With lockdown still being in place and so many people working remotely, keeping a stable communication is more important than ever. Video conferencing has become a vital part of our lives over the last year and has helped businesses and organisations stay connected.
It can be a difficult decision to make knowing which app is best suited to your business and is easily accessible by all team members. We have compared and looked into four different video conferencing apps in order to see which one is the best.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft teams is a chat-hub extension that has already been added to the Microsoft 365 package. Just like in the title, Microsoft teams is a very user-friendly platform with a lot of features that allow for you to take meetings, create different teams / discussions, add assignments, conduct private chats and video conferencing. What makes Microsoft Teams so easy to use is that it is all in one window and doesn’t open any additional tabs that can make the user experience confusing. It also helps with team efficiency through calendar management and generating task lists. It seems that Microsoft Teams is well on the rise to be the new Outlook.
Another huge benefit to Microsoft Teams is that it is responsive and therefore compatible with all types of devices (mobile, tablet and desktop). If we focus entirely on the video aspect of Teams it does lack when compared against Zoom. The reason for this is that Zoom has more advanced features when it comes to video conferencing, it allows users to enter break out rooms and conduct private chats which are currently in a development stage with Teams (1).
Overview:
Pros:-
- User-friendly & promotes productivity.
- Allows for different types of communication i.e. text, video and audio.
- Integrates with other Office applications.
Cons:-
- Limited video conferencing functionality.
- Challenges in terms of permission settings.
- Lack of notifications.
Zoom
Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing platform that enables users to interact with one another through video and audio. A good thing about Zoom is that it is a free platform and easy to use. However, the free version of Zoom is very limited and only offers 40 minutes of group meetings which may not be ideal when conducting longer conferences with multiple participants.
The biggest disadvantage to Zoom is that it mainly focuses on the video conference aspect of communication rather than offering other collaborative tools that can help employees plan and manage their workflow during remote working. As we mentioned earlier, a huge benefit to Zoom is that during video meetings you are able to go into break out rooms which are particularly useful for networking groups and team meetings.
Overview:
Pros:-
- Compatible with most devices.
- Offers a free plan.
- Break out room functionality.
Cons:-
- Lack of other collaborative functions.
- Increase in ‘zoombombing’ which occurs as a result of weak security and unwanted users crash conference call (2).
- Lack of comment control.
Google Meet
Google meet offers free video and voice calls alongside group messaging. It does require for you to have a Google account to start a video conference but other participants can join without having a Google account. This application allows for up to 150 in one chat room and 25 participants in one video call at one time.
A great thing about Google Meet is that it is available on various softwares and works on all devices. This means that all employees that are working from home have access to this application.
Overview:
Pros:-
- Easy and simple to use.
- Free to use.
- Good for communicating with clients and employees.
Cons:-
- Cannot change background.
- Additional cost to record the meeting.
- Sound quality isn’t great when people talk at the same time.
Any business using Office 365 and Microsoft Teams can implement Direct Routing for Microsoft Teams to give them the ability to make and receive calls for mobiles and phone lines all from within the Teams app. For more information on how to to do this, speak with our IT technicians today by calling us on 0121 289 4477 or email us at info@solutions4it.co.uk
