Remote working is the new normal. Many companies had begun moving towards remote work plans even before the pandemic. The long term lockdown only further emphasized the need for moving towards the remote work. Whether it is working with a team of freelancers/ contractors or full-time employees on remote logins, managers began finding it challenging to communicate with their remote teams. Thanks to the online meeting platforms attending meetings, video conferencing, instant messaging, file sharing, and screen sharing have all been possible with zero hassles through VoIP and online video software.
While a quick call helped to stay in touch with the remote team previously, the recent remote teams posed severe challenges for daily project updates and recurring meetings. Not only for managers, but online meeting platforms also enable team members to collaborate and communicate effortlessly for their daily work schedule, scrum meetings, and much more. Online meeting platforms enable multiple participants to attend and host video and audio meetings through the internet. This software is also known as online meeting/video conferencing software.
Screen sharing, multi-device supporting, chat/ instant messaging, meeting recording, and an excellent user interface are some of the online meeting platforms' salient features. Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts, Go To Meeting, Loop Up, Blue Jeans, Go To Webinar, WebMeeting, Roundee, High Five, EZTalks, Join Me, and many other meeting platforms are capable of helping remote teams to manage work, communicate, and collaborate with their team members.
Cost-effective is the first and foremost benefit of using an online meeting platform. It might get super expensive with employees at multiple global locations to get them into a single physical location. Online meeting platforms also enable businesses to hold a meeting with prospective and existing clients. Training sessions can also be completed through the online meeting platforms, making it the most time saving, cost-effective software system.
Using online meeting platforms enables the business to cut down costs, make effective use of the employee's time. It helps remote teams share real-time updates, provides flexibility, improves engagement between in-house and remote team members, and helps businesses remove any geographical barriers with the remote teams.
Recruitment, training, Better access to support teams like IT, conducting company meetings, an internal library for employees working from remote locations, and conduct one-on-one/ scrum meetings are some of the most creative uses of the online meeting platforms.
Recruitment - Companies spend billions of dollars on recruitment activities. Thanks to the online meeting platforms, users can save time and cost tremendously with their use. Most of the companies conducted telephonic discussions and brought the candidates for an in-person round Discussions over a telephone both with recruiters. The technical team comes with its challenges.
But they are using online meeting platforms for conducting the initial screening, and the first technical round has been cost-effective, hassle-free, and more efficient. Many companies have now begun the onboarding process and team introduction through online meeting platforms.
Training - Employee engagement, retention, skill improvement, and much more are all possible with training. While conducting in-house training for the regular workforce is a great idea, that is not the same case with the remote team members. Training can be imparted to remote team members through the online meeting platforms, making it a very cost-effective solution that might otherwise require all the remote teams to meet at a physical location. Not to forget the multiple other costs that add on to it.
Company meetings - All hands meet, and other company level meetings over a pizza sound great for a small business with limited team members. However, large organizations with multiple remote teams find it challenging to bring all the remote working employees under the same roof for an organization level announcement or an all-hands meet. The online meeting platforms enable remote workers to attend all the company meetings and improve teamwork and help them stay connected and feel like a part of the company.
IT Help desk - Issues with logging in to one of the application system or a problem with the laptop becomes a severe issue at times. When we can't thank the screen sharing, remote access features of the online meeting platforms make IT helpdesk challenge a breeze.
Internal library - Companies create tons of PowerPoint presentations and informative videos, helpful how-to-do for new joiners, and much more. Making a trip to the office premises every time a meeting involves using those materials can get challenging. A centralized internal "YouTube" library can be beneficial to all the potential users since it is accessible to all the employees irrespective of the time zones.
Collaboration through exchanging ideas, generating ideas with the team, providing technical assistance to the remote teams/field staff, and closing deals with clients are other creative ways to use the online meeting platforms.
What are the best online meeting platforms?
Zoom is one of the best online meeting software available for different price plans that includes various exciting features. Google hangout is another one of the best video conferencing tools that are easy to use for small businesses. Video meetings, conferencing solutions, video calls, and much more is all available for free. Google meet is an updated version of google hangouts with features like conference room booking, excellent user interface, and calendar syncing.
Go To meeting is another online conferencing software with some of the best features like instant messaging, meeting scheduling, meeting transcription, and in-app meeting messaging between all the participants. Skype is another among the best video conferencing software with some of the best features and allows hundreds of attendees to participate in online meetings.
What is the safest online meeting platform?
Online meeting platform users face security issues since conference calls use confidential information regarding the users and the project/ company involved. Suppose you are looking to use a secure conferencing solution. In that case, Group FaceTime, Microsoft's skype & Microsoft teams, Cisco Webex Meetings, Team Viewer, and GoToMeeting are some of the safest online meeting platforms.
