Web Conferencing in Health care and Medicine
A conventional meeting involves a lot of preparation prior to the meeting and its success depends on several factors such as, presence of all the meeting participants in one room. With the advent of the web conferencing tools, the very idea of a meeting has changed. One of the industries that have benefited the most from this technology is the health care and medicine industry. With advancement in web meeting and conferencing technology, doctors are no longer limited in their ability to treat and interact with remotely located patients.
Since the health and medicine professionals are required to maintain confidentiality about their patient’s history and background, they look for conferencing solutions that are reliable and secure. Ease of use is another important factor since the patients should be able to use the web meeting software with ease.
- TREATING PATIENTS REMOTELY: A major advantage of online meetings is that you don’t have travel to remotely located patients as this would take a lot of time and time could be an issue depending on the severity of patient’s condition. Through a web based conference system a doctor can interact with patients via the web and evaluate their condition online. Using the audio conferencing tool, patients can provide details on their problem and the doctor can make analysis and diagnosis.
- COMMUNICATING WITH PATIENTS REMOTELY: Patients who have internet access and a web conferencing tool can easily reach their doctors, regardless of where the doctor currently is. This way doctors can easily follow up with their patients even when they are on a move.
- SHARING PATIENT REPORTS, PRESCRIPTIONS VIA WEB MEETINGS: When it comes to sharing patient reports, a doctor doesn’t have to organize a regular meeting but can simply resort to a web conferencing tool and conduct a virtual meeting. Over a web conference, the doctor can share reports, prescriptions and other related data.
Rehabilitation Systems, extensively uses web conferencing via Fuze Meeting to conduct online training for their cancer, heart failure, diabetes and pulmonary rehabilitation programs. Below are some of the benefits of web conferencing in the health care industry as quoted by Roger K Campbell, Director of Program Development at Rehabilitation Systems-
As the graying of America continues to increase, our day presses forward to develop and utilize increased efficiencies in health care through web conferencing and telemedicine, as the merger of technology and medicine. The ability to smartly outreach and serve the advancing requirements of chronic disease is imperative for stability in a rapidly changing health care system. As 2011 approaches and the fist of the baby boomer generation retire, our national health care resources will become strenuously taxed. Yet, with this health care crisis, we see the emergence of bright minds, ways and solutions. New web conferencing software developers, Fuze Meeting and medical scientists at Rehabilitation Systems, have created the merger of technology and medicine which represents a maximal online outreach of rehabilitation program development and rehabilitative health care for people suffering from cancer, heart failure, pulmonary and diabetes disorders. These advances in online training and conferencing are poised as a substantial cost containment solation to a burdened health care system.
Customer Case Study – Arnold and Fuze Meeting – Better Online Meetings
We recently received a great testimonial from one of our customers – Arnold WorldWide – thanks guys! check it out below.
Interview with Will Burns, EVP, Director of Business Development and Agency Innovation at Arnold Worldwide
Can you provide a little background on the company?
Arnold is a creative communications agency focused on delivering strong business results for brands like Citizens, Jack Daniel’s, Hershey’s, Ocean Spray, Volvo, Fidelity Investments, Carnival Cruise Lines, truth® and more. With a commitment to Great Work that Works, Arnold provides clients with a return on idea that drives a business forward. The agency delivers services across all communication touchpoints under one-bottom-line, fueling holistic integrated programs. Arnold is owned by Havas and has full-service offices in Boston, DC, New York, London, Prague, Milan, Madrid, Sao Paulo and additional global resources in 75 countries through our network.
How have you done collaboration and web conferencing in the past?
Arnold’s product is ideas – and it is the task of the account services and business team to represent those ideas in the very best way possible. In a perfect world, you’d get to present the idea in person – but with the recession, most companies have cut their travel budgets, and it’s just not possible to meet in person all the time.
Before Fuze Meeting, we generally emailed PDFs and other files to clients and colleagues, got everyone on a conference call, and tried to navigate people through the documentation over the phone. With video, we’d typically overnight a DVD to a client and then discuss the video over the phone. One of the major problems with this method is that it prevents us from maintaining control of the conversation. People naturally want to look ahead to what’s coming next – if you send a presentation or a video ahead of time, they will run right to an idea without any setup. We try to carefully craft the argument to lead the client to the idea. All that is lost if they move ahead before you’re ready.
We’d also tried using WebEx – this worked OK for slides, but the video was very hit or miss, and often the sound wouldn’t work properly. I think it also intimidated some users. We do have videoconferencing capabilities, but we found the interaction could be awkward and distracting. In fact, we’d tried most of what’s out there, and none of it really met our needs, particularly around video and ease-of-use.
Why did you select Fuze Meeting?
