Video conferencing is an increasingly common tool for business communications and collaboration.
As more people choose a hybrid work schedule or work from home arrangement, video conferencing keeps growing in importance. Video conferencing makes work inclusive, wherever people are located in the real world.
When shopping for a video conferencing solution for business, it can be hard to know what to look for when comparing your options.
In this blog, we’re going to answer basic questions you might be asking:
- What even is a video conferencing platform?
- What video conferencing features are actually important?
- Are there on-premise video conferencing platforms?
- Can I get away with a free video conferencing platform?
All this — and much more.
Let’s get into it!
An Introduction to Video Conferencing Platforms
A video conferencing platform is the service that runs your video conferences.
Nowadays, they are almost always integrated with other applications into what is most often called a unified communications platform: video and audio calls, corporate chat, digital whiteboarding, collaborative documents, and more.
What Are the Most Popular Video Conferencing Platforms?
There are many video conferencing platforms to choose from. Cloud-based video conferencing platforms are by far the most popular solution, because they’re flexible, scalable, and feature-rich.
Video conferencing is a resource-intensive application that’s evolving rapidly, especially with the introduction of AI-powered features. Because the cloud video conferencing companies have a tech investment power beyond the reach of almost everyone, they’re able to invest in this new technology — and pass the benefits on to you.
For most of the popular platforms, the video conferencing service is a distinct application within a larger suite of communications or collaboration solutions. For example, Microsoft Teams Rooms is the video conferencing application within Microsoft Teams.
Here are six of the most popular video conferencing platforms in 2024:
- Microsoft Teams Rooms
- Zoom Rooms
- Google Meet
- GoTo Meeting
- Webex Meetings
- Dialpad Ai Communication
Features of Video Conferencing Platforms to Look For
If you went back twenty years and told someone everything that comes with a basic video conferencing plan, they’d be dumbfounded. Even video calls themselves were not so long ago considered something from science fiction.
But here you are, trying to sift through all the offerings. What are the differentiating features to use as a guide for determining the best video conferencing platform for you? What tier of service should you go with?
Here’s a list of a bunch of features to look for:
Video resolution. What is the maximum video resolution that the video conference supports? Resolution support can be different for video calls and content sharing, so be sure to check on that. Better video resolution can improve detail, making video call participants look more natural. It’s even more important for content sharing. You must be able to read the text. Many platforms now support 1080p Full HD video conferencing, so that should be your benchmark. We’re not aware of any 4K Ultra HD video conferencing platforms.
Join meetings options. For most people, user experience (UX) for video conferences starts with joining the meeting. How do you schedule a meeting? Send out an invitation? Join the meeting? What devices are supported? Can you invite external participants? What controls does the meeting admin have?
Time limits on meetings. Different platforms — and different tiers within platforms — support different lengths of meetings. Make sure your video conferencing service tier covers the necessary length of time for your meetings. You don’t want to be in the middle of an important conversation and have the meeting end on you.
Number of participants. Does the video conferencing platform support the number of participants you expect for your largest meetings? Or do you need to upgrade to another tier?
Application integration. What other apps does the video conferencing platform integrate with? Most will offer chat, digital whiteboarding, collaborative document editing, and more. Some let you integrate your business phone system with video conferencing. And there are many other applications that might be potentially useful, like cloud document storage and more.
Meeting recordings. Recording your meetings lets you revisit important insights and retain records of calls. Many services offer cloud-based meeting recording, which is a very convenient way to manage the recordings.
Live transcriptions. AI is enabling new, productivity-enhancing features like live transcriptions. Live transcriptions give you a real-time, textual record of the call.
Breakout rooms. Breakout rooms let you split members of a large group call into a smaller, focused call. They’re useful for streamlining collaboration. Your company decides on a business plan, then teams can get right to work without dropping the call.
Polls. Polls are a quick, no-pressure way to get data on people’s opinions without breaking the flow of the conversation.
Support. Often, you get better support the more you pay. Make sure to check what support the platform offers, so you don’t find yourself out to sea when you need to land a deal.
