Document Sharing, so that during a meeting a host can make available any document on his or her machine. Each attendee will be presented with a window, from which they can download documents made available by the host. Once selected, click Download to bring the documents to the folder you specified in the dialogue.

Allowing meeting attendees to share documents enhances productivity and business processes.

This is also the area for the shared Whiteboard application, a feature which allows the hosts and participants to share ideas, notes, and diagrams via an online marker board, much like those present in your office’s conference room. Each participant is assigned a color to differentiate each person’s notes. Selecting different brush sizes, alternate colors and textures, and marker types from the Whiteboard toolbar helps to enable a richer presentation experience.

During a presentation, the host may wish to poll attendees on any number of topics. WebEx features a real-time participant poll, which enables hosts to get immediate feedback from attendees on just about any topic imaginable. In order to vote in a poll, just click the option which corresponds with your choice and then click Vote.

The poll results, the Whiteboard, feeds from a Desktop Sharing session, presentations, chat logs, and video conferencing feeds can be saved into a transcript for future viewing. This transcript will also include copies of any documents shared during the teleconference, creating a complete replay of the meeting.

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