There are over two hundred video conferencing platforms. As you begin to either work remotely, from home, or need to connect to clients far away choosing the right one is important.
Here are some points to consider.
Video Quality
The first thing you need to make sure is the video. The video quality is how your picture looks on the far end. Determining the video quality is something you can't do by yourself. You will need a partner in this evaluation. Whether that is a co-worker or a friend, find someone who can give you honest feedback. What impacts the video quality is the type of encoding the video conferencing platform uses.
Audience Size and Interactivity Load
The next feature to consider is the number of participants a system can handle. If all you will ever do is one-to-one connections than nearly any platform will do. However, should you need to have large conference calls, webinars, or other situations, that feature is necessary.
What are the recording and playback capabilities?
Recording and playback capabilities are becoming increasingly important. Giving customers and partners the ability to attend a meeting after the fact keeps everyone on the same page. Recording and playback also gives you the capability of doing a presentation once and having anyone consume it on their time.
Cost
Finally, there is cost. The cost of these systems range from free on up to thousands of dollars. The capabilities, features, and technical specs will drive the cost as will the place in the market. If you find a startup that meets your needs, then go with that. Understand that a well-established program will have more support and stability.
Here are some options to consider.
- Here at AVnation, we use Zoom. Zoom is the most popular video conferencing platform on the market. There is a reason for that. Its pricing starts at free. As you add features the price can rise to about $20 per month.
- Another option is to see if your phone system supports video conferencing. 3CX is a Voip phone system that has video as part of its features at no additional costs.
- Cisco WebEx also starts at free and goes up to $27 per person, per month. WebEx has been around longer than Zoom but they have not kept up with innovations lately.
Bringing It All Together
Video conferencing will continue to be part of our working life. Picking the right one for you and your company is important. Just because you pick one today doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind next week or next month. The majority of these platforms have monthly plans which gives you the flexibility to adjust and move on if one isn’t meeting your needs.
