Ready To Decide Which Video Conferencing Solution You Should Use?
There is a long list of options to choose from when you need to have a video meeting with your staff. Are you sure you’ve been using the right one so far?
It’s not too late to change – you can expect to be working remotely for the foreseeable future, so you would be smart to take your time and choose the right video meeting platform. Many of them are currently available for free, making it a great time to test out their capabilities at no cost.
Your primary options include…
RingCentral Powered By Zoom
Zoom, the video conferencing solution, has become widely popular over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. VoIP provider RingCentral has been partnered with Zoom since before the start of the outbreak, which gives users the best of both worlds – both VoIP and video conferencing.
- Price: Zoom offers a basic plan for free with unlimited meetings, but it comes with a 40-minute time limit on conferences with three or more people. Premium plans cost between $20 to $27 each month.
- Capacity: The basic and pro plans allow up to 100 people can video chat at the same time using the basic and pro plans on Zoom. The business plan allows up to 300 people, and up to 500 people on the enterprise plan.
- Benefits: With Wi-Fi and a webcam, Zoom supports most browsers including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows and Mac, among others. Furthermore, as a part of RingCentral, you get all the additional benefits of a VoIP solution as well.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is a chat-based workspace that brings people together to collaborate, communicate and share content. It offers a flexible environment that makes everything visible, integrated and accessible to your staff.
- Price: Microsoft is currently offering a free 6-month trial of Microsoft Office 365 E1, including Microsoft Teams, in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
- Capacity: Teams allows up to 250 people in a meeting, and up to 10,000 spectating a live event, for up to 4 hours.
- Benefits: Using Teams means you’ll have access to the full integrated benefits of Microsoft 365, making it that much easier to work seamlessly between other Office-based apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint).
8×8 Video Meetings
8×8 is another business communications platform, with the usual softphone capabilities, as well as a video meeting solution.
- Price: In response to the growing COVID-19 pandemic and the increased need for remote meeting capabilities, 8×8 has released a free, stand-alone version of their video meeting platform.
- Capacity: 8×8 Video Meetings offers unlimited meetings, unlimited minutes, and dial-in capabilities with toll-free numbers for free.
- Benefits: One-click, no downloads (with WebRTC-compatible browsers like Chrome), making it simple to connect with contacts that haven’t used 8×8 Video Meetings before.
Dialpad
Similar to RingCentral, Dialpad is a full communications platform, complete with VoIP capabilities and a video conference solution, UberConference.
- Price: While the plans range from $20 – $30 per month and user, like other options on this list, UberConference is now being offered free to users during the pandemic. Furthermore, their 45-minute limit on meetings was increased to a max of five hours.
- Capacity: The standard meeting capacity on the smallest plan was 10, but in light of the pandemic, it has been increased to 50 participants.
- Benefits: As with RingCentral Powered By Zoom, Dialpad offers VoIP options in addition to video conferencing, all of which are free for two months during the pandemic.
If you’re unsure of how to harness the full scope of your video meeting platform of choice during the coronavirus pandemic, Generation IX is available to help you out.
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