WebEx unveils compliance package

At the collaborative Technologies Conference last week, WebEx Communications introduced a Web conferencing application designed to record and archive all meeting content in accordance with compliance requirements for financial services companies.

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WebEx Automatic Record Retention records presentation content, audio, video, and chat logs automatically and creates searchable indexes of meeting data. In addition, the stored content is automatically transferred to a company’s off-site storage system.

The new feature set aims to align Web conferencing with compliance regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley and SEC rules, said Douglas Louie, senior industry manager for financial services at WebEx.

The Automatic Record Retention offering is an option that customers can choose to add to their meetings. It is billed as an additional attendee.

“We record and archive all the text-chat meeting content, video, and audio. This automatically happens in the background and can’t be turned off,” Louie said.

Strict compliance requirements for some industries such as financial services will make compliance a must-have Web conferencing feature for some companies, said Andy Nilssen, senior analyst and partner at Wainhouse Research. “Whereas this might sound opportunistic of WebEx, in reality, with compliance requirements, it is absolutely essential,” Nilssen said.

Also at the conference, Raindance Communications rolled out Raindance Seminar Edition, a Web meeting service for conducting large seminar events. And Arel Communications and Software unveiled Arel Spotlight II, a Web-based conferencing and collaboration tool combining voice, video, and data collaboration.