Best of the 4 Solutions I've Tried
June 07, 2017
Best of the 4 Solutions I've Tried
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Business
Overall Satisfaction with Zoom
Zoom is the most recent web meeting product that we've turned to after reviewing/vetting/using three different solutions over the past 2 years, and we've found Zoom to be our favorite. Amongst the other products we either subscribed for or tested were JoinMe and UberConference - and at a previous company, I used GoToMeeting for over a year as well. Overall, we feel Zoom to be the superior product in the web meeting space.
We use Zoom throughout our organization and for different roles; sales, customer success, and marketing all use Zoom (though marketing uses Zoom for their webinar functionality predominantly, and that has served us quite well).
We use Zoom throughout our organization and for different roles; sales, customer success, and marketing all use Zoom (though marketing uses Zoom for their webinar functionality predominantly, and that has served us quite well).
- Zoom has been the most stable of the solutions we've tested - our sales team operates globally, and with solution like JoinMe and UberConference (smaller companies, to be fair), we've just had major issues. Zoom has been the most stable of the products we've used by far; I feel it is on par if not superior to the reliability/quality of GoToMeeting, and much more established product in the space.
- Zoom does a superb job of giving control to the presenter - the presenter has numerous options available to them, beyond simply sharing their screen. It's easy to mute someone else's microphone when feedback occurs, or to share control/hosting rights with others. You can even lock a meeting to prevent others from joining prematurely.
- Lastly, Zoom offers reliable recording, something that UberConference specifically lacked and what caused us to ultimately migrate to Zoom. It's clean, simple, and works exactly as expected.
- Video on by default - Zoom assumes that by default, you want to connect with your webcam. It assumes that those calling in/using Zoom for the first time want to do so as well. It has created some embarrassing situations for some who weren't aware their cameras were on by default. This has to be turned off by a setting.
- Heavier footprint - you can't use the Zoom service for screensharing without downloading something. That was one of the best things we found that UberConference had going for it, since it didn't require a download. Occasionally, those we work with are prohibited from downloading new software like this, so we're out of luck to meet with them unless they have their own preferred/approved solution. This is definitely an occasional irritant.
- Requires Internet/Data Connection - without paying to upgrade for a personal conference line, you must "start" a Zoom meeting in order for participants to be able to call in... there is no bridge that exists that attendees can simply dial into and be good to go, without a host first "starting" a meeting, which requires either an internet connection to do so via a laptop or a data connection to do so via a phone. This has been surprisingly frustrating, and upgrading to a personal conference line was prohibitively expensive.
- Zoom has allowed us to have more stability/reliability during external collaboration with prospects, customers, and more.
- Zoom has given us the ability to record meetings that we lacked in our last tool (UberConference)... we've even utilized this functionality for internal trainings.
- Zoom has given us the ability to host our very own webinars with collaborating with a partner, a functionality we never had prior to using Zoom.
As mentioned previously, I have substantial experience with GoToMeeting, Join.Me, UberConference, and Zoom. Zoom is heads and shoulders above that crowd in my personal opinion. The only reason we considered/tested/used Join.Me and UberConference over Zoom in the first place is that they have a "lighter footprint" - they didn't require packages to be downloaded in order to function... but frankly, that value was overweighed by issues with reliability/stability as well as a lack of additional features.
So we ultimately found our way to Zoom... while it has a heavier footprint, it is far more stable/reliable (on par with that of GoToMeeting), but is easier to use than GoToMeeting as well.
So we ultimately found our way to Zoom... while it has a heavier footprint, it is far more stable/reliable (on par with that of GoToMeeting), but is easier to use than GoToMeeting as well.