Adobe ConnectNow: Free Web Conferencing

Running a small web based software-as-a-service (SAAS) company, most of my customer contact is via the web (website forms and email). Only a select few of my customers actually have my telephone number. However, it's high time to add web conferencing and video as a means of improving communication with customers. If pictures speak a thousand words, perhaps video speaks ten thousand.

In the past, I've researched WebEx and GoToMeeting as possible web conferencing providers to do software sales demos for potential clients. But at the low volume of sales at the current stage of my company's growth, the subscription plan was another monthly expense I didn't need. Instead I just have done audio guided tours of the software by telephone with the prospective clients logged into the web application and doing all the mouse navigation and keyboard typing themselves.

Recently I've discovered a free and simple to use web conferencing solution by Adobe called ConnectNow. ConnectNow (currently in beta) is based on Flash so about 99% of your meeting participants will already have all they need to join your online demos without having to download and install any special software or browser plug-ins. You can share your screen with up to two meeting participants. If you need to support more than two participants, then Adobe offers a Pro version (I think this was previously known as Breeze). After testing out the system, I think it is fantastic.

For more information, you can visit the ConnectNow blog. The blog describes how you can use ConnectNow to remote control your customer's desktop. There is also a recorded webinar which demonstrates ConnectNow's capabilities.

By the way, I'm not in any way affiliated with Adobe. I just think ConnectNow is a fantastic free service. I plan to use it for sales demos as well as customer training.