At Arnold, the new business team is sort of the unofficial R&D group – we try new technologies all the time. We’re often asked to do capabilities presentations remotely, which was the impetus to try Fuze Meeting. It is the strongest when it comes to video – we can post and present high-definition videos for people to watch, and they look fantastic. Video is a very important medium for us, and Fuze makes it very easy to collaborate and present video in a seamless way. There have been times when there’s a rough cut being done in New York, while the creative director is in LA – now the account and creative teams can simply set up a Fuze Meeting, post the file and work on it together.
We were also impressed with the client experience – Fuze Meeting is also way ahead of the competition in this regard. You don’t want your client to have to download something complicated and deal with it during a meeting. Fuze makes sure they aren’t putting a burden of ramp-up on the person you’re presenting to. This ease-of-use has helped us get momentum behind using the product, both with clients and internally. And, we love that we can import any kind of file into one meeting – a research report in a PDF, creative brief in Word, a PowerPoint with sales data, and of course video. Our files tend to be quite robust and graphics intensive, and Fuze Meeting handles them easily.
How is Fuze Meeting helping you build your business?
We use Fuze Meeting extensively for new business – we recently presented to eight CEOs from eight different cities at same time – no one had a problem, it was a great meeting and a huge success. We also have a number of account people who are starting to use it regularly with clients It’s a great way to shrink the distance between our clients and the Boston office.
We’re also using Fuze Meeting for internal collaboration. One great example is when we were working on a big pitch – the creative team was at the office on a Sunday morning working on a presentation of more than 70 slides and needed to link in the president, the chief creative officer and some others to finalize the pitch. We were able to get everyone onto a Fuze Meeting – working from the office, working from home, or from wherever – to review the whole deck together and make changes on the fly. We just couldn’t have done that without this program.
We’re seeing a much more rapid adoption of Fuze Meeting than we saw with other technologies – I think with other technologies there’s a perception that it is going to be a hassle or difficult. As soon as people see how easy it is to use Fuze Meeting and the benefits, they quickly make it part of how they do business.
What are the business benefits of using Fuze Meeting?
Fuze Meeting gives us many of the benefits of an in-person meeting — the real-time collaboration, the give-and-take, the ease of moving between different media, and the ability to control the flow of the presentation — without the travel. We’re saving thousands of dollars in travel using Fuze Meeting. It also fits with Arnold’s brand – we’re an innovative agency, and using a next-generation application like Fuze Meeting helps us project this.
Another benefit is efficiency. Being able to get everyone on the same page at the same time from around the world dramatically increases the speed with which we can complete work. Fuze Meeting makes complex collaboration and presentations simple and quick.
Finally, Fuze Meeting is enabling us to better communicate and sell our ideas, and that in turn helps us close more business.
Seven Steps to Conducting a Web Conference
With a new product launched in the market, many business magnets resort to the web conference way of promotion. This is indeed an ideal and exclusive way of conveying to an audience of prospective buyers or companies what their product is all about. Through online presentations and webinars, a product could be extensively studied and understood. This has become a novel way of reaching out to your clients with help of the latest technology. The major advantage with this kind of a web conference is that no matter in which part of the world, your audience is, product promotion will never require their physical presence in a particular place. The virtual arena has indeed made this world a smaller place, with the convenience of being able to access and reach anybody anywhere.
Online meetings and this kind of web conference promotions have taken off with tremendous acceptance from a lot of people around the world. People’s communication and faster access to things and people’s opinions could be enhanced through the technology of web conferencing that facilitates two or more people to discuss, display or share information on a particular subject or high priority. These web conferences are scheduled very conveniently with the facility of the lightening speed of the internet that can be accessed almost in every corner of the world today. In order to conduct a web conference effectively, a briefing on the seven basic steps could prove useful.
- Being informed and educated on the usage of the web conferencing tools, along with desktop sharing could be the basic necessity for all those who wish to be a part of the web meeting that is hosted by the product company.
- Before the host begins the web conference with his product presentations, he must emphasize on the objective of the online meeting as things become more explicit then.
- The web conference host must take care that while displaying the presentations, they have naturally convincing points and not something that seems like a camouflaged sales tone.
- Rehearsing the whole process before hand and anticipating the probable questions from the audience during the conference could help a lot in bringing quality to the presentation you wish to present live.
- Have an automatic generated survey form that could help you get a clear picture of what your audience opines on the presentation. This would help you gauge whether this method of promotion through an online web conference has really worked or not.
- Since one should be able to generate a client base, it is important that a follow up of the web conference is done to ensure that you haven’t ignored a seriously interested client.
- Make sure that you haven’t lured people into any hidden charges on the product. Being open and sincere with what you can offer is an ideal way to get people to be more open minded to your web conference.
Employing these tips with the right online meeting etiquette and could amplify your business tremendously.
