Video conferencing has grown quickly over the last 12 months and become hugely popular in recent weeks due to Covid-19 with the need to isolate and work from home. It’s become a great marketing tool for holding webinars and other online events as well as a great service for providing the opportunity to carry out video job interviews, recruitment solutions and seamless work between staff and team members.

In this resource we take a brief look at a selection of video software platforms available to us. While not everyone has a choice of video conferencing options, decision-makers will need to evaluate which offering has the functionality they need.

Please remember to check your safety and security measures in place for the device you are using. Check the settings within the video conferencing software, and if there’s an option to lock video calls do so.

ZOOM

Probably the most popular conferencing software application for business and personal use right now. It allows simple one-to-one chat sessions, group calls, training sessions and webinars for internal and external participants by video or audio call as well as a chat option.

Zoom sessions are easy to set up from a web browser or a dedicated app for every desktop and mobile platform. Meeting invitations are sent via email with a link and meeting ID and the option to add to your calendar. Meetings can be recorded as local or cloud-based files, with searchable transcripts.

The free tier allows unlimited 1:1 meetings but limits group sessions to 40 minutes and 100 participants, plus there are a number of paid for options which in turn increase functionality.

Visit the Zoom website for more information and to signup for an account.

MICROSOFT TEAMS

Host audio, video and web conferences with team members within your organisation as well as the opportunity to invite an outside participant.

Team members can share files, schedule meetings directly from Outlook, record meetings, and collaborate on documents using the desktop Office programs and SharePoint Online.

For personal use, remember you can still also download and use Skype.

Check out the pricing plans here and if you are already using Office 365 Business, you can upgrade to Office 365 Business Premium or access just Teams as part of a Office 365 Business Essentials package.

GOTOMEETING

GoToMeeting is a web-hosted service created and marketed by LogMeIn. Following a major update in 2019, the product works in a web browser or through desktop and mobile apps.

GoToMeeting is consistent across platforms and integrates with calendars and platforms from Office 365, Google’s G Suite, Salesforce, Zoho and Slack.

You can take notes in real-time, which are then embedded and saved in the meeting transcript, save to video, and capture presentation slides from a meeting and share them in a PDF for later download.

After a 14-day free trial, you’ll need to choose a paid plan; Professional (up to 150 participants) or Business (up to 250 participants).

For more information, have a look at the GoToMeeting website and sign up for a 14 day free trial.

HANGOUTS MEET – BY GOOGLE

Hangouts Meet enables video meetings for G Suite subscribers where external participants can also connect. Set up a meeting and share a link. With a fast, lightweight interface and smart participant management, multiple person video calls are a breeze.

This service is designed to work in the Google Chrome browser (although limited support for Internet Explorer 11 is also available), with mobile apps available on iOS and Android.

If your business is standardised on Google’s productivity and email tools, this video conferencing option should be on your shortlist.

Get an overview and find out more about Hangouts Meet here

BLUEJEANS MEETINGS

A video conferencing solution that focuses on instant connections, using a mobile or desktop app or directly from a browser (with no download required).

The meeting technology, powered by Dolby Voice, includes background noise cancellation and integrates with hardware-based conference room systems as well as enterprise applications like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Facebook Workplace.

After an initial free trial of the conferencing software, BlueJeans Meetings requires one of three plans, which can be billed monthly or annually.

Checkout BlueJeans here and start your 7 day free trial.

If you’re using video conferencing software for an interview, check out our handy ‘top tips’ to consider when conducting and being part of a video interview.