Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008 - (Page 20)

BRIEFCASE BizTech By Jeffery D. Zbar GONE ARE THE DAYS OF HECTIC AND EXPENSIVE TRAVEL. TODAY, PCS WITH BROADBAND INTERNET CONNECTIONS CAN REPLACE IN-PERSON GATHERINGS. THE NEW FACE TIME aul Holstein has sat in his share of seminars. He’s hosted events, and traveled to conferences. Then several years ago, he participated in a Webinar, a seminar conducted over the Internet. He immediately saw the beneﬁt, and realized the future of “seminars” had changed. “The solution can save businesses money and time, and help employees stay productive,” says Holstein, 43, senior vice president with CableOrganizer.com, a Fort Lauderdale-based online retailer of cable, wire and cord management solutions. “I realized the beneﬁts a long time ago.” Web conferencing will be a $1.37 billion business in 2008, the Gartner research ﬁrm notes, and should continue to grow almost 20 percent through 2010. Current market leaders WebEx, Citrix GoToWebinar and Microsoft Live will continue to lead the pack, alongside a bevy of upstart competitors. Even document company Adobe has entered the 20 P fray, as has IBM with its Lotus Sametime Unyte service and AT&T’s Interwise. Webinars can be fairly simple to set up and run. As a “Web-based” or hosted solution, typically no software is downloaded. For either a one-time fee or a monthly contract (ranging from $39 a month to $75 a session, depending on the service), the host can schedule an event, brand email invitations with logos and photos, distribute the invites to several or thousands of participants. Depending on the service, invitees can call in via toll or tollfree lines, log on to the Web-based service using a speciﬁc pass code, and listen and watch quietly—or actively participate. With most products, the host can record the session to be replayed or sold in the future. Some also feature paid moderators, who run the show while the host focuses on the event. BASIC BENEFITS The beneﬁts can be basic: When people cannot be in the same location, they can use their PCs with broadband Internet connections to replace in-person gatherings—while still enjoying “face to face” familiarity. Gone are hectic and expensive travel and even a company’s growing carbon footprint borne of business trips. Consider one recent use: Soldiers from the Massachusetts Army National Guard deployed in Iraq participated in a conference hosted over Citrix Online’s GoToMeeting. From their makeshift classroom crafted from a utility tent, the soldiers learned business tips in a Webinar hosted by the Boston-based Northeast Veterans Business Resource Center. To that end, the most measurable motivators behind using Web conferencing are the “high cost of business travel and restrictions on people’s movements due to security or public health concerns,” says David Mario Smith, a researcher with Gartner Inc. It helps that the technology is widely available. Beyond the big brands, smaller niche players include such applications as LogMeIn and Crosslink.com. Each brings the beneﬁt of collaboration for distance HISPANIC ENTERPRISE February/March 2008 http://Crosslink.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008

Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008 Contents Briefcase: BIZBUZZ: Business Briefs Briefcase: Trendsetters Briefcase: BIZTECH: Virtually Meeting BizLife: Travel: Madrid's New Attraction Q & A: Mi Case es su Casa Hispanic Commerce: The Agenda Cover Story: The Top 50 Corporations for Supplier Diversity Technology: Hispanic Web 2.0 Success & Motivation: Sweetening the Deal Politics & Government: The Rescue Generation Managing: The Method Franchising: The Hispanic Face of Franchising Chamber Focus: It's Showtime Movers & Shakers: Open for Business Finance & Investing: Getting Your 401(K) on Target

Hispanic Enterprise - February/March 2008

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