Cisco WebEx Meeting Center 8.5 Review

Cisco WebEx Meeting Center is a web conferencing tool for ad-hoc and scheduled meetings.

The online meeting solution offers a broad range of functionalities, and the host can switch between whiteboard, imported documents, and screen sharing. This is possible because WebEx has separate tags for these options. Now participants can activate their webcams during meetings and have a video conference. Per default the webcams are displayed on the right margin of the console so that participants can continue working on the whiteboard or on imported documents. Videos can also be displayed full-screen should the other online meeting functionalities not be needed. Active Speaker-Technology (only available for Windows) automatically places the current speaker's webcam in the center, which can give you a headache if you are having a discussion with the other participants.

There is a downside to the large number of features. Users have numerous setting options and the arrangement of functionalities on the user interface makes the tool less user friendly.

Bottom line: Cisco WebEx Meeting Center offers a large number functionalities, making the solution a bit too complex and demanding higher learning effort from beginners. Once users have gotten the hang of it, they will really enjoy the online meeting solution.

Pricing

Monthly subscription: USD 49 per month* (UK: GBP 30 per month; Europe: 38 EUR per month); Annual subscription (prepaid): USD 468 per year (UK: GBP 288 per year; Europe: 360 EUR per year)

* Special offer for customers in the US or Canada: USD 19 per month and host for meetings with up to 8 participants

License options

Single license for unlimited meetings with up to 25 participants

Voice over IP and phone costs

U.S. or Canada: VoIP and toll dial-in U.S. phone number included in subscription; USD 0.12 per minute and participant for enhanced voice conferencing service

Europe: only VoIP included in subscription