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We're Touched by High Touch
We think WebEx is on to something big in their press release today posted on Conferencing News, and for all you end-users of conferencing services - large and small - it's worth paying attention to. WebEx has launched "WebEx Global Assist Services," a new line of "high touch" services that enters "certified trainers, coaches, producers and assistants" into the mix to help web-meeting users get the most out of their online meetings and webinars. It's evident that WebEx is now helping clients design and produce these meeting and event applications, instead of just handing over a commodity conferencing service to its customers for a basic conference call with a powerpoint presentation.
Why is this a good move? The clamor of the last two years in the conferencing industry has focussed on the eroding of prices for audio and web conferencing services. Indeed, Elliot Gold predicts that "WebEx hits the wall by Q1, 2006" and compares WebEx's potential fate with the history of Netscape and MCI-Mail. If WebEx were to stand still, the West Coast's Carnac the Magnificent might have an easy point. But with the WebEx press release today, we'd guess that WebEx can keep innovation going in the applications of online meeting technology and keep rocking Wall Street with these high touch (read: high margin) services.
We're bored to tears with vendor promotions of "automated" conference calls at a nickel a minute, a feature dating back to the 1980s. What gets really interesting in this industry are innovative - and repeatedly used - applications of online meetings, training and promotional events that use audio/web/video conferencing. Such online meetings include webinars and webcast events where high design, high production values, and interactive "programming" (our word) begin to fundamentally change the way business communication is conducted and business models are structured. In the milieu of "convergence," these high quality, rich media (we don't like that term, but it suffices for now) online meetings will, with companies like WebEx forging the way, begin to look like "business television programming." But this won't happen without the guidance, consulting, production capabilities, support and promotional services and we think we'll see new people at online meeting companies in ascendance, such as: webcast media coaches, webinar promotion specialists, webcast producers, set production technicians, and train the trainer experts.
If WebEx is successful by supporting innovative applications - or the better word: programming - someday WebEx just might use that domain name they own: WebEx.TV ...WebEx morphs into a media company with business programming content? You heard the concept here first.
March 7, 2005
