Zoom is an excellent service for organizations of all sizes
October 17, 2019
Zoom is an excellent service for organizations of all sizes
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Software Version
Business
Modules Used
- Zoom Meetings & Chat
- Zoom Rooms
- Zoom Video Webinar
Overall Satisfaction with Zoom
Howard & Associates is a consulting company that helps organizations (primarily large corporations) implement enterprise video communications, including video conferencing, video streaming, video call centers, and digital signage. In the course of that consulting, we primarily work remotely and interact with our clients frequently over video conferencing. Our go-to tool to do so is Zoom because of its quality, reliability, and most importantly the fact that without fail, anyone can connect. The last point is extremely important. In many cases, my clients will be using, for example, Skype for Business, but to get multiple parties from multiple companies connected on video is in many cases impossible.
We have also provided consulting services for companies that are implementing Zoom. This includes Zoom room design as well as networking impact analysis. Many organizations do not have a video-first culture, but want to get there by moving to Zoom. However, they are extremely concerned about the impact this may have on their network. So we help them analyze their network and make sure it will be able to support video, and if not, how to modify it to do so.
We have also provided consulting services for companies that are implementing Zoom. This includes Zoom room design as well as networking impact analysis. Many organizations do not have a video-first culture, but want to get there by moving to Zoom. However, they are extremely concerned about the impact this may have on their network. So we help them analyze their network and make sure it will be able to support video, and if not, how to modify it to do so.
- Quality: the video quality is outstanding. It does an incredible job of adjusting to bandwidth issues, and rarely do you have a video or audio issue. In the rare cases you do, it recovers quickly and efficiently as if nothing happened.
- Reliability: it always works. People rarely have issues connecting. The client software is extremely lightweight. As mentioned above, it recovers quickly and efficiently if there are network issues. If you are in a spot with poor data service, you can always call in on the phone.
- Functionality: Zoom continues to add more and more functionality to the system, including Webinars (which people love), Digital Signage, and Zoom Phone. Customers that choose Zoom for meetings almost always end up using Zoom for additional functionality.
- Meetings: I would like to have more options about where to place the video of the participants in the meeting, and which users I see. I like to put the video of the people at the top of the screen by my camera to get better eye contact, but it is difficult to do so when someone is screen sharing.
- Webinars: I would like to see more options for video distribution within large organizations for webinars. Webinars works great for scenarios of hundreds to low thousands of users. But organizations are hesitant to use it for extremely large webcasts because there is no eCDN or multicast functionality so they are concerned about network issues.
- Administration: From an administrative perspective, I would like to see Zoom add the capability to see what the client's internal IP address is, so you can determine which office the client accessed Zoom from. Currently, it only reports on where the client goes out to the Internet, which in many large organizations is still only one or two datacenters.
- Zoom has been great for my business because it shows people that they can have a video-first culture and that all communications should happen over video to develop trust and be more efficient.
- Zoom allows me to work remotely, but still have a much more engaging and personal relationship with my clients by interacting with them on video rather than just phone calls.
- Zoom allows me to work from anywhere.
Zoom Rooms are a perfect compliment to Zoom desktop/mobile meetings. They are simple to install and setup, provide excellent quality, and are extremely intuitive to use. Some organizations are hesitant to have to put a PC or a Mac computer in the room, and now Zoom is solving this by offering appliance-based solutions through its hardware partners.
In many cases, organizations can continue to use much of the existing functionality of the room (displays and audio for example) while making the transition. Also, not all rooms need to be replaced at once. New rooms can be Zoom Rooms, while older rooms can continue to operate until they become obsolete.
In many cases, organizations can continue to use much of the existing functionality of the room (displays and audio for example) while making the transition. Also, not all rooms need to be replaced at once. New rooms can be Zoom Rooms, while older rooms can continue to operate until they become obsolete.
I do not have any experience with Zoom Phone at this point, but I look forward to helping organizations move in that direction also. As I mentioned, everyone that we have worked with that has implemented Zoom for meetings is now considering Zoom Phone.
- Skype for Business (formerly Lync)
Video quality is superior. The ability to adjust to network disruptions is superior (Skype for Business in many cases never recovers and you need to restart). The ability to meet with external participants over video is superior.