Online Meeting Etiquette for Effective Decision Making
The code of conduct or etiquette for a formal meeting involves everything from your dress code, behavior, attitude and style of presentation. Meetings that are online today with less scope for people to see each other face to face surprisingly haven’t made things any different. The etiquette of having an effective meeting online is something all professionals must be acquainted with. These online business meetings demand certain behavior and by putting into practice the same, it indicates the respect you have for your co-employees present in the web conference that facilitates worthwhile outcomes and decisions. This indeed does justify the purpose of such meetings.
While in an online meeting it is advised that concentration should be totally on the topic that is being discussed without frequently being tempted to open other desktop applications. Since a computer could open scope for us to multitask between other applications and a web meeting, the very concept of doing so while in an online meeting is considered indecent or an undesirable etiquette. By doing so, there is a chance that you could get distracted from the main stream of discussion and may need clarifications on and off . This could send uncomfortable vibes to all the others participating in the web meeting. At times this irresponsible behavior could give people a feeling that you are disinterested or are not giving the issue genuine importance and thought it should get.
The meeting could happen in different ways. It could be a simple chat session amongst a group of people through the web conference facility or it could be a video conference where one gets to see the other especially if it is a meeting involving only two people. Video conference interviews are very common and an ideal way of knowing a person personally even if they are miles apart. While in an online meeting where people from different places communicate through the voice chat option, the basic etiquette for the listeners is to mute their own voice so that their mic doesn’t catch all the different sounds in their environment be it an office or home. This could cause disturbance in the thought flow of the individual who is speaking at the other end.
Following the required rules that could enhance the effectiveness of your online meeting becomes inevitable especially when the topic discussed aims at arriving at a substantial decision that could help. The World Wide Web consists of numerous softwares that could help you install the set up for a web conference. After installing one, you could run the executable file and get ready to be accessed and access all your colleagues on a web meeting that you could have scheduled. Numerous free softwares are available but to make the best choice, a survey could help. The mic, speaker, headphones, web cam and the basic conferencing software are the minimum requirements along with the best etiquette for an online meeting to take place effectively. Improvement in technology should in no way take a toll of our behavior or manners in any given situation.
Save travel expenses— and the air we breathe.
Fuze Meeting saves travel expenses— and the air we breathe.
Transportation is one of the foremost contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. But with every meeting you hold online, you can prevent tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. It’s a win-win situation for your business and your world.
Did you know?
- One round-trip flight between New York and San Francisco (about 5,000 miles) adds up to about 2500 pounds of C02. That’s equivalent to 15% of one US home’s electricity use for an entire year
- Two employees flying round-trip from London to New York send over 3.75 metric tons of C02 into the atmosphere. And they cost your business upwards of $1700US in plane fare alone. (Then there are the hotel costs, dinners out…ouch!)
- Even those car rides add up – American commuters waste 2.9 billion gallons of fuel per year idling in rush hour traffic. That’s a lot of rotten moods and a lot of rotten air. Why not brighten everyone’s day and hold your next off-site meeting online with Fuze Meeting?
Ready to go green? Sign up for a Free Fuze Meeting account
Can HD Meetings Save the World?
Last week President Obama gave a speech in Cairo, Egypt during which he asked the Muslim World for “a new beginning.” I actually missed the speech when it aired live, but I was able to watch it over the weekend on Youtube.
When I went to pull up the video online, it occurred to me how much the world has changed. I’ve seen a handful of presidents speak over the years, sometimes over radio, but mostly on TV. What’s clear to me is that today, it’s all about the web.
I don’t think we’ll ever replace the value of in-person interactions, but I do think that virtual meetings can have a significant impact on the way companies conduct business, governments run countries, and in general, connect people to one another.
We all know that it’s going to take a lot more than a motivating speech to truly resolve the crisis in the Middle East. Most likely, it will involve a series of follow-up conversations and meetings in order to make some real progress.
Can we expect Obama to board Air Force one every single time he wants to talk to leaders overseas? The world’s problems would never be resolved that way, at least not any time soon. It’s for this reason that I think virtual meetings have a real shot at saving the world.
Using today’s technology, we can connect world leaders frequently and efficiently. We can avoid hours of excessive travel time and get to the root of conflict faster (we’ll also save fuel and do wonders for the environment in the process). And with Fuze Meeting, conducting meetings in HD has never been easier. We can’t quite replicate the experience of being in the same room with someone, but an HD meeting does a pretty good job of compensating for that.
It’s an ambitious thought, but I’d like to picture Obama in his slippers, conducting business remotely in the White House and saving the world, one HD meeting at a time.
Life is too short… to NOT live in HD!
Everything is being marketed as HD these days – Broadcast TV, HD-Radio, Computers, Ad Displays and even Microsoft’s ZUNE player.
