It’s no secret: the world is shifting to online meetings. But with a jumble of options out there, how do you know which virtual meeting space is right for you?
- Zoom – Ideal for: Personal Use, Healthcare, Education; Presentations to Large Groups
Founded in 2011, Zoom is a video conferencing app with more than 15 million users, and more than 300 million daily meeting participants — a number that has risen from 10 million daily meeting participants at the close of 2019.
Zoom is built in a way that allows for up to a hundred interactive participants and ten thousand view-only attendees. This solution allows real-time collaboration, with integrated communication tools like HD audio and video, to communicate virtually with various participants through video calls. Zoom comes with a host of features, which include virtual workspaces, chat/messaging, screen sharing, video webinars, and unlimited voice/video conferencing.
While Zoom offers a free trial, it comes with a set of four major plans, which range from free (Zoom Basic Plan) to $19.99 per month per host, at a minimum of 100 hosts (Zoom Enterprise Plan). Zoom also offers Zoom for Healthcare, specifically designed to support healthcare teams and patients around the globe.
- Google Meet – Ideal for: Educators
Launched in 2017, Google Hangouts Meet designed for HD video meetings is now Google Meet, a video chat service that was previously locked behind G Suite. Google Meet is primarily designed for professional use, connecting remote colleagues to facilitate real-time interaction. According to Google, Meet is adding about 3 million new users every day, and has recently surpassed the 100 million daily meeting participants.
For those currently using a paid G Suite account to host a Google Meet session, the basic plan costs $6 per month per user (meeting for up to 25 people at ago); $12 per month per user for G Suite Business (up to 50 people meeting at once); and $25 a month per user for G Suite Enterprise (up to 100 people at once).
- Skype – Ideal for: Small Businesses
Although the history of Skype dates back to 2003 to a company founded by Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, it was acquired by Microsoft in 2011. By end of March 2020, daily Skype users shot to 40 million, with Skype-to-Skype calling minutes rising to 220 percent, and 300 million monthly active users. Personal Skype accounts used at home are ideal for smaller businesses with no more than 20 employees.
Personal Skype accounts are usually free, save for those who wish to buy credits for calls to mobile phones and landlines. For Business, Skype allows for up to 250 people to take part in virtual meetings. Because of enterprise-grade security, employee accounts can be managed. Notably, Skype for Business is integrated into Office apps. Skype for Business goes for $12.50 per month per user, and is good for freelancers, and small, medium and large businesses.
- GoTo Meeting – Ideal for: Freelancers; Small, Mid-Size and Large Enterprises Who Care About Privacy
Founded in 2004 but acquired by Citrix Systems 2016 and merged with LogMeIn Inc in the first quarter of 2017, GoToMeeting offers excellent and momentous options for virtual meetings, training institutes, professionals and organizations.
To protect student data, information is encrypted through SSL while in transit to various locations and while at rest on devices. To further secure meetings and keep them private, government-grade encryptions methods are employed (AES-256 Bit Encryption).
Although one can get a free demo that runs for two weeks to allow small businesses to try out GoToMeeting features, GoToMeeting has a three tier pricing package, all of which allow you to host as many meetings as you wish, without having to worry about hitting a limit; prices start at $12.
- Cisco Webex Meetings: Ideal for – Educators, Healthcare Workers, Church Services
Although Webex has a long history into the mid-1990s, it was acquired by Cisco in 2007. Users can sign up for free trials, and have access to Webex for education or healthcare, although there are pricing plans. Many more are using Webex for business meetings and church services.
On a monthly basis, about 113 million professionals collaborate on Webex, with the Covid-19 pandemic escalating the numbers to 324 million users in the month of March 2020. This is estimated at 14 billion meeting minutes, which rose to more than 20 billion meeting minutes in April. The months of March witnessed a surge in online sign-ups, with 240,000 signing up in 24 hours only, and a hosting of more than 4 million meetings in a day.
The platform boasts many features including: electronic hand raising, presentation streaming, private chat, record & playback ability, two-way audio and video, on-demand webcasting, presentation tools, real-time chat, screen sharing, and video conferencing. There are five plans, which start out free and go to $26.95 per host per month.
Heric Training Institute 