Zoom is a great product for small, remote teams, but be weary of their security practices
Updated September 20, 2019
Zoom is a great product for small, remote teams, but be weary of their security practices
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Business
Overall Satisfaction with Zoom
Zoom is used across the whole organization for remote meetings and calls. We use it for one-on-one meetings, larger meetings, all-staff meetings, and board meetings. Zoom allows our organization to have a reliable and easy to use system for any meeting type, as some of our staff works remotely from all around the world.
- Reliability -- the video and audio quality is good and steady.
- Recordings -- Zoom allows meetings to be recorded in the cloud and downloaded at a later date.
- Meeting options -- Zoom allows you to adjust meeting settings to meet your needs, such as having a waiting room, automatic muting, and more.
- Expensive at scale -- Zoom requires each user have a separate license, instead of allowing an IT team to centrally manage and arrange meetings.
- No automatic meeting transcriptions on the Business Pro plan.
- Sloppy code -- Zoom has had a couple of privacy snafus due to the poor code quality of their software. This leads to a lack of trust between Zoom and their customers.
- Positive: all members of our remote team are able to communicate effectively and often.
- Negative: Zoom costs rise as the organization grows, as they charge per user instead of on a company plan.
- Negative: security concerns cause us to be weary of privacy.
No, we do not use Zoom Rooms, although I have looked into it. Currently, I have configured my own version, with Zoom installed on a laptop, which is connected to remote microphones, cameras, and a large television.
- Skype for Business (formerly Lync)
Zoom's quality and reliability is better than Skype's. Skype tends to have more buffering issues than Zoom, especially when meetings include a lot of people. However, Skype is more affordable for larger teams and does not come with the same security and privacy concerns. Microsoft takes security very seriously.