Introduction
As the world turns to distant working and connectedness, online meeting apps rose to be key instruments for commerce support, educational facilities, and people in general. These platforms have brought significant changes in the society by enabling meeting, workshop, and presentations to be almost effortless and friendly. There are so many virtual meeting platforms to choose from that it’s not easy to pick the best. In this article, the author aims at identifying the most popular virtual meeting platforms, their characteristics and the reasons for events’ occurrence. We will be talking about the Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams and the likes, to understand their functionality and advantage to make the best choice that fits you.
Zoom: It will be the ultimate all inclusive platform.
With the breakout of COVID-19, lots of businesses moved to remote work, and the app Zoom was just one of the popular apps for conferencing via the video. The platform has many features like video and web conferencing, and tools for remote business cooperation. For example, in Zoom, people are allowed to conduct meetings for up to 1,000 people and can simultaneously share a screen which makes it ideal in situations such as a team presentation and conducting training via the internet. The usability of the users makes Zoom another advantage because the users can spend just a couple of seconds to set up and join meeting.
The security options Zoom has are super strong, they include end to end encryption, waiting rooms for guests and password protected meetings. Additionally, the list of services provided go further, integrating the tool with existing applications including Asana and Trello which enable teams to work together and become more productive.
Google Meet: Continuity, or the Integration of User Experience for Google
Another great virtual meeting tool that can be used is Google Meet which has many options for its consumers. Meet also offers tight integration with other Google tools, such as Gmail and Google Calendar, which should more familiar users of the tools in general, including Meet, in enterprises and other corporate environments.
Another element that distinguishes Google Meet is ease of sharing a screen, several screens, applications, and documents at the same time. It also means that it can be used in file or document sharing or ideas in case like of a group project, say for presentation. Besides, there is top-notch AI integrated for noise cancellation to eliminate disruptive noises during the meeting and keep the meeting on the most productive course.
Microsoft Teams: This can be described as an all-in-one tool to implement cooperation in the contemporary workspace.
Microsoft Teams is an encapsulation of video conferences, messaging and document sharing at a person’s fingertips. It has a beautiful feature of linking with other Microsoft products including word, excel, Power point and thus enables the users to collaborate on projects.
One reason why both Salesforce and Gmail cannot offer Teams channel capability is because Teams also offers add-ins which provide workplace benefits like channel (similar to thread for conversation), video calling for up to 1000 people, virtual sticky note area, etc. In addition, users have an option to integrate their Teams with custom apps and buts to ensure that the environment is customized to fit their needs and is as efficient as possible.
Webex by Cisco: Safe and Credible Virtual Meetings for Business World
WebEx by Cisco is a prominent solution for virtual meetings which provides comprehensive protection and dependability for businesses and big companies. It has end-to-end encryption and secure file sharing, along with more detailed control over access, which means your online meetings are also secure from any third party interference.
Webex comes with many features such as video confer to enhance an ability to meet effectively and efficiently through screen sharing, white boarding among others. Also, the platform behaves as an AI robot and offers features such as meeting transcription and synthesis with the possibility to follow up the discussion later.
What features does it offer and how does this compare to the pricing table below?
Now that we’ve explored some of the top virtual meeting platforms, let’s compare their key features and pricing to help you make an informed decision:
Zoom
– Free Plan: The number of participants is limited to 100 people, the duration of group meetings is allowed up to 40 minutes.
– Pro Plan: $14.99 for every host/month, up to 300 participants and as many group meetings as is desired
– Business Plan: A second type is offering at $19.99/month per host, participant numbers up to 1000, cloud recording and others.
Google Meet
– Free Plan: Up to 100 participants, unlimited meetings, round the clock support.
– Business Plan: $12.00 every user every month, rich security measures and number of participants 250 on each call
– Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing, Enterprise admin controls and eDiscovery
Microsoft Teams
– Free Plan: Limited to 100 participants, unlimited, chat and file sharing.
– Business Basic Plan: 5 dollars per user monthly, up to 300 participants in meetings, and other security-oriented options.
– Business Standard Plan: costs $12.50/user/month, has a limit of 1,000 participants in meetings and provides unlimited cloud storage.
Webex by Cisco
– Starter Plan: Inexpensive, with support up to 100 participants and up to 50 minute video conference each month.
– Basic Plan: $14.95/user/month, up to 100 participants, and 100 minutes of video conferencing per month
– Plus Plan: $24.95/user/month, limited to 150 participants and free, unlimited video conferencing
Conclusion
Choosing the suitable virtual meeting platform is a deciding factor for business success in implementing the remote work strategy. Using this guide to compare and contrast the various features, security, and pricing structure of the various platforms, you can then make a decision that will be beneficial to your organisation. Irrespective of the chosen platform – Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Webex by Cisco – you can be sure that you are choosing or investing in a platform that will enable you to work effectively and without interruption in the new world of work.
