COVID-19 has had a massive impact on everyone’s daily lives, not least in business. As a result of the lockdown, web conferencing software platform usage has grown exponentially over the six last months, with most businesses having to run their businesses remotely.
During the lockdown, the videoconference industry, and Zoom in particular, has prospered where many other industries have floundered.
However, according to research from digital experience management company, Aternity, in its Productivity Tracker series, Zoom is now losing its grip in the market in favour of Microsoft Teams because of a number of errors and security issues that have occurred.
Microsoft Teams overtakes Zoom
As of 14th June 2020, Microsoft Teams’ usage grew by 894% compared to the week beginning 17th February and Zoom usage grew by 677% in the same time period. (Source Computer Weekly www.computerweekly.com/news/252485100/Microsoft-Teams-usage-growth-surpasses-Zoom.)
Aternity’s survey suggests that the growth in the use of Teams has probably come as much from Microsoft pushing Office 365 adoption during this period, as organisations’ increasing concerns about Zoom security.
Microsoft Teams’ growth has also come at the expense of Skype for Business and from July 31, 2021, Microsoft will no longer offer Skype for Business Online – it wants Teams to be the go-to Office 365 application for online collaboration and calling.
What are the key features and advantages of Microsoft Teams and Zoom?
Microsoft Teams
- Helps your business focus on specific projects – so you can prioritise and manage time and tasks. With Teams, you will only see relevant docs, messages, and meeting requests relating to a selected channel.
- Enhances productivity – integrating all collaborations into a single interface. This includes everything from shared files, tasks, meetings, and conversations.
- Allows for transparent communication – helps businesses to update everyone with the latest developments, removing the need to add a cc to an email or a meeting invitation.
- Provides a smooth digital workspace transition – the transition to a digital workspace is made easy, because Teams is a fully cloud-first based communications solution.
- New features/integrations for Teams this summer/autumn include:
- A new conversation button in channels – you can start a new conversation (and not reply to a thread) with the new button.
- SharePoint Lists – you can create lists to manage work and more with your team.
- More online collaboration with Microsoft Whiteboard – it is easier than ever to keep the creative process going while meeting online. Sticky notes, text objects etc., help you organise your whiteboard better.
- Real-time status updates in Team – reliable and faster updates when your status available changes, including turning on and off your out of office (in Outlook).
- Preview new meeting and calling experience on desktop – when you join a call or meeting in the Teams desktop app, they will pop out into a secondary window.
Zoom
- Best known for its user-friendly video conferencing platform; Zoom Meetings includes screen-sharing and live messaging.
- Flexibility in how your group connects is a big plus for Zoom – it supports use on iOS/iPadOS, Android, PC, Linux, and macOS. In addition, if users can’t or don’t want to install the app, it provides a web-only experience.
- Can be used on a variety of devices – there are a wide variety of pricing plans and the basic plan is free. It is easy to access, join in, and collaborate across any device.
- Guests are given an ID in a link, to click on to join a meeting – they can choose whether to use video or just audio. Everyone can share their screens and can record the meeting as well.
- Synchronises with your calendar and is therefore easy to schedule.
How do Microsoft Teams and Zoom compare on price?
Microsoft Teams pricing
- Microsoft Teams – Unlimited chat, video calling, file sharing, storage, and more — for as long as you want with no commitment (https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/free)
- Microsoft 365 Business Basic – includes Teams. £3.80 user/month. Annual commitment. Excludes VAT
- Microsoft 365 Business Standard – includes Teams. £9.40 user/month. Annual commitment. Excludes VAT
- Office 365 E3 – includes Teams. £17.60 user/month. Annual commitment. Excludes VAT
Zoom pricing
- Free – host up to 100 participants. 40-minute maximum group meetings.
Unlimited 1:1 meetings
- PRO – great for small teams. £11.99 per month per host. Host up to 100 participants.
Unlimited group meetings, Social media streaming. 1 GB cloud recording (per license)
- BUSINESS – small and medium businesses. £15.99 per month per host. Host up to 300 participants. Single sign-on. Cloud recording transcripts. Managed domains. Company branding
- ENTERPRISE – features as per business plan + unlimited cloud storage. From £15.00 per month per host. Maximum number of 500 participants
What are the limitations of both Microsoft Teams and Zoom?
Microsoft Teams limitations
Microsoft Teams is a collaboration hub that works really well with other 365 products and was built around Microsoft’s existing suite of apps, so it may not be attractive to businesses that have invested heavily in other software. For example, Microsoft Teams might not be appropriate for your company if its collaboration is based in Google Drive.
In addition, it may not be suitable for companies that are seeking a modest solution to a specific need and its hyper-organised tabs and channels can feel overwhelming.
Zoom limitations
The increase in people using Zoom as a result of the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted some security and privacy concerns.
One way that hackers have abused the service is by Zoom bombing – they enter chat rooms and meetings to share offensive material, issue violent threats, and use racist language.
In addition, according to Business Insider, Zoom has been accused of passing on users’ data to third parties, including Facebook, without notifying the users.
Other issues have included:
- meeting hosts not being able to track attendees
- performance challenges – with bad bandwidth conditions
- complaints that Zoom is only as intuitive as its users.
What is the best choice for businesses?
Zoom has many fans and its free service is attractive and efficient – some small businesses can achieve what they want without incurring any costs at all. Having said that, larger businesses will also get good value for money on the paid plans.
The company is taking extensive steps to solve its security issues and fixing them might take some time, but Zoom remains one of the best productivity tools out there – it’s easy to use and participants can join via a shared link from any location without any software downloads.
For businesses that already have Microsoft 365 in operation, it is probably a foregone conclusion that they will either use or eventually switch to Teams because Microsoft is actively pushing Teams as a key intelligent communications platform. It can be argued that to get rewards, businesses need to change the way in which they work with new communications technology and that as Teams is not going anywhere, the sooner they adopt it the better.
So, what’s best for your business?
Contact the team at Qaixen today to discuss your online meeting needs and how Microsoft Teams can support your business. Call 08447 724936 or email info@qaixen.com.