What’s the main difference between virtual browsing and screen sharing?

A lot of times, when talking to people about Virtual Browsing, they make a common mistake in thinking that it is a synonym for screen sharing when, in reality, it is not. We are hoping to shed some light on this subject by defining the two concepts and highlighting the main differences that set them apart.
With remote collaboration leading the way among companies of all sizes, it is crucial to understand the difference and decide what tool is right for your team.

Screen sharing

We have seen the screen-sharing technology a lot lately in all the video conference tools that make remote meetings possible, with Zoom and Google Hangouts leading the way. How it works is that participants have the option to share their screen, but they can share only one screen at a time, which is most useful during presentations or demos, but not as useful for work collaboration.

Another screen sharing real-life example is the takeover of an employee’s computer by the IT department to make changes or fix a bug. This will allow the IT team to take control of the mouse and keyboard, but they cannot collaborate synchronously.

Screen sharing can be a crucial component with departments like customer service where they can provide remote support. The downside is the fact that not all participants can share their screens or make modifications to the other participant’s screen. This downside is what Virtual Browsing is trying to resolve, by allowing all participants to browse the web synchronically.

Virtual browsing

It is a relatively new technology that has been set in motion by SaaS space leaders, and as its name implies, two or more users will browse the web in synchrony. Co-browsing allows people to participate in synchronized activities on the web, where one participant’s actions will be shown in all the other participants’ screens and vice versa.

The technology has gained more and more popularity, especially during COVID times, where the world had to switch to remote learning, working, and hanging out.

There are multiple real-life use cases where virtual browsing is the only solution to get the work done, here are a few:

• Education — It can be used by students in order to collaborate remotely on essays and other school projects that involve Web research and Web-based collaboration more generally. This will allow students to easily surf the web in a secure and private space that will increase their productivity and rate of success.
• Dispersed teams — About 2–3 years ago we used to hear during conferences and meetups the idea that the future of work is behind dispersed teams, and now this is a reality. Companies of all sizes have switched their general operations favoring remote work. The technology can be really useful for design, and marketing teams who collaborate in projects regularly.
• Online educators — Synchronous distance learning is the most rapidly growing segment in e-learning. Online tutors and educators can also benefit from having a technology that will allow them to co-work with their students and be able to closely monitor and provide guidance.

In conclusion, the main difference between the two technologies is the collaboration aspect of each of them. Although screen sharing is still widely used, the shared browser solution (Virtual Browsing) will be the future for multiple sectors of the economy, because more and more organizations are moving online, as well as education and distance learning. This new technology allows users to work in synchrony on as many devices as needed and it makes it feel like they are actually working from the same table.