Since the beginning of the pandemic, more people have had to make the switch from travelling to the office to working from home or staying local. Manchester PC understands the importance of IT support and can offer many services to ensure you get the best out of working remotely. 

According to Finder UK, two-thirds of employees found that they’re much more productive working from home. With lockdown easing, more businesses are changing their work structure and offering flexible working – meaning less time in the office for the foreseeable future. They also discovered that 83% of people find that working in an office doesn’t significantly impact their productivity levels and that they’re less distracted when working from home. 

It turns out that working remotely over the past year was going to kickstart a shift in how companies run their businesses moving forward i.e. flexible working.

While many businesses have had to close during the pandemic, many have been able to continue on an online basis. An essential part of allowing companies to continue running efficiently is possessing the best software to hold regular meetings with your team or third-party clients. There are many options available to get the best out of your video conferences and it’s important to understand which ones will be more suited to your workflow.

Here’s a look at the features of some of the best software available for video conferences:

Microsoft Teams

Teams is Microsoft’s communication platform and is part of the 365 family of applications the brand offers. It offers several tools to hold meetings such as calls, text chat and video – as well as offering document sharing and meetings notes. These video meetings can currently hold up to 250 people, or if you’re a larger company needing to host a conference on a larger scale, Microsoft’s stream integration can hold up to 10,000 people.

Calls are easy to make with advanced features like cloud voicemail, group calling and call transfers – all made easy with Microsoft’s quick and simple navigation system within the app. This is all made secure with in-app settings giving you the option to allow anyone to join the channel or to privately host channels where users will need authorisation.

If your company uses Office 365, Teams is well integrated within the apps to allow easy sharing across platforms. It essentially allows you to stay in one place rather than jump around different areas of software. You can easily find files, edit and share them amongst your colleagues with ease and work between Teams and other apps like PowerPoint, Word and Excel. 

Overall, Teams is a solid video conference software. It allows outbound calling from PC’s and mobile devices and is a great way to offer consistent collaboration and communication for employees who need it to work in the office, remotely or on the go.

Google Meet

Google Meet is a video-chatting service that services businesses or offices, allowing them to chat through audio, video and text. Google offers a free basic account that can hold up to 25 people at once – perfect for smaller companies that don’t require a paid subscription which would allow up to 100 people. 

The software allows the organiser to share images and videos amongst colleagues using the app’s screen share feature. Users can participate in the call however they wish with mic, camera and text settings so they can customise their conference experience. This means that if a meeting just needs to be held by an audio call, you can toggle off your camera and maintain a strong call connection through the app. 

Unlike Teams, Meet allows users from outside the Google space to join a call with the simple feature of a meeting code. When the code is inputted, you can immediately start participating in the call, once the organiser has started the meeting. 

Similar to Teams, Google Meet allows you to host a streaming service where you can stream to up to 10,000 viewers – an great feature for businesses that wish to hold large events or important communication calls to all members of staff.

Overall, Google Meet is a great communication software that offers free and paid subscriptions to cater to any-sized business. The app provides a great user-friendly interface and security infrastructure that can be integrated well amongst the Google Workspace – great for companies that use Google as their primary work station.

Zoom

Zoom is a cloud-based communication service that has developed a high-level of popularity since the start of lockdown – due to the increased number of remote workers. It’s primarily used by business to host meetings but can also be used to keep in touch with friends and family. The software is known for its ease of use and simple navigation making it accessible to everyone. Like Google Meet, it also offers a free and paid subscription service, catering to those who use it occasionally, and those who use it more regularly.

A feature unique in our lineup is that you don’t need the app to join a Zoom meeting, however, to host a meeting you will be required to sign up to an account. For free, users can host calls that last up to 40 minutes. If you require longer meeting durations, you will be required to sign up to one of the app’s paid subscription services. All of Zoom’s subscription plans allow you to record meetings locally that can be saved to the cloud storage available.

Zoom uses audio, video and text chat which is customisable to get the best out of your meetings. The app also allows the host to screen share as well as allowing other members in the call to share their screen, creating an ease of workflow amongst colleagues. Audio transcriptions are available for business and Enterprise plans, allowing you to curate meeting notes far easier.

During lockdown in the UK, the app offered free unlimited minutes on all Zoom calls to ensure people stayed connected when isolating at home – a feature that received a lot of positive praise, resulting in more customers using the app after lockdown started to ease.

Zoom holds many great features with a clean and easy interface that is accessible to everyone. It’s great for businesses with rigorous video conferencing requirements but also offers a great way to keep in touch with friends and family.

Overall, Zoom and Teams offer the best features for businesses with rigorous video conferencing needs. If you only require simple features that are accessible to all colleagues. Google Meet could be the better option for you. With a 60-minute limit on calls, and features like screen share, whiteboard and virtual background, Meet’s free plan is perfect for basic use.


For local IT and software advice, visit Manchester PC and do not hesitate to contact us.