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Online networking gains currency
‘Obsolete tools’ like e-mail and instant messengers could act as roadblocks for the growth of web collaboration, say experts.
To improve employee productivity, reduce intra-office and long-distance communication costs, and create a huge market opportunity which adds to their bottom line, players like WebEx (a Cisco company), Microsoft and Yugma among others are pushing their online collaboration offerings to enterprises.
Online collaboration, they reason, is able to reach more business prospects by eliminating geographical constraints and is beneficial specially for enterprises.
It includes services like web conferencing, online meetings, online events and online training. Web conferencing comprises audio and video conferencing or 3G conferencing. These services are mostly used by institutions and corporations.
The market opportunity in India is huge, and growing fast. The video conferencing equipment market alone in 2007 grew 25 per cent over 2006. The video conferencing endpoint and infrastructure market in 2007 was estimated at $28.5 million (around Rs 115 crore).
"Though the market is quite closed when it comes to online collaboration, audio conferencing is the fastest growing segment for the industry," says an analyst with WebEx. "However, the industry is growing at a scorching rate," he adds.
WebEx, for instance, provides both service-based audio conferencing and poly-conference facility, which is equipment-based.
Minneapolis-based Yugma’s offerings are compatible with Windows, Mac and Linux. It offers desktop sharing and free teleconferencing. "We provide visual components to online conferencing and its strength lies in spontaneous collaboration," says Lingaraj Mishra, CEO, Yugma.
Microsoft, too, recently launched its free Microsoft Office Live Workspace, which enables users to access and share documents anywhere.
It helps them to work collaboratively on a project in a password-protected, invite-only online workspace, eliminating version-control challenges when e-mailing drafts to multiple people. Even if people do not have a desktop version of Microsoft Office, they can still view and comment on the document in a browser.
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