When our eyes resolve HD Resolutions and in a 16:9 aspect ratio, our peripheral vision is invoked; and the scientists tell us that at HD resolution in the 16:9 aspect ratio, we become converted from passive spectator to active participant. This means that we engage with our content. Interestingly, most HD marketing revolves around entertainment and passive activities, yet most of our day is spent enduring one after another business meeting.
Why then, shouldn’t our meetings be rendered in HD as well? If life truly is short, and we spend a good part of our existence on this planet in meetings, then why not live in HD all the time?
The FCC has mandated that the American broadcaster must transmit in HD. This is the law. So why then, shouldn’t our meetings deliver the same experience? And we don’t need the FCC to govern our meetings, we can let Fuze Meeting do the work for us.
(Written by our CEO while boarding a plane on his iPhone). Thanks Jeff, for the post!
Remember the game “Operation”? It takes a very steady hand…
Operation
I used to love that game. Pinching those tweezers to remove the “Adam’s Apple” or “Water on the Knee” and trying desperately not to touch the side triggering that buzz and getting your turn disqualified. It took a very steady hand, indeed.
I was thrilled to find “Operation” fruit gummies, aka crack for kids, at the grocery store this week. I marveled at whoever the marketing smarty pants was for leveraging a highly sought-after, almost addictive vehicle to reintroduce and old game from the sixties to a new generation of potential game buyers. I bought 3 boxes for my fruit gummy main-lining 7 year old.
It occurred to me that we are delivering a similar story with Fuze Meeting. Non face-to-face meetings have been happening for a long time. First via telephone and then via the computer with online web conferencing. But, the general product offerings haven’t really changed in 10+ years. The world of web conferencing has always been a yard sale of client-server architecture, heavy downloads, clunky set up processes, and limited content capability. Gross. Fuze Meeting brings a freaky fresh new experience to an old concept. Killer UI, Fisher-Price simplicity, all in a browser (no downloads), ability to present and collaborate on HD content –even video, and mobile. You don’t need a very steady hand. Just an IP connection. It’s “wicked easy.” You really should try it. http://www.fuzemeeting.com
Posted by Patrick, on behalf Brook West.
Once You Go HD, You Never Go Back!
It’s no surprise that the world loves HD, and rightfully so! Whether you’re watching a Youtube video or your favorite show on a plasma screen TV, HD can make all the difference. Nev
er noticed it? If you have a DVR or Tivo, try recording one of your favorite TV shows in standard format. Simultaneously, record the show in HD if you have premium channels. When comparing the two, you’re sure to find that HD wins, hands down.
I admittedly tried this the other night during the American Idol finale (yeah yeah, I am a fan of the show). When I switched from standard to HD, my family and I agreed that there was no going back.
Web-celeb iJustine posted a similar scenario on her blog, tastyblogsnack.com right around the time that Youtube started offering HD uploads. You’ll see from her results that once again, HD can make all the difference.
Now take the two scenarios of TV viewing and online-video watching and think about the last time you attended a virtual web meeting at work or a webinar. How was the quality of the presentation or online powerpoint you were watching? Was it granular? Choppy and jagged? Highly Compressed? Could you barely recognize who was speaking at the other end because of all the pixels? Nothing is worse than a bad online meeting, which is why we’re trying to change that here at Fuze Meeting.
With our solution here at Fuze Meeting, you can now present a powerpoint with those hi-res iStock images or a hi definition (HD) video without compromising the quality. Say bye-bye to bad online meetings and hello to the world of HD, 24/7.
So much time and effort is spent creating content so why not share it high quality?
Attend a global meeting while walking the dog
” Why would I want to attend a web conference on my phone? My laptop goes wherever I go.”
Sometimes, I get this response from people when I talk about attending a web conference via an iPhone or Blackberry. While I have my own reasons, it’s always much more interesting to hear the reasons customers give.
This is what we discovered while presenting FUZE online meeting to a UK-based multinational corporation. They specialize in infrastructure development and with projects taking place around the globe, the concept of “business hours” has become meaningless for them. Employees in multiple time zones simultaneously participate in meetings so somebody is always working “after hours”. Attending a team conference call at home after hours is stressful enough but it is even worse if you need to hunch over your desktop or laptop while following the meeting online. In this situation, attending a web conference via a mobile device makes a lot of sense. You can follow the audio conference and view the online presentation from a device that fits in your pocket instead of being tied to your laptop. Using your mobile phone to participate in the meeting minimizes the impact on your personal life – you can roam around the house or even attend a meeting while someone drives you to dinner.
In a recent personal example, I attended a team meeting on my iPhone while walking the dog! Think of how this technology can change your world. As the lines between personal and work life blur, mobile meetings are just one more tool to help keep things in balance.
Follow Us On Twitter
fuzemeeting: @DaVinciDeb Yep, he's pretty cool! Thanks for the shoutout! cc: @seanpatrickcox
3/10/10 08:54PM
Follow us: Twitter Facebook YouTube LinkedIN