By USDR
One way to win the market is to make sure you’re always on top of the latest trends, the newest technologies, the biggest ideas. That’s why knowing your way around the best brands and names when it comes to online meeting platforms matter. It’s not just adding on another set of tech skills for the software or platform-weary—it’s basically ensuring you, along with the rest of your team, are updated on the best of whatever professional tools are out there. As assets, that makes you and your team global-ready to go toe-to-toe with your competition.
Want some help in narrowing down your search? Here are a few names culled from lists posted on Small Business, Freelancers Union and Lifehacker to give you a solid start:
Blue Jeans
The Blue Jeans Network offers video conferencing technology with plenty of features. With various communication modes, you and your team can connect its cloud-based solutions with tremendous ease. Face to face collaboration, on HD, is easy. Connections are clear and reliable. Audio quality is sound. Every word, of every conversation comes out loud and clear. Offered by the Blue Jeans Network, this is one solid solution to problems or any issues with your video meetings. Set it up and watch your team enjoy wonderfully seamless video conferencing experience.
GoToMeeting
This service offers you video conferencing for free—so long as there’s just you and two other people on your team. More than that and you’ve got to pay extra shekels. There’s no HD but if you go for the simple stuff, this one’s bound to hit the sweet spot. It’s just plain and simple video conferencing without the fancy features. If you want more, give GoToMeeting a shot. That’s the upgrade. You can do presentations for as much as 1,000 people. Though it’s doubtful that you’ll often find yourself in a position to chat to 1,000 people—all at once. But if you do, don’t forget this one.
MeetingBurner
You’ve got your basic video conferencing service here. It’s free up to ten people, so that’s you plus nine other folks on your team. There’s call recording as well as in-meeting chat services and screen sharing. And when you need a few reminders to get you through a day of seemingly endless meetings, you can also take advantage of the automated email reminders. One small caveat: you’ve got to install a teeny bit of application to make this happen. Otherwise, it’s all smooth from there.
Skype
One of the most famous names on this list is, Skype has over 300 million monthly users. It’s one of the most well-known brands when it comes to internet calling services the whole world over. And because it’s Skype, you already know that you need to download the app before you can start exploring all the goodies this system offers. There are free calls to make, video calls, messaging, file transfers and a whole lot of fun so what are you waiting for?
UberConference
If you want a service that says modern and functional, you’ve hit the jackpot with UberConference. This works best for those times when it’s important to set a professional, creditable mood. It’s ideal for those client meetings. The video conferencing platform allows for 10 callers. There’s call recording so you won’t have to take notes. Just record whatever you need and you can get back to it later. With Uberconference, who don’t need any PINS for the organizer which some people view as a definite plus.
Lync
There’s a definite welter of video conferencing tools out there. Lync is one of the best ones you could pull out of the bunch. It’s easy to use, you could invite people in hassle-free and it’s connected with Microsoft. It comes with video, desktop, sharing, audio and is, oh yes, compatible and works well with Powerpoint. If you still make your slides on PP, Lync should be on your list.
GoogleHangouts
Most people actually like GoogleHangouts. It’s free, easy to use and once you sign up for your Google account, you immediately get one. Hangouts can handle up to 10 in a single conference. There’s live video for that interactive touch. If you want to share resources, chat makes that possible, whether you have links, drafts or anything else, you can send most content files over to each other via chat. If that doesn’t work though, there’s always Google mail. That’s actually one of the drawbacks of GoogleHangouts. It’s a fairly new system so you have to expect that it’s going to be in for a few—okay, a lot—of tweaks for months down the road. If that constant barrage of adjustment doesn’t bother you in the least, GoogleHangouts is an excellent bet.
WebEx
Brainchild of Cisco, this is one of the most robust meeting products you can try out. Basic functions are covered: screen sharing and chat which can happen via phone or the desktop unit. This is easy to use, comes with plenty of options and provides you with one of the best streamlined user experience.
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