Online Conferencing

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Next to having a place to share information and documents, conference capabilities are the most essential collaboration capabilities. Microsoft has provided several products to fulfill these requirements. The first was NetMeeting. Later, Exchange incorporated conferencing technology and a separate effort produced Windows Messenger. Much of this technology was incorporated into Windows XP. Most recently, Microsoft purchased Placeware, a hosted conferencing service, to round out the offering.

Without online conferencing, users must choose between asynchronous communication via email and telephone conversations to communicate remotely. Both these are effective media, but online conferencing can augment both. For instance, email often ends up as a way of chatting with someone once you determine that they are online. It is relatively easy to click reply and post your response. The problem is that you may end up with overlapping messages and not see new items that pop into your inbox while you are still responding to a prior message. This type of conversation becomes confusing with more than two participants . Instant messaging displays all comments as they are posted and in the order that they are posted. You can invite several people to the same chat session. Instant messaging can also save time in wasted phone calls. Presence awareness in Windows Messenger, Outlook 2003, and SharePoint 2003 indicates whether a person is available before you pick up the phone. Otherwise, you may end up reaching voicemail. I often use instant messaging to ask a person whether she is available for a phone call and what phone number to use.

Microsoft offers several alternatives for online conferencing, most of which are compatible with the same clients . The key difference is whether you want to host these sessions inside or outside your enterprise.

Windows Messenger

The simplest and cheapest way to add real-time messaging to your collaboration environment is to encourage your user community to adopt Windows Messenger. Windows Messenger is part of Windows XP (Figure 12.28) and can be downloaded from www.microsoft.com/windows/messenger/default.asp. Windows Messenger is based on the Session Initiation Protocol, a standard used by MSN Messenger, Exchange, and other instant messaging (IM) servers.

Figure 12.28. Windows Messenger

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Windows Messenger has the features you would expect from an IM client, such as displaying the presence information of others, exchanging text, images, file downloads and uploads, even accepting handwritten notes ("ink") from Tablet PCs participating in a discussion. Windows Messenger can be used to share control over your computer for remote troubleshooting. Application sharing includes running applications for remote software demonstrations and a whiteboard feature for sharing drawings online.

Best of all, Windows Messenger is available as a free download. Many of your users may have it installed already and may be using it for less official communications. You can broaden the hardware platforms support by Messenger with MSN Messenger. In addition to Windows, it is available for Macintosh, Pocket PCs, Smartphones, MSN TV, and the Microsoft TV set-top box.

For corporate use, MSN Messenger Connect for Enterprises is compatible with MSN Messenger as well as Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003. It contains security enhancements to protect your identity and your corporate data. MSN Messenger Connect for Enterprises allows you to log instant communications to ensure compliance with industry regulations such as those for the securities industry.

Live Communications Server 2003

Released simultaneously with Office 2003, Microsoft's Live Communications Server 2003 unbundles many of the collaboration features of Exchange 2000 and combines them with more advanced functionality and new collaboration standards. It combines instant messaging, presence awareness, and integration into the Office platform.

Live communications can augment other forms of collaboration. As with other tools discussed in this chapter, live communications help break down the geographic barriers that prevent in-person meetings. While asynchronous discussions and document libraries are excellent tools for bridging time zones and allowing collaboration to continue around the clock, synchronous communication is also vital to the enterprise. Instant messaging, for instance, can provide a "backchannel" of communications during a phone call.

Presence awareness, or knowing whether a person is online, is tremendously useful when you are trying to track down someone for help. A help desk can field more questions simultaneously using instant messaging than on the telephone, where such multitasking would be inefficient or impolite. Microsoft offers online immediate help for some of its web properties. For instance, I was seeking a graphics file for the Microsoft Gold Partner program to make a sign for a trade show. Despite my expert attempts to find it through browsing and searching, I was stumped on where the graphics file was located on the vast Microsoft partner site. I dreaded a call to the 800 number for help, fearing I would end up waiting on hold. Luckily, I saw a link offering real-time help. I followed the link, opening a session with the help desk on Microsoft Messenger. I entered my question, and a few seconds later was greeted with a response that the staffer was searching for the answer. After another 30 seconds, I had the link to the file I needed without ever interrupting my work to make the inquiry. The advantages of live communication make it a natural add-in for ERP and CRM systems. It also raises the prospect of ultimately augmenting or replacing support staff with software agents . Instant messages are already digital and expressed in human language that, unlike the spoken word, is easy to parse. Technical support questions follow predictable patterns, and many are quite repetitive, as witnessed by frequently asked questions (FAQs).

Live Communications Server lets you log conversations for further analysis later. For some businesses, such as the securities industry, this is a critical legal requirement that can simplify any investigations that may arise. The existence of the logs can also affect the behavior of the users online and encourage them to stay within prescribed regulations.

Live Communications Server is based on standards promulgated by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The most important of these standards are Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), SIP Instant Messaging and Presence Language Extensions (SIMPLE), and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). SIP is essentially the HTML of real-time communications. It is a text-based protocol much simpler than the standards such as H.323. In addition to supporting SIP and SIMPLE, Windows XP contains codecs that convert digital to analog as well as technologies to improve the quality of voice communication over packet-switched networks.

Microsoft Office Live Meeting

One of the key advantages of a hosted service is that someone else is responsible for making it work. Many companies rely on third parties to host conference calls, allowing participants to dial into an 800 number and connect in a chat room. While corporate PBX systems offer similar capabilities, the hosted offering can provide a toll-free number, offer support representatives, and provide an infrastructure that supports a large number of phone lines. Upgrading a corporate voice network to provide the same level of support is not usually a good investment. Microsoft Office Live Meeting (formerly Placeware) brings the same hosted quality of service and infrastructure to online conferences, as shown in Figure 12.29.

Figure 12.29. Office Live Meeting

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Office Live Meeting has a range of features too broad to discuss here. It allows flexible configuration to provide maximum control for the meeting organizer or to open it up to maximum collaboration. Users can be polled in real time, with graphical results displayed immediately to one or all participants. Control of the slide can be shared so people can make notes on it that are seen by the audience. Participants can ask questions that are queued up for review.

Microsoft Office Live Meeting is tightly linked with Outlook and other Office products. For instance, Outlook 2003 provides the option to start a Microsoft Office Live Meeting inside Outlook as NetMeeting was supported in earlier versions of Outlook.

One simple way to integrate your portal with Microsoft Office Live Meeting is to simply enter a link to the Live Meeting site (www.microsoft.com/meetnow) in the Links web part on your site home page. Users will then be directed to Microsoft Office Live Meeting to log in and join or schedule a meeting.

Microsoft Office Live Meeting can be purchased in several ways, from pay-as-you-go to all-you-can-eat , depending on the level of use you require. At this writing there was a free trial offer to use the service on a limited basis.

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Building Portals, Intranets, and Corporate Web Sites Using Microsoft Servers
Building Portals, Intranets, and Corporate Web Sites Using Microsoft Servers
ISBN: 0321159632
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 164

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