Everyone in the company uses it, so it's about a few dozen. I use it for interviews and group discussions but very rarely for meetings because there are security issues on that level. So I don't share proprietary information on Zoom, but I use it frequently for normal discussion. Obviously, now that people are getting back to work, we're not using it as much, but it's still useful.
Zoom is more accessible for people without a lot of tech knowledge. So let's say you're setting up a Zoom call with your parents, and they don't have the hardware or other things you need on their computer. It's easy to Zoom with them over the phone rather than inviting them to a meeting and getting them to a place with a microphone and a screen. It's highly mobile and easy for them to join the conversation.
I like Zoom's ease of use and how easy it is for non-tech people to interface with it. Other video conferencing solutions can be somewhat challenging for non-tech people, so you often end up waiting for people to connect. Although Microsoft Teams is probably a better enterprise product overall, it's not as good for people who don't have that kind of tech history. Also, I've had some microphone issues and connection issues with Teams.
Security is something Zoom lacks. If you're trying to get proprietary buy-in and enterprise buy-in, security is the top priority. And even though the user interface is simple, every solution could use a tune-up in that department. I found it easy, but those things are not difficult for me. Of course, I can't speak for older adults who might not have experience interfacing with these things. Maybe Zoom could be made easier for them.
But again, when it comes to ease of use, Zoom is on the lower and higher-end, depending on how you look at it. We don't use Zoom for presentations, so I'm unsure if it already has this feature. But if Zoom could enable you to present directly, that's something that would add a lot of value.
We've been using Zoom for over a year.
I haven't had any issues. However, once you get beyond a certain number, it becomes very dependent on the admin to figure out who should be talking. The more people you have, the more difficult it will be to keep track. But I suppose that's a function of any meeting.
Zoom's scalability depends on whether people are following Robert's Rules of Order or how amenable your staff is to have those kinds of meetings. If they're not used to that kind of thing, then you have people speaking out of turn, so it depends on how good your moderator is. Generally speaking, though, the more people on a call, the more difficult it is to manage who's speaking or keep track of who is who.
Hopefully, we won't be expanding our usage any time soon because that would mean things have gone south in terms of the pandemic. For now, our usage will remain steady, and I don't see it expanding to that extent. Even if you have customers across different markets, it won't be expanded on one end because the user base on the proprietary end won't increase.
You really didn't need tech support for Zoom. Something terrible would have to happen before you called Zoom tech support. Even then, you have your internal IT team for stuff like this, but it's not a cumbersome app. People have security issues. They get hacked. I know of a few people who had their Zoom meetings interrupted with frat-boy antics, racist trolling, and all kinds of crazy things. We've never had those kinds of issues, but if your password gets out or something like that, you may have to call tech support and see if they can block some IP address. But we've never had to deal with that kind of issue.
People at this company use Skype and Webex fairly frequently, but Webex is more of an onsite on-prem thing. For example, Webex is used when you don't want to go upstairs to talk to your coworker or you can't fit that many people in a conference room. Webex is more appropriate for direct presentations. We don't use Zoom for that kind of thing. But Zoom is easier to use overall than Webex, Teams, and Skype.
Setting up Zoom is incredibly easy. Let's say you're told that you need to go to a Zoom conference that starts in five minutes. You can set yourself up in that time and not be late. With some of these other solutions, you're doing mic checks, interface checks, internet checks, etc. It's easy to set Zoom up right away.
I rate Zoom seven out of 10. Again, I would say seven because of ease of use, how widely available it is, and how easy it is to adapt. But I don't know how well it can work at the large enterprise level. For our normal usage, I think it's solid.
At the same time, I wouldn't present via Zoom unless I had an experienced presenter. You have to keep the audience's attention or use Webex so the presentation is onscreen. When using Teams or Webex, you're sharing screens, so it's a direct kind of thing. In Zoom, you have a camera, and you're presenting. In my experience, it's not a direct-to-screen presentation. It's more of the audience watching you present from a screen. So that requires a little bit more attention. If you're having a town hall or something along those lines, I would say Zoom is the way to go. On the other hand, if you're trying to do something that involves specifications and very minute details, use Teams or Webex.
