Remote jobs are here to stay. With a significant number of employees working from home nowadays, the culture of telecommuting is now at the heart of many enterprises. Is it more productive or safer? It depends. What is for sure although is that certain tools can make the life of many individuals working from home much easier.
A top concern amongst companies managing remote teams is the ability to communicate efficiently. It is considerably more challenging to establish successful online communication with your employees and ensure that you create a productive mindset for your business.
Companies worldwide are leveraging the ultimate tools and technologies to streamline their everyday meetings and get as close as possible to the ‘real deal’: face-to-face communications.
This is a wise strategy in the context of a growing remote job market, but finding the best software for your team’s needs may be a little bit harder than expected. And the last thing you want is to have yet another obstacle in the pursuit of great team communication.
In this article, you’ll have the opportunity to discover the ins and outs of two emerging video conferencing platforms—Zoom and Skype—that already make the lives of most remote teams, and not only, a lot easier.
Employees demand free, easy-to-use communication tools
One of the biggest challenges when choosing between Zoom and Skype is that they both provide strong communication channels. Deciding which of the two is more beneficial for you can be tricky as both of them are affordable and offer a great level of efficiency.
Zoom
This intuitive video communication platform catches the eye. By leveraging innovative cloud-based technologies, it provides a full spectrum of trending conferencing tools.
Zoom allows you to use the platform on Android, iPhone, Mac, iPad, and web platforms. When using Zoom, you are allowed to create breakout sessions that help you organize your viewers into specialized groups, such as workshops, webinar training, or everyday meetings.
An interesting feature that Zoom offers is allowing the host or the organizer of a meeting to gain total control over the call by muting all microphones and so on. In addition to this, this tool allows you to virtually raise your hand during a conversation if you want to contribute.
Skype
Two words best describe Skype—straightforward and efficient. To gain a clearer understanding of this tool, picture this: team communication via instant messaging, the possibility to share your screen and larger files, audio or video calls right from your laptop or phone. These are just a few of the key features that Skype has to offer for its clients—and you don’t even have to pay for it!
Another advantage is that Skype is quite popular and your employees might already be familiar with it. With an intuitive chat interface that allows users to operate quickly and easily, Skype is the right tool for instant messaging, file and screen sharing, as well as video and audio calls.
Skype is web-based and supports all Windows, Android phones, iPhones, Macs, and iPads.
How are these systems priced?
Skype is free, but if you are looking for extra features you can go with the enterprise pricing package which costs $2 per month per user.
They also have a business plan, which provides the possibility to hold online meetings with up to 250 participants and ensures secure communication by using powerful authentication—all these for only $5.50 per month per user.
Zoom offers a basic plan, which is free and allows users to host an unlimited number of meetings and enjoy security features.
The Zoom Pro Plan is designed for small teams and costs $14.99 a month per user. It offers unlimited meeting duration, assigned scheduler, assigned custom personal meeting ID, and meeting reporting.
The Zoom Business Plan, which goes for $19.99 a month per person, is for those who want to take communication to the next level. By opting for this package, you’ll get access to managed domains and single sign-on, company branding, and custom emails, as well as on-premise deployment.
All that being said, you should now be a step closer to reaching a final decision. Remember that you may need further information regarding the legal and financial aspects that are not highlighted in this article. Take into consideration that remote jobs are the new norm and investing in a high-quality communication tool might be your ticket to long-term success.
