Zoom has grown to be one of the most popular video conferencing software tools. It allows you to connect online with co-workers when in-person meetings aren't feasible, and it's also been a tremendous hit for social gatherings. Make no doubt about it, that Zoom is a powerful instrument for small-, intermediate-, and vast workgroups who want to stay in touch and proceed with their daily workflow processes. It involves minimal disruption and it is also becoming a favourite among individuals, particularly around vacations or holidays.
In this article, we will mainly be focusing on one question that many of us might have, that is, Is Zoom really reliable? Will Zoom jeopardize our security? These are some of the often asked questions regarding the video conferencing service by its customers and prospects. In this article, we will check out the solutions that Zoom provides along with a more detailed explanation to the topic of the safety and security of such video conferencing solutions.
What is a Zoom Meeting?
For those who are not familiar with this video conferencing tool, let us begin with understanding what exactly is a Zoom meeting along with its features and respective uses. To begin with, Zoom is a cloud-based virtual meeting service that allows you to digitally connect with people - either by audio, video, or even both, all while engaging with live discussions. It also allows users to capture such sessions for future references. The Zoom login is required irrespective of the user using the online platform or the Zoom application (desktop or smartphone).
Zoom was allegedly utilized by more than 50% of the Fortune 500 firms in 2019, and it is expected to reach even great heights in 2020, with increased percentage year on year. In this platform two categories, that is, Zoom Meeting and Zoom Room are both offered. The Zoom Meet or meeting is a video conferencing session that is facilitated by Zoom. One may participate in these sessions by using a webcam or a smartphone with the help of the Zoom App. The Zoom Room, on the other hand, is the dedicated hardware arrangement that allows businesses to organize and launch meetings from their meeting spaces.
Note: Zoom Rooms, which require an extra membership on top of a Zoom subscription, are great for bigger businesses.
Zoom Meeting: Features
The following are the crucial elements of this platform:
1. Individual meetings
This feature is accessible for even those opting for the free plan in which users might host an endless amount of one-on-one meetings.
2. Collective video conferencing
This group video conferencing may accommodate up to 500 people under the "large meeting" add-on feature. The free version, on the other hand, allows you to organize video conferences of up to 40 minutes in length with a maximum of 100 participants.
3. Screen sharing feature
Using this feature, speak with people one-on-one or in huge groups and connect the host or any participant's screen with them so that they can see what you're viewing.
4. Recording feature
Using this tool, users may also record conferences or activities and use the recording as a reference in the future.
Zoom has four price tiers apart from the free version
Zoom enables one-on-one chat sessions that may be expanded into group conversations, training sessions and webinars for internal and external audiences, and worldwide video meetings with up to 1,000 people and up to 49 on-screen movies. The free version allows for limitless Zoom meetings but restricts group meetings to 40 minutes and up to 100 people.
1. Zoom Free version
This tier is completely free. There is no limit to the number of meetings that can be held. Such sessions with several attendees are limited to 40 minutes long and cannot be captured.
2. Zoom Pro
This type of package includes the cost of certain features and advantages that a free version doesn’t provide. It permits hosts to generate personal session IDs for repeat Zoom Meetings and permits meeting recording in the cloud or on your device, however, group meeting lengths are limited to 24 hours.
3. Zoom Business
This package includes a minimum of 10 meeting hosts. It allows users to brand Zoom meetings with customized URLs and corporate logos. It also provides the written document of cloud-recorded Zoom sessions as well as specialized customer assistance.
4. Zoom Enterprise
This tier is designed for enterprises with more workers and costs more. It is the best package for any organization with more than 1000 employees and a single host can conduct a meeting that connects with at least 100 members. It provides unlimited cloud recording storage, a customer success manager, and savings on webinars and Zoom Rooms.
5. Optional - Zoom Rooms
This is for those who wish to set up Zoom Rooms and for understanding its experience, simply opt for a free 30-day trial. After This period Zoom Rooms are chargeable on monthly basis and get a room membership.
Is Zoom Safe?
To answer this, the first question you need to know is, what is the purpose for which you are opting to use Zoom? Are you in a sensitive business such as dealing with the data of a government entity? Whether your meetings if mishandled can cause national security issues or the incredibly sensitive data which, if intercepted, may jeopardise the company's security?
So, now that you understand the difference in the purpose of using it for your personal use or official sessions, the security of this app is up to you to decide. In cases where the topic of your conversation is really confidential and you do not want any monitoring, then probably you should not use Zoom. In truth, you should not use any of the existing online conferencing options for the same. Remember that most modern smart devices are listening in on your every word, hence nothing is private in that sense. However, this platform is safe for conducting meetings or online classes and in fact is used by the majority of the institutions for effective communication.
On the whole, in this article, we have discussed the various aspects of the Zoom application along with its features. Hope this cleared the doubts about deciding whether to opt for Zoom or not.
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