These video conferencing software are secure and offer some of the best features to its users for online meetings, video meetings, screen sharing, instant messaging, and mobile apps to make calls on the go.
What is a virtual meeting platform?
Communication with the remote audience has been made easy with the help of virtual meeting platforms. Physical meetings in a conference room with PowerPoint presentations on the laptop for the available audiences and filling in the information offline to the unavailable participants is the thing of the past. In 2020, virtual meeting involves media sharing, presenters, recording the session, platform, and a few other factors are vital.
The number of video conferencing participants is an essential factor to consider while conducting a virtual meeting. A virtual meeting involves roles like administrator, presenter, and participants. Scheduling meetings, inviting people, and distributing the meeting material post-completion are some of the administrator's tasks-coordination between presenters in an online discussion for issues like Who presents which slide is vital. Participants usually use the plugins and are asked to log in and attend the meeting.
What is an online meeting called?
Multiple users connecting online through a single platform can be called an online Meeting. Video calls, audio conference calls, video meetings, webinars, virtual meetings, web conferencing, and remote meetings are made possible with Microsoft teams, skype for business, google hangouts, and a few other online meetings/conference software systems. These online meeting platforms enable multiple remote teams to conduct video meetings/ video conferencing, web conferences, screen sharing, instant messaging, and much more.
The conference solution is easy to use, setup, communicate, collaborate, exchange inputs in real-time, save time, and stay connected with the team on the go through their mobile app. We can discuss the features, use cases, customers, and pricing plans of some of the best online meeting platforms in detail:
ProfiConf is one of the best conferencing software that allows users to add multiple participants. Users or call participants do not need to download any software. The administrator can register, set up a room, and share the link to the participants' meeting. ProfiConf uses an adaptive technology that helps users continue the event with the least usage of resources, which removes the call dropping challenges users face due to internet connection issues.
- Screen, File, and media sharing
- Whiteboard sharing
- Conference recording
- HD video
- slide presentation sharing
- participation management
- Cryptographic security
Suite Box offers tons of exciting features that enable its users to conduct online video meetings, digital document workspace, and much more. If you are a business looking to close sales deals faster, speed up the sales process, and improve sales funnel conversion, then Suite Box is an excellent fit for you.
Join.ne is a cloud-based online meeting platform that is easy to use and is an excellent fit for startups and small companies. Integrations with contact management, email systems, and many other platforms are some of the distinctive advantages of join.me.
Easy Meeting
The easy meeting is an excellent video conferencing software provider that suits individual freelancers and small, medium, and large business organizations. Video conferencing, virtual meetings, mobile apps for on the go meetings, and much more enables users to communicate, share a revolutionary idea with their managers, collaborate with peers, and managers to stay connected with their remote teams.
An online video conferencing software platform enables businesses to conduct online meetings (video and audio), with features like recording, text chat, content sharing, and multiple participants. The mobile app is available with Android and iOS devices, making it possible for users to attend video conferencing on the go. BlueJeans offers meetings, events, and Rooms functionalities enabling users to be available for video conferencing from anywhere at any time.
Mikogo is an excellent app for screen sharing with a secure solution for webinars, sales calls, web conferencing, and online meetings. Real-time screen sharing with the meeting participants. AES encryption enables security.
- Meeting Scheduler
- Chat
- Screen sharing with multiple participants
- Participant emoticons
- HTML viewer
- Usage reports
- Whiteboard
- Recording and playback
- Speed/ quality adjustment settings
- Profile manager
- Pause transmission
MegaMeeting
Video conferencing and screen sharing features offered by MegaMeeting is an excellent fit for businesses of all sizes. MegaMeeting provides some of the best features that are easy to use and the latest in technology. Webinars and video conferencing on a single platform with a simple interface.
- Collaboration features like screen sharing, whiteboard, live chat, and Hand Raise.
- Meeting coordination features like Scheduling, Recording, Participant permissions, and one-click join.
Google Meet
Online meetings, video calls, chat, and much more, whether you are a budding freelancer or a startup, google meet has got you covered. Google meet is easy to use with its join button, along with the mute and turn off video options are straightforward for anyone to use it.
- Unlimited meetings
- Compatible across devices
- Live captioning during meetings
- Meeting hosts controls
- Audio and video preview
- Adjustable screen settings
- Screen sharing with participants
- Messaging with participants
- Integration with MS and Google
Suppose you are looking for video and audio conferencing software to host webinars for video demos, virtual meetings, online courses, and training. In that case, Zoom is the easiest to use video conferencing software with its group messaging, online meetings, and integrations on a single cloud-based online meeting platform. Zoom also enables users to host video conferences that can have up to a hundred participants. HD video, audio, and screen sharing features would allow managers to communicate and collaborate with their remote teams.
