It’s interesting how many of the people we speak with about Cozimo start out by asking how we differ from a web conferencing application like Webex. Understandably, the idea that you can make a presentation online to a group of people with both applications sparks the comparison. But in reality the two applications are completely different beasts and it’s important to understand these differences when considering your collaboration requirements:

Broadcast Quality vs. High Quality

When web conferencing “broadcasts” a video screen capture of the presenter’s computer, there is typically a high degree of image compression required to optimize bandwidth. As a result the quality and resolution of the work you’re presenting can be severely degraded and there can be significant latency in presenting dynamic content such as video. With Cozimo everyone works directly from the content itself so you see the full resolution and quality of the media. PDF files maintain all vector information so that people can zoom into graphics and text without degradation. Videos are played back fully synchronized with frame accurate timing. The visual quality of the work is naturally of utmost importance for creative professionals and Cozimo provides presentation and online collaboration without having to compromise.

“Here and Now” vs. “Anytime, Anywhere”

Web conferencing is all about the “here and now”. It’s sufficient for collaborating on content as long as everyone is together in a session but once the session is over that’s it. With Cozimo you have the option to let people review and annotate your content at their convenience so you can review it at a later time. Or you can be online together with any number of team members for real-time review sessions. In addition, web-conferencing solutions often require the installation of specialized software that is not always supported on all platforms while Cozimo can be administered and accessed pretty much any web browser on any OS.

Persistence and Tracking

The annotations and drawings that are made during a web conference are not persistent so it’s hard for any team member to return and review any comments that were made. While it’s usually possible to record a video of a web-conference session, you can imagine how difficult it would be to go back and locate some specific comment or note at some future date. With Cozimo all the comments, drawings and messages are persistent and you can easily reference them at any time. In addition, you have a complete history available of the review activity for any item.

In the end, it really boils down to process. Today, people use a wide variety of means for distributing and collaborating on digital content: email, FTP, web conferencing, faxes, couriers, live meetings, etc. Using all these tools typically result in disjointed feedback and an awful lot of wasted time trying to keep it all circulating and organized. The real value of Cozimo is that, unlike the immediacy of a web conference, it provides a fully integrated suite of tools for supporting digital content review and collaboration throughout an ongoing design or production process.