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A Whitepaper for
Owners of Growing
Businesses
Using Web Conferencing to Boost
Productivity and Increase the
Profitability of Your Business
How Citrix®GoToMeeting®Corporate Can
Contribute to Your Competitive Advantage
An Independent Analysis Published on Behalf of Citrix Online
Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
and Increase the Profitability of Your Business
White Paper
©
THINKstrategies, Inc., 2006
www.thinkstrategies.com
2
Executive Overview
Growing businesses today face escalating challenges in a rapidly changing global marketplace.
They no longer compete with just the companies in their own backyard; now they must contend
with competitors from around the world. And many of their customers are facing similar
competitive pressures.
These pressures are driving down prices and placing severe constraints on operating budgets.
Consequently, growing businesses must adopt new, more cost-effective methods to win and
retain customers, including those beyond their usual local reach. This is complicated by the fact
that rising travel costs discourage companies from sending salespeople to visit remote
prospects.
Many growing businesses are also permitting their employees to work at home. But this can be
more expensive and less productive than desired, as remote workers may require additional travel
and technology in order to coordinate with their peers elsewhere.
Smart businesses are leveraging the Internet to overcome these challenges. Most growing
businesses promote their capabilities via their corporate Web sites and a variety of online search
engines and advertising vehicles such as Google or Yahoo. Some more sophisticated businesses
are leveraging electronic commerce to sell their goods and services. But few small businesses
realize that the Web can be used to build closer ties with their customers, prospects, employees
and partners, and compete with larger companies on a more even playing field.
Web conferencing has become a powerful and increasingly popular method to communicate with
current or prospective customers, as well as partners and employees who are located remotely.
Web conferencing isn't just for large-scale corporations who can afford sophisticated and
expensive services. Web conferencing also permits growing businesses to meet virtually with
these important audiences either one-on-one or as a group, and present valuable information in
an easy and interactive fashion that can be just as effective as meeting across the table, but at a
fraction of the cost.
Web conferencing can enable geographically dispersed employees to improve their productivity
by allowing them to collaborate online. It can also be used for internal or external training
purposes. It can also be used as a cost-effective sales tool to reach new customers located
remotely.
Whether it is to increase sales effectiveness, enhance customer support, better communicate
with partners or permit employees to more effectively coordinate their work, Web conferencing
can produce tangible benefits and measurable results.
It is for these reasons that a significant proportion of large-scale enterprises have adopted Web
conferencing, and a growing number of smaller businesses are following suit. However, many
growing businesses cannot afford the cost and complexity of most Web conferencing services,
which were mainly designed to meet the needs of large-scale enterprises. Instead, they need an
easy-to-use and more economical Web conferencing solution that is just as reliable and secure.
This whitepaper will examine the business benefits of Web conferencing for growing businesses.
It will also show how the Citrix®GoToMeeting®Corporate Web conferencing service meets the
specific needs of these companies and can help them successfully compete with much larger
corporations.
Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
and Increase the Profitability of Your Business
White Paper
©
THINKstrategies, Inc., 2006
www.thinkstrategies.com
The Escalating Challenges Facing Growing Businesses
The opportunities the Internet provides for growing businesses have never been greater.
Businesses of any size can now sell and deliver goods and services to a broader array of
customers spread across a far greater geographic footprint. Plus, Web advertising and
eCommerce level the playing field, permitting growing businesses to compete with much larger
enterprises.
However, these same innovations are being used by others as well. This is creating greater
competition for growing businesses. As more companies compete for customers and potential
partners within a local geography, growing businesses must expand their target market in order to
succeed and survive.
In an increasingly global marketplace, growing businesses can no longer rely on traditional
methods to engage new customers and partners, or retain existing ones. With global competition
come a number of global business challenges.
These global business challenges include:
•
Escalating fuel costs are driving up travel costs, both by car and air.
Intensifying price competition and budgetary constraints preclude businesses from
sending their sales and training personnel to meet with customers or employees in
person unless it is absolutely necessary.
Remote employees need a way to collaborate with their colleagues instantly to share
knowledge and drive projects to completion on time and on budget.
Cost constraints make it difficult to afford even traditional on-site customer or
employee training programs.
All workers are being required to do more with less to accelerate sales and marketing
cycles and increase revenue.
Global businesses need metrics-driven programs and tools to maximize their return
on investment (ROI) as they expand their operations.
Not only does airline travel cost more, but consolidated flight schedules and tighter security
requirements make air travel more time-consuming and a less productive way to do business. Yet,
simple phone conversations are no longer sufficient to win new customers or support existing
ones.
The same holds true for trying to get the most out of a geographically dispersed workforce.
