FITbiz

Have you tried desktop sharing yet? There are many simple, free tools that are available. What I really love about desktop sharing is that it makes it really easy to go through a small question, challenge or problem. It is also a great training tool – people can watch EXACTLY how to do things in a particular program . . . and while I am very fond of writing up procedures, I find that many people are visual learners – they really learn how to do something by seeing it in action and then being able to repeat those tasks . . .

So which solution is best for you? I have tried several so far. Yugma has been a pretty good one that I have used a bunch. But I did run into some challenges with Yugma on some occasions, so not sure that makes it as an actual recommendation yet. I also started playing around with Yuuguu. What I like about Yuuguu is that it doesn’t require that participants download software AND it has a nice IM feature and chat functions. I haven’t used this one a lot yet though, so I cannot fully recommend it either at this time . . .

The one I am using frequently at this point is Adobe ConnectNow. This is a nice clean tool that is easy to use. Somehow, it really gives me confidence that it is coming from a well-known, respected software company. Adobe ConnectNow does not require participants to download anything to theirs computers – it is a web-based solution. The viewing of the desktop is a little fuzzy in terms of quality, but that is often the case with all of these solutions . . .

So give desktop sharing a try. Of course there are solutions that you can pay for out there – GoToMeeting and WebEx come immediately to mind. But if you are exploring how you want to use these tools and/or don’t want to make an ongoing investment, go ahead and experiment with one of these open source solutions. It doesn’t cost you anything but some time to play with it. But from my own experience, that time has already paid for itself in increased client satisfaction, reduced training time for my staff, and money savings on travel time . Give it a try!

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