- Zoom meetings and rooms
- Premium audio
- Integrated scheduling
- Cloud recording and local recording
- Video webinar
- Group Collaboration
- A free trial is available.
- The Zoom Basic plan is for free and covers online meetings with up to a hundred participants, group collaboration, security, online support, group meeting for up to forty minutes, unlimited one-on-one meetings, web conferencing, and video conferencing.
- The Zoom Pro plan costs $14.99 per host per month and is an excellent fit for small teams. All the basic plan features are available in this plan and integration with Skype for business, reporting, user management, up to a hundred participants, personal meeting ID, and 1 GB cloud recording.
- Add-on plans:
- Extra storage for cloud recording cost starts at $40 per month.
- Video webinars cost starts at $40 per month.
- Toll-free calling cost starts at $100 per month.
- Zoom rooms cost starts at $49 per month.
- The Zoom Business plan costs $19.99 per month per host and is an excellent fit for small and medium businesses. Minimum ten hosts, up to a hundred participants, phone support, single sign-on, branding, on-premise deployments available, customized emails, and LTI integration are a part of this plan and the other features in the Zoom Pro plan.
- The ZoomEnterprise plan costs $19.99 per month per host and an excellent choice for large enterprises with a minimum of a hundred hosts. All the Business plan features are available in this plan along with discounts on Webinars and Zoom rooms, dedicated customer success manager, unlimited cloud storage, and includes up to two hundred participants.
Workplace by Facebook
Workplace by Facebook enables us to stay connected, engaged, and work with everyone. Users can create profiles, connect with others, communicate through instant messages, make groups of shared interests/common departments communicate and collaborate with the events, video recording, live streaming, and corporate presentations. Workplace by Facebook is an excellent fit for small businesses since it's not very costly, and its features are beneficial for small teams.
- Unlimited file, video, and photo storage
- Unlimited team and project groups
- Integration with file storage providers
- Video and audio calls through mobile and desktop
- Live video streaming
- Secure collaboration
- Single sign-on and AD support
- Administrative support
- Integration with Gsuite
- Monitoring tools for IT
Amazon Chime
Amazon Chime offers real-time communication tools like audio and video calls, screen sharing, and availability on web/ mobile app.
- Amazon Chime does not charge any fees upfront, and there are no subscriptions. Users pay for the features they used only.
GoToMeeting
GoToMeeting is one of those software platforms that enable users to go to the meetings online. The mobile app allows users to attend meetings on the go. With its screen sharing, calendar integration, and other exciting features, the leading online conferencing software is an excellent choice for companies to stay connected with remote employees.
- Video support
- Video streaming
- Video conferencing
- Video call recording
- Email and mobile integration
- Conferencing
- Chat
- Calendar sync and management with Google
- API
- Active Directory Integration
Conclusion
With remote working becoming the new normal, the challenges of recruiting, onboarding, training, communicating, and collaborating with the remote team members are increasing. Thanks to the online meeting platforms that offer collaboration tools, conferencing systems, and web conferencing solutions that enable users to record meetings, share screen, stay connected through instant messages, and much more through both paid and free versions. The mobile apps of the video conferencing solution enable users to stay connected on the go.
Google Hangouts, Skype for business, Cisco WebEx, and a few other online meeting platforms offer limited basic features. These basic features enable users to manage video and audio calls with HD video quality, note-taking, screen sharing, messaging to participants on the call, and do much more in a few simple clicks.
There are also many video conferencing software available in the market. These conferencing software offer tons of exciting features like conference room/private meeting room, unlimited participants, video and audio conference calls, one-click recording, and conference calls with multiple participants. It allows users to pause the video and many others that make communication, collaboration, and project management a breeze for managers with multiple remote teams.
Some projects require regular interaction between team members with lengthy conversations. While it is a usual occurrence for an in-house team, a project with multiple remote working team members can be challenging. The conferencing software platforms that offer unlimited users features to communicate through instant messages, video, and audio calls make it possible for daily online meetings.
Meetings on the go with the mobile app, collaboration, and File sharing through the media sharing features and many such easy-to-use features make it a breeze to work with the conferencing software. While most online meeting platforms offer a free trial of their plans/ features, a few of them offer free plans forever with limited features. Collaboration, communication, and project management discussions have never been this easier. We have discussed the features, use cases, top customers, and pricing plans of some of the best online meeting software providers that help users make a list of the features that would work for them and choose accordingly.
Questions asked while looking for online meeting platforms:
Kateryna is a blogger from Ukraine and has been traveling across countries from the last decade. Blogging and traveling have been her passion since she got a knack of writing blog on WordPress. Kateryna is a regular guest contributor for web publications, write reviews for business productivity applications.