Growing businesses are increasingly dependent on mobile or home-based employees. But,
traditional phone calls, email and faxes all fall short of meeting the collaboration and training
needs of remote and even on-site workers.
Figure 1 illustrates the reasons why growing businesses are demanding better, real-time
communications tools.
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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Figure 1
Figure 1
Changing Communications Requirements
Changing Communications Requirements
In the past, most organizations communicated in a 'linear' fashion in which individuals made calls
in a sequential manner. A business owner would call a prospective customer then talk with an
employee about the prospect's needs, possibly make another call to a partner to fill in a gap, and
then call the customer back to respond to their request. This sequence of calls may be repeated
multiple times and might still lead to a face-to-face meeting to close a deal.
This approach is no longer effective in today's increasingly competitive climate. Instead, growing
businesses must adopt a new, more dynamic method of engaging customers, partners and coworkers
one-on-one or simultaneously in order to reduce cycle-time and increase the productivity
of everyone involved. Some business consultants refer to this streamlining process as reducing
the friction in the workflow.
Fortunately, there are proven Web conferencing services that permit this type of dynamic, real-
time collaboration. The Internet has enabled these Web-based solutions to emerge to address
today's challenges. The beauty of these Web conferencing services is that they can be leveraged
by growing businesses to compete on equal terms against larger companies with far greater
resources at their disposal.
In fact, Web conferencing can fundamentally change the way growing businesses operate
internally and communicate with their customers and partners externally.
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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We'll examine these services in the next section of this whitepaper.
How Web Conferencing Addresses Today's Business Challenges
How Web Conferencing Addresses Today's Business Challenges
Web conferencing is an increasingly common method of leveraging the Internet to conduct
meetings or make live presentations to customers, partners or co-workers at different locations.
In a Web conference, participants sit at their own computers connected together via the Internet.
The most basic component of a Web conference is screen sharing, whereby the Web conference
participants can see whatever is on the presenter's computer screen. The visual presentation is
accompanied by voice communication, either through a traditional telephone line or a voice over
Internet protocol (VoIP) connection.
While this may sound like 'bleeding edge' technology for the uninitiated, the truth is that Web
conferencing is quickly becoming a common business practice. Wainhouse Research, Inc.,
recently conducted a survey which found that small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) were more
likely over a six-month period to conduct a Web conference than meet with customers, partners
and co-workers in person. (41% vs. 36%)
Another research firm, Gartner, predicts Web conferencing will be a standard method for
companies to conduct business in two years. As a result, market research firm Frost & Sullivan
predicts Web conferencing will grow at a double-digit rate through 2011. (See Figure 2)
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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Figure 2
Figure 2
Total Web Conferencing Market: Revenue Forecasts (World) , 2006 and 2011 ($M)
Total Web Conferencing Market: Revenue Forecasts (World) , 2006 and 2011 ($M)
The rapid rate of adoption of Web conferencing is being driven by both the practical needs
discussed earlier in this whitepaper and the tremendous ease of use of today's solutions.
Web conferencing allows people to more easily communicate with customers and partners, and
to collaborate with co-workers anywhere and at any time. This ubiquitous, on-demand capability
permits sales and support people to proactively engage customers and partners, and respond
more quickly to their needs.
Almost three-quarters (72%) of the respondents to the Wainhouse Research survey use Web
conferencing to include participants in meetings who could not attend before, and over two-thirds
use Web conferencing to enable new meetings that could not be held in the past. Almost two-
thirds (64%) use Web conferencing to replace in-person meetings.
In the software field, sales representatives can demo products online, while remote
engineers can collaborate with co-workers on projects.
Business consultants can give PowerPoint presentations or go over business plans
with customers.
Financial services professionals such as mortgage brokers can make offers and review
sensitive information in a secure environment.
Professional services firms can negotiate contracts and finalize documents to close
deals and complete projects more quickly and cost-effectively.
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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In each of these cases, and many others, businesses can now use Web conferencing to engage
their customers and partners more often to build stronger bonds at far lower costs. Employees
can also more effectively communicate with their peers whenever the need arises. Rather than
having to schedule meetings well in advance, workers can now initiate meetings on an ad-hoc
basis without having to spend time or money traveling.
Web conferencing also produces other business benefits. Because a Web conference can be
recorded and archived, people who were not available at the time of the meeting can access the
session at any time to see what they missed. This reduces the amount of time and effort necessary
to keep internal employees and outside contacts up to date. Plus, recorded meetings can provide
useful information for future analysis and reference.
The reporting features available with some Web conferencing solutions are extremely valuable for
measuring ROI, pinpointing the most promising leads and for monitoring employee usage. These
tracking capabilities are particularly timely in an age when government regulations and industry
standards require greater accountability.
