Web meetings

The ability to share your screen over the internet, with sound via computer, phone or a combination of computer and phone is not new.  Some providers now have better offerings than others and below are the results of my recent testing:

Key considerations

1. Ease of setting up meeting
   With WebEx, there seems to be no Outlook integration.  To book a meeting, start in Outlook, find a free slot in everyone's diaries, then book the Webex meeting, then paste the details in to the email and send.  It is easier with GotoMeeting or JoinMe which can work from inside Outlook, adding details for you.
2. Ease of use by people joining you
   WebEx requires your invitees to install a piece of software.  This can be a problem in many organisations with rigorously rules about downloading.  Goto Meeting requires no downloads from the receivers (but a quick download is required if you then make them presenters).
3. Localisation
   If everyone is using computer based sound, this may not be an issue.  If you expect that some of your delegates may dial in, consider the phone number they may need to use.  I am in the UK so am most interested in UK numbers: Webex and GotoMeeting both have UK numbers and default to these for me.  JoinMe has UK numbers but there was no way of hiding a long list of US numbers, which for me made it unusable.
4. Reliability
   I have used WebEx of a number of years and found it reliable until about Nov 2015, when suddenly there were many one way sound issues.  After 2 weeks' use I have found Goto Meeting to be more reliable.

Conclusion

My preference is for Goto Meeting which seems to be easier to use with Outlook and have better sound quality.

Read an article in the Sep/Oct AAT magazine about E-learning.  Unsurprisingly it seems to anticipate a big move to on line learning for accountancy.  More surprising is that it still sees the cost of computers as an obstacle; can there really be many aspiring accountants who do not have access to a computer?

I certainly find my self making more use of computer based training and webinars for my CPD.

Webcasts for CPD

Webcasts are a maturing technology and with the proliferation of free courses by leading universities, I hoped to see some good material for CPD.  Now while some of the university courses could certainly be used for CPD, I was hoping to find something more aimed at staying up to date with UKGAAP/IFRS, UK law and UK business based ideas.

CIMA does have a suite of material available here but at £30 for an hour's course seems expensive (the special offer bulk buys only allow a restricted choice).

I would be interested to hear if anyone has found a good alternative?