How we work
As a vendor-independent organization, we test all web conferencing solutions ourselves under real-life conditions. We accept no support or advice from suppliers or other third parties. To qualify for testing, web conferencing and webinar software must be offered as an application service (SaaS) via the Internet (ie, no need to install a server), and must meet our selection criteria. We focus on solutions that enable online collaboration and presentations or trainings in one-to-many scenarios – either via desktop sharing, or via a virtual room for document uploads. Tools that also offer video conferencing are marked accordingly in the results overview.
How we select tools for testing
We selected web conference and webinar tools based on the following criteria:
- Solutions must be popular, ie, in widespread use
- Solutions must run without you needing your own IT infrastructure and/or IT support team
- Solutions must let you register online for a free trial account (Mac or PC) that permits web conferences under real-life conditions.
- Solutions must offer a user interface in English (we award points for additional languages)
- Price list / licensing information must be available
Important: we do not claim that our selection is either complete or comprehensive. All tests and evaluations are carried out in good faith, and to the best of our abilities.
How we test
We used the following five-step procedure for all the virtual meeting tools we tested. All tools were tested in the same test environment, and on the same computers and mobile devices.
- Create a test account
- Document the initial implementation step-by-step
- Perform the first round of tests, based on a standard checklist
- Perform the second (and most important) round of tests. This involves road-testing the tools and their breadth of functionality in daily business under real-life conditions
- Compare pricing / licensing models, contract costs etc.
Our test criteria
As confirmed by user feedback, the top two criteria in real-life scenarios are usability, and speed of setting up a meeting. As a result, these two criteria have been top of our ‘weighting list’ since mid 2007. To ensure consistency, we have now applied the same weightings retrospectively to all tests performed before that date (reevaluation dates for these tools are provided below their results tables). Here is our weighting list:
- Usability = 25%
- Speed of setting up a meeting = 20%
- Functionality = 15%
- Security = 15%
- Cost transparency = 10%
- System requirements = 10%
- Ease of installation = 5%
If you have any queries about the testing procedure, please click here.