Another reason for the recent growth in the adoption of Web conferencing has been the
introduction of flat-fee or unlimited usage licensing models, which make this expense more
predictable and provide greater value to the customer by encouraging frequent use.
The cost-effectiveness of Web conferencing is clearly seen in the level of growth it is experiencing
within organizations. Forty-six percent of the Wainhouse Research survey respondents reported
dramatic growth (50% or more) in their use of Web conferencing over the past year. Another
twenty-eight percent reported solid growth (25% or more).
In all these ways, Web conferencing is proving to be a practical solution to today's business
demands that is generating a higher and more tangible return on investment (ROI).
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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The benefits of Web conferencing:
Meeting online eliminates unnecessary expenditure of time and money on traveling.
The ability to meet frequently and on demand strengthens relationships with remote
customers, colleagues, partners and employees.
Recording and archiving capability makes meetings available to absent invitees and is
useful for future reference.
Reporting features enable companies to measure ROI, attendee interest and
employee usage.
Flat-fee licensing models make budgeting easier and provide greater use value.
Because of these benefits, sixty-eight percent of the respondents to the Wainhouse Research
survey believe the value they've received from Web conferencing has been high.
GoToMeeting Corporate's Unique Web Conferencing Capabilities
GoToMeeting Corporate's Unique Web Conferencing Capabilities
Citrix GoToMeeting Corporate is a unique Web conferencing solution that gives growing
businesses the ability to host interactive, online meetings on demand. GoToMeeting Corporate is
easy to use and versatile.
It just takes three steps to begin using GoToMeeting Corporate.
1. Register.
1. Register. Users register with the service by creating a username and password for
the account. Once registered, users can host an unlimited number of online
meetings with anyone. Meeting attendees don't have to be registered GoToMeeting
Corporate users and can attend Web conferences free of charge.
2. Set Up.
2. Set Up. The online setup process is also easy and only takes seconds. No special
computer configuration is required. Instead, once the GoToMeeting Corporate
application is downloaded, users can host and join online meetings with one click.
3. Start Meeting.
3. Start Meeting.
Users can start a Web conference immediately or schedule one for
any date and time in the future. During sessions they can give presentations, share
any type of application or document, and even record their meetings for later review.
GoToMeeting Corporate can be used to perform one-on-one sales demonstrations, online training
sessions, marketing webinars to generate sales leads and online Web conferences to enable
multiple workers to collaborate from remote locations.
The intuitive user interface enables presenters to share their entire desktops or just a single
application with meeting attendees. They can chat, share keyboard and mouse control and allow
attendees to share their own screens as well. Drawing tools also let presenters and attendees
write, highlight and point to items of interest right on the screen.
The service includes desktop recording and playback capabilities, activity reports and user
registration information. It is also a secure solution that offers 128-bit end-to-end Advanced
Encryption Standard (AES) to protect valuable corporate information and the privacy of
GoToMeeting Corporate users. GoToMeeting Corporate integrates with Microsoft®Office®
applications (including Outlook®, Word, Excel®and PowerPoint®) and IBM®Lotus Notes®to make
it easy for users to schedule Web conferences that fit their needs. It also can be linked to instant-
messaging applications to permit even greater connectivity.
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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White Paper
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THINKstrategies, Inc., 2006
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Citrix Online allows prospective users to evaluate its Web conferencing capabilities free of charge.
Once a company decides to take advantage of the GoToMeeting Corporate service on an ongoing
basis, it benefits from Citrix Online's unique All You Can Meet™ flat-fee licensing model. This gives
users unlimited access to the Web conferencing service.
A clear example of the measurable results which GoToMeeting Corporate can produce is the
increased sales productivity experienced by Cornerstone Information Systems. Using
GoToMeeting Corporate to conduct sales demonstrations allowed this travel technology provider
to eliminate unnecessary sales trips, reducing sales costs by nearly fifty percent.
Another example of the value of GoToMeeting Corporate in coordinating a dispersed workforce
can be found at Papa John's International. The world's third largest pizza company uses
GoToMeeting Corporate to meet with staff members and train franchisees in 49 states and 22
countries. Don Clark, senior director of international finance and administration at Papa John's,
considers the service, "a more personal way of communicating than getting on the phone or
sending an email."
Summary and Conclusions
Summary and Conclusions
As the competitive landscape for growing businesses rapidly changes, so too must the way
successful companies compete. In a world where geographic barriers are lowered by online
services, customer loyalty can no longer be protected within regional boundaries.
Even on a more local level, escalating fuel costs and increasingly busy calendars make it
increasingly difficult to schedule face-to-face meetings with customers or among dispersed
employees.
