The coronavirus has upended many norms, particularly in the business world. With teams transitioning to working remotely from home, day-to-day connections and collaborations have taken on an increasingly virtual flavor.
To avoid disruptions in workflow and productivity, businesses are turning to conferencing tools to meet their virtual needs. While this sort of technology was already on the upswing pre-pandemic, the ensuing months has seen an exponential upsurge in interest. The fact of the matter is, if you’re not using one now, you’re putting your company at a competitive disadvantage.
There are a lot of options out there and organizations don’t always have time to research platforms. So how do you choose the best one for your needs? Since no two companies are the same, it largely comes down to priorities.
Accessibility, reliability, security and ease of use are all important considerations. Depending on your specific needs, best-in-class tools will also provide more granular features such as screen sharing for presentations, further cutting down on the barriers of distance.
With this in mind, there are only a few online meeting solutions you should seriously be considering. Hoot Meetings and Zoom are two smart choices for hosting meetings, virtual events, delivering updates or just maintaining general communications.
Zoom is one of the most popular choices amongst users during the COVID pandemic. Why? It largely comes down to the platform’s ease of use – from its easy login to the intuitive interface. But make no mistake, Zoom covers all the essentials:
- Great app integration for increased collaboration.
- Multiple participants can share their screens simultaneously.
- Great user experience. Sign up, create a meeting, invite participants and set up audio and video controls in no time.
- Simplified video conferencing and messaging across any device.
- Customize your experience with Touch Up My Appearance and Virtual Backgrounds features.
- Access up to 10-year-old archives.
This ease of use does come at a cost. Under the free plan, users can set up meetings that only last 40 minutes. More pressing however, some security issues, particularly ‘Zoom bombing,’ allows uninvited trolls to disrupt meetings with unsavory language. This platform is not ideal for enterprise businesses and government organizations that deal with sensitive information.
If you’re looking for something more secure, without sacrificing on ease of use, check out Hoot Meetings. A new entrant to the collaboration space, this security-first solution checks all the boxes: from account registration to in-meeting controls, the user has full control over their experience. Hoot Meetings comes with a few more musts:
- No additional downloads or plug-ins.
- Keep private meetings private. Strong encryption measures prevent intrusions from uninvited guests and confidential files from leaking.
- Unites and integrates different video collaboration technologies such as Cisco Webex Teams and Microsoft Teams, without any special equipment or settings.
- HD video and audio.
Hoot Meetings does not offer a free forever plan like Zoom but all the plans/tiers include the essentials (i.e. meeting recordings, SIP, meeting URLs, admin).
In the end, your time is valuable. An easy to use conferencing solution will increase productivity and engagement with your customers and your team, whenever, wherever they may be. Do keep in mind that you need to balance ease of use with tradeoffs (such as lower security), so choose wisely.
If you’re still feeling unsure, the experts at Wish Collaboration are here to lend a helping hand. You can reach us at clientservices@momentumconferencing.com or by phone at 1-888-551-5925 x2