It's quite common for a company to use webinar software these days. It helps the company put out information to a dispersed workforce and get feedback, without having to call them in physically to the office. There are, of course, many features that make it very desirable for other reasons.

The cost is, of course, the prime factor. Companies are right to be wary of IT solutions and products that are considered outdated even before they can be unwrapped. But these fears are unjustified in this case, where it is possible to have a hosted solution with a flat fee to be paid per month or year.

This also means there's no need for in-house hardware or installation, maintenance and training. It can be accessed by all of the company's users through a web browser or mobile device. This makes it a cheap solution that is easy to implement and use.

Desirable features include application and desktop sharing, A/V support for multimedia content and live webcams, etc. These features will allow for interactive meetings instead of just a one-way presentation. So whether it is a team effort to debug a program or a PowerPoint presentation to discuss a new plan, it should be possible to hash it out online.

An important feature that is essential, is an archive system. It's fashionable (and eco-friendly) these days to go paperless and companies need to maintain very comprehensive digital records that need to be well indexed and also searchable. In order to do this, the software will need to have a secure database in which to store every single byte of data transmitted during all the webinars.

There are numerous providers offering solutions with all these and other features. The point, of course, is to choose one which is reputed and provides 24/7 service and support. That narrows it down considerably, and it shouldn't be hard to choose a webinar software from the handful that fulfill every criteria.