The advent of eCommerce and on-demand services has also changed the dynamics between
customers and suppliers. The Internet not only permits customers to obtain goods and services
from anywhere at anytime, it also sets an expectation that leading suppliers will respond to
customer needs on demand.
Fortunately, the Internet is also breeding new Web-based services that growing businesses can
leverage to not only respond to these challenges but better compete against much larger
companies.
Among the important future trends for growing businesses to consider are:
Scheduling appointments in advance to accommodate busy calendars or challenging
travel logistics is no longer tolerated by many customers.
As escalating fuel costs raise the cost of travel, growing businesses must adopt more
economical and productive methods to satisfy their customers' escalating demands.
Growing businesses must also fundamentally re-think the way they deploy their
employees. In many cases it is no longer economically or operationally effective to
house a company's workforce in a single, centralized location. Whether the workers
are located remotely or simply expected to be mobile, tying them together is still
essential to ensure their optimal productivity and effectiveness.
Traditional linear methods of communications such as face-to-face meetings, phone
calls, faxes and email messages fall short in meeting the expectations of customers or
permitting successful collaboration among dispersed workers.
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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Using Web Conferencing to Gain a Competitive Edge
Using Web Conferencing to Gain a Competitive Edge
The Citrix GoToMeeting Corporate Web conferencing service has proven to be an easy-to-use,
cost-effective alternative to traditional methods of communication. It requires no training and can
be utilized in a variety of practical situations. It enables sales and support personnel to satisfy
customer requirements and dispersed workers to better coordinate their internal efforts.
Integrated Meet Now buttons enable users to start meetings in just one click, so they
can transition from a phone call, email or instant message into a full presentation or
collaborative meeting in seconds.
Flat-fee licensing lets GoToMeeting Corporate users meet more without paying more,
while saving time and money with every trip they replace with an online meeting.
Remote workers can easily collaborate with colleagues using GoToMeeting Corporate
Web conferencing tools, keeping them up to speed and involved in team projects no
matter where they are located.
GoToMeeting Corporate's convenient screen sharing, annotation and remote control
capabilities make it easy for groups to come together and accelerate the decision-
making process.
GoToMeeting Corporate also includes activity monitoring and other reporting capabilities to permit
business executives and unit managers to measure worker productivity and track sales leads.
And, GoToMeeting Corporate's simple All You Can Meet™ licensing structure makes it easy to
measure the ROI of the service.
Specifically, the Citrix GoToMeeting Corporate Web conferencing solution enables growing
businesses to:
Expand beyond their current regional areas without incurring additional travel costs.
Streamline their sales and training cycles while enhancing their communication with
customers and remote workers.
Scale their revenue generation capabilities and competitiveness without making
significant investments in additional staff and systems.
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Using Web Conferencing to Boost Productivity
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This independent analysis was sponsored by Citrix Online.
This independent analysis was sponsored by Citrix Online.
About Citrix Online
About Citrix Online
Citrix Online, a division of Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CTXS), is a leading provider of easy-to-use, on-
demand applications for remote desktop access, Web conferencing and collaboration. Its "Simpler Is
Better" approach to empowering business productivity online offers small and mid-sized businesses,
consumers and professionals an easier, more cost-effective and secure way to access and interact with
information, customers, partners and employees in real time. Citrix Online's award-winning services,
which are used by more than 20,000 businesses and hundreds of thousands of individual subscribers,
include: Citrix® GoToMyPC® for easy, secure remote PC access from anywhere; Citrix® GoToAssist™
for live, easy remote support; Citrix® GoToMeeting® for online meetings made easy; and Citrix®
GoToWebinar™ the industry's first do-it-yourself solution for Web events. Based in Santa Barbara,
California, Citrix Online has satellite offices and data centers distributed around the world. For more
information, please visit www.citrixonline.com .
About THINKstrategies, Inc.
About THINKstrategies, Inc.
THINKstrategies is a strategic consulting services company formed specifically to address the
unprecedented business challenges facing IT managers, solutions providers and investors today as
the technology industry shifts toward a services orientation. The company's mission is to help our
clients re-THINK their corporate strategies, and refocus their limited resources to achieve their
business objectives. We help enterprise decision-makers with their sourcing strategies, IT solutions
providers with their marketing strategies, and investment firms with their technology investment
strategies. THINKstrategies is also the founder of the Managed Services Showplace (www.msp-
showplace.com) and Software-as-a-Service Showplace (www.saas-showplace.com) online
directories and information resource centers. For more information regarding our unique services,
visit www.thinkstrategies.com, or contact us at info@thinkstrategies.com.
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