In the wake of forced shutdowns, Zoom turned out to be a lifesaver for many businesses with remote workers. The company is a market leader and one of the most popular apps for working from home. Its popularity skyrocketed over the past years and became a part of the revered group of brand names that have morphed into verbs. Just like Netflix and Google, Zoom has become a verb in its own right. Rather than saying ‘let’s have a video call later,” it’s now commonplace to say “let’s zoom in later.” This linguistic shift demonstrates the significant impact Zoom has had on the way we communicate.
Zoom has seamlessly integrated into our daily conversations, cementing its status with its prominence as a widely recognized platform for virtual meetings. Its innovative features and user-friendly interface have made it a go-to solution for remote collaboration.
Continue reading to find out more about Zoom and why it is a superior video conferencing system.
What is Zoom?
Zoom is a powerful video conferencing tool that allows for easy teamwork and individual communication. Regardless of their actual location, it offers a virtual environment where people can connect and have face-to-face interactions. Users of Zoom can hold meetings, run webinars, plan training courses, and even chat with loved ones via video and audio calls. Because of its user-friendly design and plethora of capabilities, it is a popular option among businesses and people looking for a dependable and effective communication solution.
Main Features and Benefits of Using Zoom
Zoom has gained its reputation by providing exceptional performance, persistent reliability, and a broad set of features. Here are the key features of the platform.
High-Quality Video and Audio
Zoom offers high-definition video and crystal-clear audio, ensuring a smooth and immersive communication experience.
Screen Sharing and Content Collaboration
Zoom allows users to share their screens with others, making it effortless to present slideshows, documents, and other visual content.
Virtual Backgrounds
Users can customize their backgrounds during video calls. A variety of virtual backgrounds is provided by the platform and there is also an option to upload their own.
Recording and Transcription
Zoom allows users to record meetings, webinars, and conferences, capturing every detail for future reference or sharing with absent participants.
Chat and File Sharing
Participants can exchange messages during meetings using the built-in chat tool, which improves teamwork and allows for real-time conversations. Zoom also allows file sharing, allowing users to smoothly exchange documents, photos, and other information.
Huge Meeting Capabilities
Zoom stands out among major video conferencing platforms with its unparalleled meeting capacity. With the capability to accommodate up to 500 participants in a single Zoom call, the platform effortlessly handles large gatherings without any disruptions.
Universal Compatibility
Zoom Works Across All Devices, Operating Systems, and Browsers. Whether you’re using a Windows PC, Mac, Ubuntu, Fedora, ArchLinux, CentOS, iOS, or Android device, Zoom ensures a seamless experience across all platforms. It is designed to work flawlessly with popular web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, and Linux, eliminating any compatibility concerns.
User Experience with Zoom
The strength of Zoom’s user experience doesn’t lie in its interface but rather in the primary activity it facilitates – video meetings. The essence of a video calling platform is centered around one main task, which is engaging in conversations with others through video calls. While there are peripheral tasks involved in the user journey, such as launching the app, initiating a call, inviting participants, recording the call, and ending the call, the majority of the time is actually spent simply looking at the other person and conversing. Thus, the primary objective of a video call user interface is to enable success in this central activity above all else.
Zoom excels in providing a satisfying user experience in the context of a video call and having a successful conversation. It offers a reliable video conferencing feature, ensuring users can engage in a call without concerns about dropped connections or unstable call quality. Additionally, Zoom integrates smoothly with other applications like Microsoft Outlook or iCal, allowing users to effortlessly schedule Zoom meetings with just one click or switch between mobile and desktop platforms at the touch of a button. Moreover, Zoom’s meeting management dashboard is remarkably user-friendly, further enhancing its usability and ease of navigation.
Pricing Structure
Zoom has 5 plans available. It starts with the Basic Plan which is free for everyone to use. This Plan includes up to 40 minutes of meeting, a maximum of 100 attendees, 3 whiteboards, team chat, and mail and calendar service. The Pro Plan is priced at $149.90 per year that includes up to 30 hours per meeting, up to 100 participants, 5GB of cloud recording storage, 3 whiteboards, team chat, mail and calendar services, and 1-year free essential apps as follows:
- AI Notetaker by Fathom
- Coda
- Kahoot
- AI Nametags by Warmly
- Prezi Video for Zoom
- Sesh Visual Meeting Agenda
- Ai Note Taking & Breakout by twine
- Funtivity by Hermis
- Welo Visual Breakouts
- Meeting Recaps, Transcripts, Recording from Read
Business Plan is priced at $199.90 per year and includes the features offered in the Pro Plan with extras such as single sign-on, managed domains, company branding, and up to 300 participants. While Business Plus at $250 per year includes add-ons such as Zoom Phone and workspace reservation.
Zoom also offers Enterprise Plan for large companies that can accommodate 500 or 1000 attendees depending on the business needs and other Zoom services such as Zoom customer-managed key, Zoom phone, Zoom room with conference room connector, webinars, and workspace reservation. This is a customizable plan, and the price is provided by the Zoom sales department.
Zoom has a few extra services that can be added to any of your plans.
- Zoom Phone – Starts at $120 per year for local or international calls, SMS, MMS, and other phone plan services. Getting a toll-free number starts at $60 per year.
- Zoom Events and Webinars – Starts at $690 per year.
- Zoom Rooms – Starts at $499 per year. A 30-day room trial is available.
- Zoom Virtual Service Phone Number – Starts at $60 per year.
- Contact Center Cloud Storage – Offers up to 5TB per month of Zoom cloud storage. Contact sales for price.
- Zoom Virtual Agent – Ai and chatbots solution. Contact sales for price
- Additional Whiteboards – Starts at $24.90 per year