Camtasia Studio: Cool Tool for Training Videos

The lowest common denominator for every IT Manager is to keep the network up and humming along. Once that fundamental mission is accomplished - only then can you tip toe into the technological trifecta that distinguishes you from a mere techie: identifying, implementing and advertising solutions that allow your attorneys to more effectively represent their clients. Once initial training for a rollout is completed, the "advertising" component is too often relegated to a screenshot ladened memo or email entitled, "How To ..." That approach does a disservice to the time and effort you expended in indentifying and implementing the solution in the first place. Camtasia Studio places the advertising component on the front burner where it belongs, by allowing you quickly, easily and inexpensively create universally accessible training videos for your employees.

Camtasia Studio captures everything on your screen - from mouse movements to typing - and records your voice in the process. We use Camtasia to create short 3-5 minute training videos and make them available on the firm's Intranet. There are always questions that are hitting the help desk - and when the same questions arise repeatedly - they are prime candidates for Camstudio. Whether the question is about creating a table of authorities, changing styles in Word, running Easy Bates, tethering a Blackberry for use as a modem, whatever ... Camtasia allows you to create a video of the steps and save the resulting file in WMV, AVI, Flash, Quicktime, RealMedia, EXE, MP3 and even iPod format. Save the file to a network share, drop a link on the Intranet and you've brought advertising to a whole new level.

Camtasia Studio is available for $299 for an individual license - or $1,195 for a 5 pack. A fully functional 30 day trial version is available HERE. When you're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on major rollouts, another couple hundred dollars is a small price to pay for ensuring the solutions you've efectively implemented are being effectively used.