Businesses forced to work remotely due to coronavirus have relied heavily on video-conferencing software over the past few months. With companies looking for tools that can support staff in their roles and help them maintain contact with colleagues, the market for video chat and collaboration apps has heated up significantly.

Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams have perhaps been the most closely contending services vying for users in recent weeks. Each provider has been keeping a watchful eye on their rivals and releasing updates on what seems to have become a near-weekly basis, with the view to giving them an edge over the competition. The good news for users is that the continual one-upmanship has led platform providers to improve security, add new features and make some of their services free.

Of course, Zoom, Microsoft and Google aren’t the only companies competing in this space – far from it. There are a number of well-established providers that have been offering video-conferencing software for years, with equally rich feature sets. This includes Cisco’s WebEx – a webinar platform long-favored by organizations all over the world – as well as BlueJeans, which was recently snapped up by Verizon to become part of the telecom company’s 5G portfolio.

Each video-conferencing service comes with its own list of pros and cons, as well as a variation in what it offers. Still, with a little research you can ensure that you are selecting the right service for your businesses’ particular requirements.

This free PDF download from TechRepublic will help you decide which video conferencing platform is right for your business needs. The below table – which is by no means exhaustive – represents six commonly used video-conferencing platforms and chat apps, alongside some of the features worth considering when shopping around.

Source of article