Zoom’s presence has facilitated the transition to hybrid working. Companies had to send staff home and set up remote work in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. Zoom participants’ engagements increased thirty-fold over the previous year.
The outbreak of the pandemic has created a demand for the next generation of communication and collaboration solutions to help businesses with distant working arrangements. Zoom may have blazed the trail for fostering remote collaboration among coworkers, but there are plenty of other options available.
Google Meet
The built-in security revolutionizes video meeting security, and it even allows you to attend meetings using just your browser rather than installing plugins and applications.
It’s as easy as sending someone a link to invite them to a meeting, so you don’t have to go through their computers looking for the right apps and tools. You can also join a calendar event that has been shared with you or one that you have created using Google Meet.
Microsoft Teams
Surely, Microsoft Teams’ free edition does not disappoint, with capabilities such as unlimited chat messages, personal and team storage your team has access to limitless app integrations such as Trello, Adobe, and Evernote, among others. Apart from this, it has the ability to invite anyone from outside your business to attend your conference.
Premium editions have even more amazing features such as up to 1 TB of extra storage, connection with Office 365, and the usage of third-party applications, among others.
Skype
Now that Skype has stepped up its game by providing you with the same video calling options as Zoom while also adding much more to the list, making Skype one of the finest Zoom alternatives.
Unlike group chats, Skype allows you to begin a call without first creating a group name or adding people. This implies that participants can continue to join whether or not they are logged in. Because Skype is owned by Microsoft, it has become one of the top alternatives not only for families and friends but also for businesses and classrooms searching for an economical and secure option.
Cisco Webex Meetings
This next alternative has an increased engagement, addressing the requirements of organizations throughout the world via innovation, and allowing participants to join meetings with a simple click. Cisco supports video sharing and voice conferencing, as well as additional technologies that may be used during meetings.
This alternative also reduces background noise and makes it simple to employ video callback capabilities.
Jitsi Meet
Jitsi is an open-source alternative to Zoom. The word “open source” initially related to open source software (OSS). Open-source software is code that is intended to be publicly available — anyone can view, alter, and distribute it as they see appropriate.
Unlike the pre-existing Google Meet or MS Teams which could have a Freemium aspect to it, an open-source alternative like Jitsi, you wouldn’t have to worry about future costs.
The free and open-source video-chat technology, like Zoom, is simple to use and requires little to no training. It is also encrypted and does not sell your information. As an extra plus, there is no need for an account or to download anything in order to initiate or attend a meeting.
Here’s a quick run-through of Jitsi.
- Setting Up Your Call
It couldn’t be easier to start a call. Begin by going to the Jitsi call page. Once there, put your preferred meeting name under the “create a new meeting” text.
Click “Go” and there you have a meeting set up for you and your co-workers.
However, there is one critical step you must still complete: set a password to the call. This is a simple technique that avoids unwanted distractions. To add a password, click the I button in the bottom-right corner of the screen immediately after starting the call.
2. Inviting Your Friends
Similarly, with Zoom and Google Meet, Jitsi makes this procedure as simple as sharing the meeting URL to your friends.
There are lots of features that Jitsi offers that could revolutionize your co-working experience.