The coronavirus has forced us all to work differently this year, and while some of us may be back in the office, others interstate may still be in a form of lockdown. You’ve probably already discovered some of the helpful apps around that enable you to stay connected to your team or clients, and here we take a look at the top 3used. At The Impact Suite, we tend to use Microsoft Teams and Zoom, but when having client meetings, we use a smattering of some of the other names that charities have signed up to.
Tell us what you use, and let us know what you think about it here.
With an unnatural advantage of having Microsoft as an operating system and Office on most PCs, Microsoft Teams is most likely already on your PC. Teams enables you to chat, meet, call with Skype technology, and collaborate using Office files. While easy to use, we have found it can drop out a bit or freeze images in the web version. The free version has the following standard features
· Screen sharing
· Background blur
· File sharing
· More than 250 integrated apps and services
· Security and compliance
Zoom, while having great technology and commonly used, has recently been under a cloud on security concerns. The company is listed in the US on the NASDAQ, but the software was developed by three companies in China, only two of which are owned by Zoom. The ownership of the third company is unknown. New York’s Department of Education has banned all schools from using Zoom for remote learning, with Attorney General Letitia James probing the privacy and security credentials of the company.
If those concerns don’t bother you, the Zoom app (which can be downloaded on your computer or on your phone), allows you to host free 1:1 video calls with no time limit, and group calls with up to 100people as long as you don't talk for more than 40 minutes. Paid plans let you chat with up to 1,000 people at once, which is a large townhall!
With around 80% of the world on Google run Android operating systems on their mobiles, Google’s Meet is a free viable option. With most phones installed with Google Calendar, when you diarise a meeting, you'll also get a Meet link that you and your meeting attendees can click to instantly join a call. Google has also allow sharing of files from Google Drive and Apps and share them in chat, without leaving your call. If you use Gmail, you can even start a call directly from your Gmail inbox. Possibly one of the best features for charities thought is Google Meet includes live captioning, which is a huge plus for accessibility.
Of course these are not the only options when communicating with your clients or team; other options include join.me, Cisco Webex Meetings , Slack, and GoToMeeting .
VC apps have helped us all stay connected, but still cant beat catching someone for a coffee to run an idea past them!
