What are Zoom Cloud Meetings and why are they so popular? During the global COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom became the generic […] The post 2023 Update of Features and Benefits of Zoom Cloud meetings appeared first on MVS Audio Visual.

What are Zoom Cloud Meetings and why are they so popular?

During the global COVID-19 pandemic, Zoom became the generic term for video meetings. As well as enabling friends and family to keep in touch, it also allowed business workers to virtually interact with colleagues when in person meetings were simply not possible. It’s ease-of-use, high quality video and audio and ability to join anywhere on any device resulted in huge growth in use.

Since then Microsoft Teams has eaten into Zoom’s share, primarily because if companies are Microsoft 365 users, they are by nature Teams users and licencing for meetings is cheaper. Google Meet remains popular and Cisco is upping their game too. From a peak of over 500k business customers in 2021 it now has settled at over 200k, but Zoom remains a leader. Forbes Advisor rates Zoom the best video conferencing software of 2023 and Gartner Peer Insights put Zoom out in front in 2023.

Why do so many businesses use Zoom for meetings and conferences?

In this article, we take a look at some of the benefits that make Zoom a market leading solution for cloud meetings and corporate communications, ahead of rivals such as Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, Google Meet, GoToMeeting, and Skype for Business. Specifically we will look at:

Why businesses love Zoom Why IT Teams love Zoom

What are Zoom Cloud Meetings?

Zoom Cloud Meetings are often simply called Zoom Meetings. Zoom Meetings are video conference meetings that are hosted using the Zoom cloud app. And being a cloud-based app is significant. It means that you can join any meeting, from anywhere, using any device. In the past a video conference was typically restricted to office meeting rooms with specialist video conference equipment.

You may have also heard the term Zoom Room. A Zoom Room is actually the physical hardware installed in conference rooms to allow participants to launch Zoom Meetings. So participants can be seen and heard via in room webcams and audio rather than via their laptops. And because Zoom is cloud-based, remote participants can join from their personal devices and take part in the meeting as if they were in the room.

As well as being seen and heard, Zoom Meetings also provide live chat, content sharing, interactive whiteboarding and many other features to make meetings more productive. Whilst many will argue that there is no substitute for face-to-face meetings, Zoom Meetings can do things traditional meetings cannot.

So what are Zoom Meetings used for in the workplace?

Collaborative working Training Client presentations Sales meetings Board meetings Company meetings Technical support

Zoom Meetings can be held whenever you need to communicate with others for business purposes. Zoom is extremely scalable and can be used among individuals, small to large teams, all the way up to mass participation live event conferences with hundreds of participants and thousands of viewers.

Why do business users love Zoom Meetings?

During the COVID pandemic it’s likely that most business users will have experienced Zoom. And although Zoom Business plans offer many more features, the experience is familiar. It’s effortless, simple and intuitive.

Setting up meetings

Easy invites – each meeting is provided with a unique meeting ID, so you can easily invite new participants. Easy initiation – meetings can be started instantly or or schedule meetings directly from Outlook, Gmail, or iCalendar. One-touch controls – initiate a meeting instantly, invite attendees and get started with simple touch controls. Consistent look and feel – no matter which device or operating system you are using the Zoom interface remains. So there’s no delay in trying to figure out how to start and participate in the meeting No touch – Zoom meetings can be voice-activated or you can use your mobile phone via the Zoom Room Controller app. You don’t need to touch any in room equipment.

In meeting experience – seeing and hearing

High-definition audio and video – you can be sure that everyone can be clearly seen and heard when using Zoom. Flexible screen views – you can switch views between full screen and smart gallery view to easily configure your conference settings. In gallery view you see up to 49 meeting participants – with 3 screens it’s 147! Dynamic voice detection – makes it easy to determine who is speaking; even if dozens of participants are speaking simultaneously. Made for connecting – Filters, reactions, polls, hand raising, and music or video sharing make virtual meetings more fun and engaging Live chat – to complement audio and video, live chat can be simultaneously used to share links or ask questions within the meeting or get relevant information from co-workers outside of the meeting Zoom Notes allows you to prep agendas, capture notes, and align on next steps Host controls – full control over who joins the meeting and preferences used for the meeting or conference. Appearance – it’s easy to add your own backgrounds, apply filters and you can even “Touch Up My Appearance” if you’re not looking your best Unlimited camera support – if you want to see the presenter, the content and track who is asking a question you need multiple cameras. Additional cameras add a new dimension to meetings.

