The Race to the Top of Video Communications In a New Virtual World

In a recent LinkedIn post I compared two of the video Communication juggernauts, Microsoft Teams and Zoom, outlining some pros and cons of both platforms. In that post, I did mention that MS Teams is a whole lot more than just a Video Communication tool, and I wanted to elaborate on that point, whilst also having a closer look at some of the lesser-known Zoom features, and their aggressive roadmap of new features.

Lastly, I also wanted to have a brief look at some of the other contenders in this space, such as Google Hangouts, Cisco Webex, Intermedia Anymeeting, and Logmein Gotomeeting.

Yes, there are others as well. Slack is also a well known and popular collaboration tool, that does have video conferencing, but I thought I would slot it into an upcoming collaboration tool comparison that I will be doing, otherwise we could be here all day.

“The king is dead, long live the king.”

Whilst as recent as last year, we were “Skyping” each other, now all of a sudden we’re all “Zooming” instead.

Let’s be honest, what’s not to love about Zoom? It’s easy to install, easy to use and has some great tools if you know how to use them, and an aggressive roadmap of exciting new features to boot. Just like all software should be.

However, Zoom has recently copped criticism over its questionable privacy policy. Zoom collects all user data, including screen share, chats, and recorded meetings. Whilst Zoom spokespeople deny that they are selling your data, the terms and conditions leave that door open, and the data is being used for targeting and marketing purposes.

There have also been security concerns raised with Zoom. There was a Mac vulnerability where users were able to be forced into meetings without their knowledge. Whilst this vulnerability was patched, Zoom has been under fire for its blasé approach to security, and it is still subjective to vulnerabilities. One of which has been getting a lot of media attention lately. “Zoom Bombing” is when hackers, are joining meetings uninvited and playing explicit content. In Australia, a well-known comedian Hamish Blake has been entertaining people by being sent links to Zoom meetings of several well-known companies and crashing their team meetings. Whilst hilarious, it does raise concerns about the privacy and security of the platform. Especially considering, he also crashed an Air Force meeting, much to the bemusement of a high ranking officer.

There are settings you can change in Zoom, to reduce the risk of this “Zoom bombing” occurring. Setting a meeting password, and enabling a waiting room, are two extra layers of security you can add between your team meeting and a Zoom Bomber.

These concerns are not to be taken lightly, but as I said earlier, the rise of Zoom’s popularity is mainly due to the user experience. On top of easy video conferencing, Zoom has other great features, like chat, whiteboard, screen sharing with remote control and annotation, workspaces, breakout rooms, and the option to run webinars. With all these great features and an impressive list of more to come, it’s no wonder many people are now Zooming.

First of all, it’s important to make the distinction between Skype and Skype for Business. There are not the same tool. Skype was acquired by Microsoft in May 2011 for $8.5 billion, after being bounced around by other owners, including eBay. Skype for Business (SFB), was originally developed by Microsoft, known as Office Communicator and then Lync, before it became what we all know it as now.

Over the years, Skype’s dominance and popularity dwindled, due to being plagued with bugs, performance issues, and users being spammed.

So where does Skype for Business fit in? SFB has never quite reached the popularity of its ugly step sibling Skype. Not to say it’s not a great communication tool. But the fact that the marketing whizzes at MS decided to rebadge Lync as Skype For Business, has long confused its users and still does to this day. Initially, SFB users couldn’t even hold meetings with Skype users. Then when that feature came out, it was so painfully complicated and clunky, that SFB users would often just give up, and install Skype instead. “But aren’t they the same thing?” was a common question directed at us many a time. “No, they are not” we would reply. “Even though they are both called Skype, they are totally different platforms.” Confusing, right? Tell me about it! You’d think they would have learned their lesson with the whole Microsoft Personal vs Microsoft Business accounts, or OneDrive Personal vs OneDrive Business debacles. Don’t get me started.

