Screen-sharing tools improve communication

Technology isn't always expensive or hard to implement. Sometimes we stumble across a neat tool that can make a huge difference to the workday and make life easier for our clients. For instance, how many times have you been on the phone with a client or colleague and thought, “If you could see what I'm looking at, this would be so much easier”?

AD-HOC APPLICATION

This ad-hoc application of a virtual meeting has become one of my favorite ways to improve communications, and clients and colleagues have been really pleased with the ease and benefit of the tool. There are a number of screen-sharing tools available, and I am sure many of them are great. I use join.me and like it for the simplicity it offers to me and whoever is on the other side of the screen. There is a free version, but I opted for the paid version because it gives me a personalized URL and some additional features. Here's how it works: If you and I were on the phone and it would be really great for you to see whatever I had on my computer screen, I'd launch a join.me session and ask you to type my personalized URL into your web browser (sometimes I will send the link via e-mail). Pretty much instantly, a window pops up on your screen and you're looking at my screen. No downloads, no registration for you. All you need is a web browser and Internet connection. In case either of us are on an iPad, there's a join.me app, though I haven't spent much time using it yet. Let's say I need to look for a file and its not appropriate for you to see everything I see (client names, for instance). I can pause sharing my screen. Or perhaps you need to show me what's on your screen. I can make you the presenter. And if either if us needs to control the other's computer (logging on to a website, for example), passing control is simple, too.

PRAISING JOIN ME

One thing to note: At the end of a screen-sharing session, it's really important to remember to stop screen sharing. Join.me just came out with new features including recording. There are a number of tools that offer similar functionality, and they may be right for your firm. One of my favorite things about join.me is that in over a year of using it, I have never had someone on the other end of the phone need tech support in order to use it. Nothing can ruin your best efforts to help a client like throwing some technology frustrations their way. And who among us wants to be our client's help desk, anyway?