What Video Conference Service is Best for My Business

Back in the day, when sci-fi movies exhilarated us with how the future would be, it typically always had a scene where people were communicating via video conferencing or holograms. These scenes and it’s awe-inspiring technology confirmed a future that was full of advanced tools and even glamourized the business world. However, fast-forward to today and it seems those promises have since lost its shine in the eyes of many modern workers.

It seems like forever ago that we were attending our regular standup meetings each morning in the office; however, we are now living in a future of social distancing and working from home. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, many employers are requiring that their employees work from home. With everyone working remotely, this means that communication must be on point. Since hosting in-person meetings are a no-go, businesses everywhere must find a way to effectively communicate with one another.

As us “essential workers” know, communication is crucial in the business world – especially during a pandemic! Can you imagine having to rely solely on emails or phone meetings without actually seeing the other person? Effective communication helps foster a good working relationship between you and your employees, which in turn improves morale and efficiency – and those two qualities are a necessity!

Even though we don’t have holograms (yet), we luckily do have video conferencing services. Video conferencing has become the new norm for many business and organization meetings across the nation. There are several video conferencing services available on the internet, so it is important to choose one that is best suited for you and your company. Below we will compare a few services and things to be mindful of while determining which video service to choose such as security, features, pricing, etc. Even during these difficult times, the meetings must go on!

GoToMeeting

This software has a user-friendly interface and assists users begin a meeting in minutes. It also has third-party app integrations that includes support for Slack, Podio, accord, LMS, Microsoft Office 365, and much more. It is also compatible with iOS, MacBook, PC, and Android mobile devices which offer users a wider range of flexibility to use the solution while letting them join online conferences from anywhere, at any time.

Pricing: $12 /month for professional or $16 /month for business

Main Features of GoToMeeting are:

Zoom

Zoom is a cloud-based and highly scalable video and web conferencing software that allows users to carry out online meetings, file sharing, webinars, and group messaging. Zoom offers many integrations with third-party vendors to simplify workflows, which are available on their Zoom Marketplace, and some are available as extensions and plugins (including Mircosoft Outlook plugin, the Google Chrome extension, Firefox add-on, Skype for Business plugin). It is configureable with identity providers for Single Sign-on based on SAML 2.0.

Main Features of Zoom are:

Pricing: $15 /month for their pro plan (great for small teams) or $20 /month for small and medium businesses

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage (including collaboration on files), and application integration.

Pricing: $5 /month

Security

With any video conferencing platform, it comes with risks. Before choosing which video conferencing service, we’ve laid out a few important things to keep in mind:

• Decide if the system you might potentially use is too big a risk by knowing the type of data encryption the system uses, how callers log in, and how the system manages data.
• Most conferencing systems that are security-minded will use a single sign-on for user authentication to greatly reduce risks of user credentials being lost, stolen, or compromised.
• For the video conferencing system to be secure, it must have security protocols in place for data storage and data transmission.
• Data storage – since information discussed in these video conferences could be sensitive, data storage needs to be secure and separate from all other networks.
• Data transmission – since data must travel over so many public and private networks, this is the most vulnerable area of video conferencing.

The Tech Zen offers a range of services to solve your technology troubles. Each of our technicians has over 10 years of experience in servicing both PC and Apple environments. We can address your internet security concerns, provide data backup solutions, and offer ongoing support for your office to provide peace of mind. Contact us to find out how we can help.