The rising price of fuel is encouraging all businesses to look at different ways to reduce business travel.

One alternative being considered is online meetings. Some estimates indicate that the use of web-conferencing can save as much as $2,000 per executive each year.

Web conferencing has been taken to a new level by the introduction of high-speed, multi-megabyte broadband connections. A combination of real-time video, audio, instant messaging and application sharing can enable colleagues to see and hear each other while working simultaneously on the same documents anywhere in the world. All that is required is a headset and microphone plus optional webcam.

There are more sophisticated services available that allow participants to online meetings using laptops and 3G phones.

Previously slow internet connections meant that the quality of both audio and video was very poor during online meetings. Numbers participating was also restricted due to the strain imposed on what was limited bandwidth.

Security concerns were another disincentive to conducting online conferences. Potential threats to confidentiality existed when private meetings were held over an open network. On top of this encryption also consumed more bandwidth and slowed down the process even more.

The good news for business is that these problems have now largely been sorted out, and a fiercely-competitive market is growing rapidly attracting internet giants such as Microsoft. Even better news is that prices are being driven down by this competition, and fully managed online conferencing services are now within the grasp of even the smallest business.

A word of warning before you dive in and book your first online meeting. First understand what productivity improvements your business can achieve through the use of these facilities, and adopt the services which really improve your bottom line.

Live video conferencing will not be the answer for all firms. For a lot of companies a VoIP ("voice over internet protocol") service or instant messaging, possibly combined with application sharing, will serve all of their needs.

Another trap to be avoided if you will be including third parties in your web meetings - do not use a service provider who requires all participants to be using their own proprietary software.

A final word, ensure that all media being used in the conference are encompassed by any encryption facilities that are being used.

About the Author:

Mark Vandorone is the founder and proprietor of Five Marketing, a quality provider of highly targeted traffic for your online marketing campaigns. For more information go to http://www.fivemarketing.com