EMI Webinar Selection Criteria and Rating Matrix

Citrix

Recommended Product Name Webinato

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Max Room Capacity 2500 1000

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Private Labeling & Customization **** ***

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MUSTHave

Vendor Feature Name

(omNovia)Webinato

GoToWebinar500

No Client Software To Install (--- mobile app install required)Browser based solution (may require add-in or extension) --- ---

Ease of useOverall ease for attendees, presenters and organizers

Reliability Based on Product Ubiquity; A/V Fail-Over and SW Resiliency

Price (per month, 50-100 users): = ~$US50& = Free (no CC) 30-Day Trial

24 x 7 Customer Support ( --- No API Development Support)

AutoPilot CapabilityTo pre-record events and replay in a fully interactive mode

Automated WebinarsTo pre-record and schedule a webinar to autostart

Event ManagementScheduling, Reminders and Reports

Authoring, Recording and Editting ToolsNote: Ontream Digital Media Services available separately

Integration APIsConnect with CRMs, Marketing Automation, SSO and LMS tools

Phone, Mic and Webcam - POTS (Toll) and/or VoIPIntegrated conference bridge and/or microphone + webcam

Screen Sharing and Control ( --- means no Remote Control)Desktop sharing and Remote Control of PC and Mac

Video Sharing Uploaded HD video, and Display YouTube, FLV, MP4, etc.

White Board

***** ***

Live Polls

Webinato

***** ****Product Ranking 1 3 (Tied)

CobrowsingTake attendees to a live webpage to browse collaboratively

Q & A CapabilitiesAssign questions, respond privately, rate, reporting...

In-room SurveyAsk multiple questions at once with reporting

Exit Landing PageTake attendees to a web page at exit

GoToWebinar500

Overall Product Score (***** is Highest)

* = Requires a separatel module, service or product

Boxes filled in RED indicate DisqualifiersBoxes filled in GREEN indicate Qualifiers

EMI Webinar Selection Criteria and Rating Matrix

Cisco Adobe On24 Google

Studio

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FREE

Limited

2000 3000 1000 Unlimited 1000 5000 10

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WebinarJam

Onstream Media

Webinars OnAir

WebexPremium

AdobeConnect

Webcast Elite

WebinarService

Basic(Uses G + H)

Google + Hangouts

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*

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(upload only)

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*** **** ** **** ***** *** **5 (Tied) 4 6 (Tied) 3 (Tied) 2 5 (Tied) 6 (Tied)

WebexPremium

AdobeConnect

On24Webcast

Elite

WebinarJam

Studio

Onstream WebinarService

Webinars OnAir Basic

Google + Hangouts

No 10: Controllable Document Sharing

No 9: Conãgurable Chat

No 8: Powerful Slide Show

Features Pricing

No 7: Flexible Recording

No 6: Full Reporting

Top 10 Features You need in a Web Conferencing System (By omnovia)

You should be able to allow your attendees to download files such as brochures, agendas,presentations and such within the web conference interface without having to email them.Shared Folders provide this function. There may be times that you would need to mark adocument as private so that only selected moderators or presenters can access those files.

Although all web conferencing platforms offer some type of chat (ability for attendees to typemessages), many lack some important features that can enhance your online meetingexperience. You may want to have the option to privatize the chat so that attendees cannotread each others’ messages. You may also need a configurable and controllable Private Chatfunction between attendees. Ability to create a moderator, the person who is in charge ofselecting the questions to pass to the presenter, can be very useful particularly in largepresentations. And finally, having the ability to make major announcements is also a plus as ithelps your important messages not get diluted among the many messages that scroll up.

Although you can use the application or desktop sharing function available in most systems, itis preferable to use a Slide Show function of web conferencing platforms to show MicrosoftPowerPoint presentations. There are three reasons behind this:Your viewers may not have the same screen resolution as you do and they may get scrollbars on presentations if you show your desktopFast animations may not be seen properly through desktop sharing

When running a PowerPoint show, it covers your entire screen (although this isconfigurable) and would not allow you to see participants’ messages and questionsYou need a Slide Show module within a web conferencing platform that supports bothPowerPoint 2003 and 2007. You also need to make sure it does support all or mostanimations. The majority of web conference slide show functions do not do a good job atsupporting animations. Another important feature is the ability to annotate your slides live.

The ability to record and archive a presentation is critical. Most systems produce either verylarge file movies or low quality ones. You need to ensure the recording function provides acompromise between quality and file size so that your viewers don’t need to download Gigs ofdata to see a 30 min movie. Another important factor is the ease of accessing the movies. Theadvantage of having the archive in Flash format is that they can be accessed from any browseron PC or Mac without any software installs. In addition to traditional recording methods,omNovia provides a unique Recast technology that does not produce any large movie files.The conference room “remembers” every step of the presentation (including audio and video)and at the time of replay rnoeproduces the event exactly the way it happened live in aninteractive environment. This means that during the replay time, the viewers can access sharedfiles and take polls, for instance, as if it was live.

The back end administration of web conferencing platform is also very important. You shouldbe able to access reports on attendance, archive views, typed messages… as soon as anevent ends. You should also be able to export reports in Microsoft Excel format and/or use

No 5: Ease of Customization

No 4: Integrated Voice

No 3: Versatile Desktop Sharing

No 2: No software installs

No 1: Reliability

APIs to download them automatically and interface with your CRM systems.

Our advice is to seek a system that can be easily integrated to your website and becustomizable in terms of look and feel as well as functionality. Integration to your site does notonly mean a link from your site. It should mean the ability to have attendees access theconference room with a click from your Members Area. This would make user managementeasy for you but also offers a better experience for your customers.

With the advanced VOIP (Voice over IP) technologies available today, you should demand thesystem have a fully integrated voice system. This means that your attendees would simplylisten through their computers without using the phone or any other device. A bridge to outsidetelephone lines, however, offers more flexibility. You might have attendees or presenters notalways able to use the audio on their computers. Most systems however lack the high qualityvoice that you need in web conferencing.

When it comes to sharing your desktop or a particular application, three factors are critical: 1.Image transmission should be fast 2. It should go through most firewalls. 3. It should not use toomuch CPU (your computer’s calculating power). Advanced systems optimize imagetransmission speed and reduce required bandwidth by only sending the areas of the screenthat change.← Previous Post Next Post →

One of the most important factors is the ease of access and use. No matter what type ofwebinar or online presentation you want to carry out, you need to make sure your attendeescan access your conference room in simple steps. Having a browser based system that trulydoes not require any software installs is important. Many systems claim being web based butrequire installing a large Activex or run on Java (which is not present on a significant portion ofcomputers) that defeat the purpose of being browser based. Systems such as the omNoviaWeb Conference run on Flash which is already present on over 98.5% of computersworldwide. In addition to making the access easy the first time, no software installs means itthat there will not be necessary to make any software upgrades which makes systemmaintenance convenient.

If the key word in real estate is Location, Reliability applies to web conferencing. No matterhow good the features, the up time of the system and its ability to automatically correctproblems will determine your success during your webinars. The majority of web conferencingplatforms (especially some of the recently developed low cost systems) provide a “goodenough” platform that works 97% of the time. But web conferencing when used for businesscritical applications is similar to electricity. It is “not good enough” to have 3% of the timetechnical problems. It has to work all the time. Many systems allocate 1 server to 10,000+users to reduce their costs. Reliable systems cost a little more but provide servers with lessusers, high availability and more importantly the ability to instantly and seamlessly switch toanother server or servers in case of technical trouble.