Differences Between Cobrowsing and Screen Sharing

While the terms can often be used interchangeably, in a business setting there is an important difference between screen sharing technology and cobrowsing technology. Let's take a look these two use cases for the differences.

• Screen Sharing is basically a web collaboration session. One person allows one or more people to view his or her computer screen. In business, the screen is typically shared by the sales or customer service agent who invites a customer to view an online demo, or a presentation. The sharer or host holds the license to use the screen sharing tool and is the one who's responsible for starting the sharing session.

• Cobrowsing is a screen sharing session which can be initiated by a customer or an agent. The sales or customer service agent can see the customer's screen and provide guidance and insights on what the customer is doing or seeing. In this case the sharer or host is the customer, but the license to use the Cobrowse tool is held by the company or agent. The customer doesn't have to sign up for anything, download anything, or do anything other than click a button to start the session.