Item: Zoom
Rating: 10
Author: Alicia Gates, CPA

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our staff is 100% remotely based, meaning that everyone in the organization uses Zoom. We use Zoom specifically for the video conferencing functions as well as the screen share function. Experts say that 80% of communication is non-verbal, so when having a staff meeting or meetings with our clients, it's imperative that we're getting 100% of the communication that is being given to us, both verbally and non-verbally.

In addition, when training new staff or clients, it's so helpful to be able to screen share easily back and forth, which allows whoever is being trained to "see one" then "do one", and I can watch and confirm that they understand what we reviewed. When you're miles or a whole country apart, video conferencing is a must have and Zoom does a great job!

Pros and Cons

Zoom makes staff meetings with our remote staff so much easier to manage. The software is intelligent and automatically switches the main video feed to the active speaker, meaning you're naturally looking at the person talking without having to do anything with your settings. In addition, it shows smaller boxes of every active user in the meeting, so you can still take in everyone's reactions to the speaker. Having that ability to have non-verbal feedback is great when you're the one presenting the information, and you can easily make adjustments to your presentation. It makes it feel like you're all in the same room even if you can't be.
The screen share feature for Zoom is incredible. Even for users who have never used the software before, Zoom is just user friendly, it's a one-click action, and then you're sharing! It's also easy to switch back and forth, which is great when you're training someone and you want to watch them in action to ensure they understand the material.
Sometimes during meetings a staff member may have questions but it's difficult to interject yourself into the conversation. One way Zoom overcomes this is with a chat window with pop-up notifications when someone makes a comment. This is particularly helpful to the presenter, so that they know there's a question that needs to be addressed.

One default setting that I personally dislike is when a presenter shares their screen, it automatically opens to a full screen on my computer. If I'm using 1 monitor and am taking notes in another software on my computer, this can become frustrating as I have to quickly make the selection to exit out of the full screen so that I can also see my notes. Perhaps Zoom could create an integration with another note taking software (like Evernote) so that you could have a pop-out in the Zoom meeting to take notes and then have those sync to your note taking software automatically.

Return on Investment

Our staff is 100% remotely based, so if it was not for Zoom, we would never be able to see our clients face-to-face. In so many ways it's helpful to be able to put a face to a name, and to see all of the non-verbal communication that our clients are giving us. Many times they need to see that we're human too, not just bots, and that greatly enhances our relationships. I would say that it allows us to know our client's personalities better, which results in us being able to serve them more completely.
Training new staff in a remote environment is difficult, but Zoom's screen sharing abilities greatly helps with that! Since it's so easy to switch the screen share back and forth, I can have a 1-on-1 meeting with a staff person, show them something on my computer, and then switch it to them so that they can show me what they learned on their computer. It's great that it's real time and easy to do. The staff's retention is better, which ultimately means our bottom line is increased.

Alternatives Considered

UberConference

Zoom has overlapping service similarities to UberConference, but they are not all the same. UberConference is what we used prior to Zoom, and it can do teleconferencing and screen sharing, but it does not have video capacity. Zoom has the video conferencing and screen sharing, but not the teleconferencing.

If Zoom had a way for multiple people to join in on a conference call (not a video conference), we would stop using UberConference completely. Zoom's video conferencing is flawless, the screen share is better and takes up less bandwidth, and the overall experience with Zoom is more "user friendly" than UberConference.

Other Software Used

QuickBooks Online, Google Drive

Likelihood to Recommend

Zoom is a great tool for anyone who needs to meet with staff or clients remotely. I could see it being helpful across all industries for corporate meetings (where users might be spread out across the country or world), and specifically for professional service organizations, such as lawyers, CPAs, accountants, engineers, etc. - any service where you would normally sit down with a client to go over detailed information, if those staff or clients aren't in the same room with you, then Zoom is a tool you need. Even the free version has an incredible amount of functionality, so it's almost silly to not use it.

For industries where everything is completed in person, Zoom might not be something you need. But as businesses move more and more into the digital world, I'm hard-pressed to find any industry that at least 1 person wouldn't benefit from using Zoom.

Feels like you're in the same room...even though you aren't.

Software Version

Overall Satisfaction with Zoom