There are many other features that might be desirable for your business. We strongly recommend you look at the feature comparison lists of the different tiers on video conferencing platforms’ websites. These will not only let you know what features are supported by what tier, but also what features are even available.
What devices are supported?
Always ensure that the video conferencing platform supports your devices — or buy devices that are supported by the platform. There is nothing more frustrating than shelling out for a new large room video conferencing system only to find it doesn’t work with your platform. Some video conferencing platforms are stricter than others.
Some companies have certification processes that guarantee compatibility. For example, Microsoft Teams and Zoom have extensive certification processes for ensuring devices will work natively with the platforms.
Video conferencing device manufacturers not only develop platform certified devices, but also devices that work across platforms. Many Yealink devices, for example, support BYOD Mode, which is their label for devices that are interoperable with a broad range of platforms.
Are there on-premise video conferencing platforms?
On this blog, we recently covered the advantages of on-premise VoIP phone systems. So you might wonder: Are there on-premise video conferencing solutions?
Yes, there are. For example, the Grandstream UCM6300 Series supports 1080p Full HD video conferencing. However, in our experience, most companies prefer cloud-based video conferencing platforms. They’re more scalable and tend to have more and better features. They also adopt new features faster than on-premise systems.
Are video conferencing platforms free?
With all video conferencing platforms, there are tiers of service. Many video conferencing platforms offer a free tier, which is awesome. Not paying for stuff is great!
But free tiers come with severe limitations, making them unsuitable for business. Deal-breaking limitations include caps on the length of meetings, caps on the number of participants, lack of integration with other applications, lack of cloud-based recording or storage, basic customer support, and more.
Many platforms now offer AI-powered features, which might be only available at paid tiers. For example, Webex Meetings now offers AI Assistant, which can draft messages, translate conversations, and more — but you don’t get it at the free level.
Crucially, higher tiers might offer better security. This brings up another topic:
Are video conferencing platforms secure?
Communications security is one of the most important issues facing businesses today. As video conferencing increases in popularity, security becomes an even greater issue.
Thankfully, the platforms are aware of this and work to ensure business-class security.
Here are some questions to ask about video conferencing platform security:
What encryption is being used? Make sure that your video conferencing platform uses professional-grade encryption for your tier of service. For example, GoTo Meeting uses AES-256 bit encryption for all levels of video conferencing, which is US government-grade encryption and is considered to be uncrackable when properly implemented by many experts.
Are calls end-to-end encrypted? For video conferencing, end-to-end encryption means that the only devices that can decrypt the video call are the devices used on the call. For example, Zoom offers end-to-end encryption, which means that Zoom cannot decrypt your call. It’s private from everyone besides the ends of the conversation.
If you’re interested in end-to-end encryption, you should check if it works for group calls or not. For example, Microsoft Teams offers end-to-end encryption, but only for point-to-point calls where both ends have turned the feature on. End-to-end encryption can also limit what features are usable. In Teams, if you use it, you can’t, for example, use live transcription or call recording.
Is the video conferencing platform HIPAA compliant? There are a number of regulatory standards that must be met. For healthcare, one of these is HIPAA compliance, which determines how sensitive data are handled. There are many HIPAA compliant video conferencing platforms like Webex, Dialpad, and GoTo Meeting.
Is the video conferencing platform FedRAMP authorized? FedRAMP is a US government compliance program for cloud services that ensures enhanced security and more. Many businesses are now choosing FedRAMP authorized platforms, too, because of security is so important. FedRAMP authorized video conferencing platforms include Webex Enterprise and the Zoom for Government Platform.
What about video conferencing platforms with AI?
AI is the biggest news in tech since the rise of the smartphone. Large language models (LLMs) can do seemingly miraculous things (although accuracy and trustworthiness are still a huge issue).
Video conferencing platforms are embracing AI. Dialpad, for example, has now shifted to labelling basically all their services with Ai. (Yes, Ai and not AI.)
Two of the most common features that AI enables or improves include live transcription and automatic call summaries.
As AI continues on its meteoric rise, we’ll probably see a host of new video conferencing features.