GoToMeeting vs WebEx

If you are a business owner, by now you would’ve decided to use a web-based solution to conduct meetings or make presentations for employees, clients or business partners who are geographically dispersed. Web conferencing services or software are basically online interfaces that link computers from different parts of the world, enabling participants to attend or conduct important business meetings or presentations remotely, by way of the internet. Today, similar to many other business solutions, web conferencing also plays a vital role in how businesses operate, making it easy for geographically disparate partners, customers, and employees to connect with each other.

However, many business owners or managers still remain unconvinced of the many benefits offered by different web conferencing services. If you happen to be one among them, here is a list of benefits that will appeal to you greatly:

• Augment security: Most web conferencing software or tools enable private and secure web conferencing, which is vital for business organizations.
• Reduce travel cost: This is an obvious advantage. When you conduct web conferences, there is no need for you or any of your employees to travel to a different place in order to meet other participants, which immensely reduces travel costs.

Similar to these, there are many other benefits offered by these services. GoToMeeting and WebEx are the two most widely used web conferencing tools and in this article we’ll be comparing the two to give you insights on the features they offer.

Overview

GoToMeeting

Introduced by Citrix, a leader in virtualization, mobility and networking technologies, GoToMeeting is a web conferencing software that is extremely easy to use and lets participants from anywhere to meet at any time. This software uses a web-based interface. Each participant should download the application specific to their platform to their PC before their first conference.

When it comes to commencing a meeting using this software, you should first log in to its website, download the app if necessary, and get on with your meeting. Sometimes, this procedure can get slow based on the browser you use. The software enables Screen Sharing, which is an important functionality for presentations. You can easily share your desktop with other participants so that they can see the slides; also, you can enable participants of your choice to have temporary control over the session if you have planned to make a colleague of yours to present certain sections of the presentation. One big disappointment with this service is the lack of File Sharing feature. On the positive side, GoToMeeting automatically records all your meetings and presentations to your PC’s local hard disk.

To know more about this product, visit DiscoverCloud’s Knowledge Base here.

WebEx

From Cisco, a multinational technology company, WebEx is a similar solution that enables online meetings and web conferencing. Also using a web-based interface, it works similar to the previous tool. When it comes to firing up a meeting, you should log in to your account and start a meeting. You can also schedule meeting for any future time. Screen Sharing is a staple function in this software as well, and you can record your sessions for future review.

One major factor that sets WebEx apart from its competition is that it enables File Sharing. It accepts most commonly used file formats, including MS Office files, PDFs, graphics and videos. With the Whiteboard facility offered by this software, you and other participants can easily write and draw on a multi-page screen.

Benefits

GoToMeeting

• Easy to use.
• Good quality audio and video.
• SSL-encrypted website.
• Unlimited meetings.
• Enables simultaneous sharing of screen and videos.
• Compatible with both Windows and Mac, although offers more features for Windows.
• Can be used on smartphones.

WebEx

• SSL-encrypted website.
• Enables file sharing.
• Enables simultaneous sharing of screen and videos.
• Compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
• Excellent integration with Outlook.
• Supports mobile devices.
• Offers user guides and online training.

Head-to-Head Matchup

Conclusion

Both these web conferencing tools offer high security and almost similar features. One notable aspect of WebEx is that it enables streaming of media to all participants without serious lags. If your business involves videos or other forms of media, then WebEx would be a great online conferencing tool for you to work with. In the case of GoToMeeting, though the company doesn’t offer a file sharing facility at present, it offers a 30-day trial period, which is enough time for you to evaluate its features and make your selection based on how much you get impressed.