Due to the corona virus outbreak, the companies in Curacao also started to look in the options to provide there employees the option to work from home.
In some cases the IT department can provide a vpn solution for the individual user.
However sometimes the employee need to communicate with his/her peers as well, and in those cases they need need an audio/visual communication tool.
The list of communication and collaboration tools is endless.
I am going to mention a some of these tools here and where possible mention their features.
During the corona virus outbreak, zoom became a very popular option.
The free version of zoom has the following features.
· Host up to 100 participants
· Unlimited 1 to 1 meetings
· 40 mins limit on group meetings
· Unlimited number of meetings
· Online support
· Video Conferencing Features
· Web Conferencing Features
· Group Collaboration Features
· Security
Cisco the following features.
· Video Conferencing
· Screen Sharing
· Conference Calls
· Online Meeting
The free webex meeting offer has now been expanded (where applicable) with:
Unlimited usage (no time restrictions)
Supports up to 100 participants
Offers toll dial-in (in addition to existing VoIP capabilities).
Supports desktop, application, file and whiteboard sharing options.
Zoho remotely is the next collaboration tool that will be mentioned.
Remotely is a bundle of 11 applications from Zoho:
Zoho ShowTime - Engagement and training tool
Zoho Writer - Collaborative word processor
Zoho Sheet - Collaborative spreadsheet application
Zoho Cliq - Instant messaging/chat platform
Zoho Show - Business presentation tool
Zoho Meeting - Video conferencing tool
Zoho Sprints - Agile project management software
Zoho Lens* and Assist - Remote support software
Zoho WorkDrive - Document management tool
Zoho Projects - Comprehensive project management tool
Zoho will be offering Zoho Remotely for free until July 1, 2020
In the case that you are not interested in the whole package you can use the stand-alone product called Zoho meeting.
You can find the features list of Zoho meeting here.
With the paid Zoho meeting plan you have the following tools to have secure online meetings.
Skype has also an option for videoconferencing.
Skype is a free product of Microsoft and can host up to 50 participants
Here is the feature list for Skype
Audio and HD video calling
Smart messaging
Screen sharing
Easily share presentations, holiday photos or anything on your screen during a call with integrated screen sharing.
Call recording and Live subtitles
Call phones
Private conversations
Keep your sensitive conversations private with industry standard end to end encryption.
The download for the free conference can be found here:
Teams
Microsoft has actually moved on from Skype to Teams and is actually promoting Teams as the collaboration tool.
During the covid-19 crisis Microsoft is offering Teams is now as a free product.
Here is the features list for Microsoft Teams.
Host online meetings and video calls for up to 250 people with Microsoft Teams2
Chat with your team from your desktop or on the go with Microsoft Teams
Bring together all your team’s chats, meetings, files, and apps so you can easily connect and collaborate from one place with Microsoft Teams
Create team sites to share information, content, and files throughout your intranet using SharePoint
Here is the link to Microsoft Teams.
During the Covid-19 pandemic Google made their premium video conferencing product, free for everyone.
The main features are:
· Free to everyone with an email address
· Up to 100 people to meet for as long as they like
· Screen sharing,
· Real-time captions
· Simple scheduling,
· Adaptable layout options
The built-in security measures include:
· The ability for the host to admit, deny, mute, or remove meeting attendees if necessary.
· Google does not allow anonymous users to join meetings.
· Google’s secure and resilient private network.
· Google’s complex, difficult to guess meeting codes.
· Google’s video conferences are all encrypted during transit and during rest.
As I mentioned on top of the article there is a lot of solutions for audio/video solutions and there are many meeting and collaboration tools.
However as with any ICT solution you have to include the security, governance and integration aspects of the collaboration tool with your own IT procedures and policies.