But the good news is, that whilst people are forgetting all about Skype, Teams is surging up the ranks. Teams is Microsoft’s not so new golden child and is set to replace SFB over the next few years. Teams is like SFB on steroids. It’s more than just a video communications app. Wikipedia describes Microsoft Teams as a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage, and application integration.

It’s no secret that I love Teams. Ok, it’s not the prettiest platform, and the user experience is no Zoom, but I have to hand it to MS, they have vastly improved the look, feel, and functionality of Teams over the years. In fact the same applies to their entire Office 365 suite. Sure, there’s still some clunkiness, and sometimes things don’t work the way you expect them to, or not at all, but anyone who uses Windows, is already used to this from Microsoft. The reality is, Teams, and Office 365, is hands down the most comprehensive office and productivity suite on the market.

I don’t want this article to cross too much over into a collaboration tool discussion, and so that we’re comparing apples with apples, Teams is a competent video communication tool with collaboration features just like Zoom.

Like Zoom, you can hold video meetings with your team(s), or users or clients outside of your organisation. External users don’t need a Microsoft account to join in on the meetings, but this setting isn’t enabled by default, and turning it on isn’t as intuitive as it could be. Once done though, you can host instant or scheduled meetings. If you’re an Outlook user, scheduling a Teams meeting from your calendar is a breeze, as it’s integrated. Once in a meeting, you have features like chat, whiteboard, screen sharing with remote control and annotation. Whilst anyone can sign up to Teams, if your organisation is already using Office 365, and store your files in the MS cloud. This is when Teams really shines. One benefit is that you can collaborate on documents with your team or meeting participants, with multiple people able to edit it in real-time, and all the while the changes are automatically saving back to your cloud storage. All your chats, recorded videos, and files are all stored in the same portal and all searchable.

Security and data sovereignty have long been Microsoft’s strong suit. Microsoft’s cloud is armed with military-grade encryption, and their data sovereignty has meant that the Microsoft platform has long been the platform of choice for Governments.

Now, can someone please tell Microsoft to up the 2x2 grid view limitation for video calls!

If the limited of 4 users visible at a time is a deal-breaker, you can add a Zoom bot to Teams, giving you the ability to start an instant Zoom meeting or join a scheduled meeting from within Teams. Meetings created in Teams will also appear on your Zoom account.

Both Zoom and Teams have free versions, with limited features, however, in March 2020 Microsoft released a free 6-month Office 365 E1 (the light version of their enterprise plans) Trial, including Microsoft Teams.

Hey! What about Google, I hear you say? Whilst Google has previously been in the firing line for questionable privacy terms, and also didn’t previously address data sovereignty. This has changed, and Google now addresses both privacy and data sovereignty laws. Again, in the interest of keeping this around video communications, not the entire collaboration suite, I will save the deep dive and comparisons for the aforementioned future collaboration tools article.

Now to the other contenders. I’ll list some Pros and Cons.

Google Hangouts

Pros

·     Chat

·     Easy to setup and easy to use

·     Good multi platform support i.e. computer, phones, tablets

·     Group video chat

·     High quality video and audio

Cons

·     Not enterprise ready

·     No group chat

·     Google has multiple video and messaging apps which is confusing

·     Need a Google+ account to get started

·     Can’t boot users out of video call

Webex

Pros

·      Free version allow calls for up to 3 users

·      Easy to use

·      Web browser and app support

Cons

·      Limited room limits

·      a bit buggy at times

·      controls are not as intuitive as they could be

Anymeeting

Pros

·      Good integration with other platforms like Slack and Google

·      Invited users don’t need to install anything

Cons

·      Interface not as clean as some of the others

·      Reported performance issues

·      Free version has limited features

Gotomeeting

Pros

·      Invited users don’t need to install anything

·     Can takes notes in meeting

·     Capture presentation slides to pdf

Cons

·     Invite process has too many steps

·     If you have the app installed, you sometimes have to update before you can join a meeting