Collaborating with people 

Screen sharing – Zoom’s intuitive interface makes screen sharing a simple process. Whether you simply want to share your desktop, display a visual presentation or share an entire video, Zoom screen sharing is powerful, easy and effective. Easy content sharing – from sharing documents on your desktop, to playing a presentational video saved on your tablet, to sharing images saved in Dropbox or Google Drive, Zoom makes it quick and easy to share content from multiple sources during a meeting. Remote access –allow remote meeting participants access to your device, so they can make direct edits to documents or co-annotate in real-time during the meeting. Whiteboarding – Zoom provides a digital Whiteboarding feature that allows users to draw and make notes in real time, which can then be shared with other participants.

Post meeting experience

High-quality recordings – to ensure you never miss anything important, you can locally record any meeting or conference in high-quality MP4 and MP4A formats. Video recording transcripts – the meeting host can check and edit your transcript plus scan the transcript text for keywords to access the video at that moment, and share the recording.

Webinars and Live Events

Zoom Business plans allow for up to 1000 meeting participants. If webinars and large events are important to your organisation the Zoom platform is incredibly scalable and its simple, intuitive experience are available for webinars and live events. Live events can support up to 50,000 participants!

Why do IT Teams love Zoom?

Zoom can be instantly activated on Zoom’s cloud, making the software a favourite amongst IT administrators. Also, if preferred with just a few minutes extra work, Zoom can be hosted on-site using the Zoom meeting connector which extends Zoom’s cloud infrastructure onto an internal network.

Cloud conferencing with Zoom includes seamless online monitoring and data reporting. The Zoom Cloud also takes care of administrative functions and global backups in the background.

Thanks to Zoom, video, voice and content sharing data all run securely on the cloud, so you can focus on your important work.

Minimal training – Zoom provides a standardised experience across all of your devices, removing the need for complex training or time-consuming setup. Interoperability with H.323 and SIP conference systems – you can effortlessly connect Zoom with your existing conference room system hardware. Zoom works seamlessly with video endpoints from other major conference room systems including Lifesize, Polycom and Cisco. Reliability – widely regarded as one of the most reliable systems on the market. Zoom has been engineered from the ground-up with focus and expertise, ensuring stability. Top performer in Wainhouse Research test January 2021 on video quality against increasing packet-loss. Cost-effective – Zoom is perfect for evolving your business communications without a burdensome time or financial investment. Zoom Phone represents a serious option for Microsoft users versus licence upgrade costs required to use Teams Telephony Scalable – Zoom is truly scalable. With the ability to support 500 interactive participants, and up to 50,000 viewers, Zoom can cope with your meeting requirements, whether you’re a small business or a multinational needing to connect teams on every continent. Security – end-to-end encryption

Why Choose MVS Audio Visual as your Zoom installers?

MVS Audio Visual was the first company globally to be awarded Gold Certified Integrator status and won Global Integrator of 2020. So we know our Zoom stuff and we’re fans of Zoom solutions.

Equally we’re here to do what is best for our customers, so we’re vendor agnostic and have deep experience with all the top AV hardware and other video conferencing platforms.

You may be looking for a brand new Zoom solution. To integrate Zoom Rooms with Microsoft Teams. To integrate Zoom with your legacy video conferencing hardware. Or to deploy Microsoft Teams Rooms.

Whatever your video conferencing needs, we have the expertise and experience to provide you with the right solution for your organisation. Call 0203 4111 630 or click to contact MVS online.

The post 2023 Update of Features and Benefits of Zoom Cloud meetings appeared first on MVS Audio Visual.

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