Mobility is now becoming more of a necessity than a luxury for businesses and their workforce. There’s a need to connect to a wider audience, including clients from all over the world, so it is impossible to keep business operations within the confines of a physical office. Employees are more on-the-go, preferring to work whenever and wherever they can, instead of just the typical 9-to-5 schedule.
But for employees to be truly “mobile,” they need to have all the essential features packed in their mobile devices. It is not enough to just have a PDF viewer or document editor in your tablet, or a custom messaging app on your smartphone. One of the best features that you can get for a truly “mobile” working experience is video conferencing. Modern handheld devices are capable enough for this feature, as they come equipped with cameras front and back, and can connect to Wi-Fi and mobile data.
The question now is, what video conferencing software should you get for your company? There are a handful of free and paid apps out there, but only a few are truly worth installing. Here are some of those mobile video conferencing services that you should consider.
Skype Online Meetings
Skype is widely known for its free online calling capabilities. Even without subscription, a user can make free group calls using this application on their mobile devices. You can host up to 25 people on a conference call, so if you just want to connect with a small number of employees and you don’t want to pay for a premium service, Skype’s your best bet.
Skype also offers free group video calling, so if you want a simple video conferencing solution for your office meetings, it is worth a try. However, since it is a free service, you need to adhere to Skype’s group video calling Fair Usage Policy. Users can enjoy only up to 100 hours of group video calls per month, limited to just 10 hours per day, and just four hours per call. Once you reach these limits, the video will be unavailable, and it will just continue to be an audio call.
If you think 100 hours of group video calls is not enough, you can subscribe to Skype’s premium service, and enjoy better features compared to that of the free subscription. You can get unlimited number of meetings, better video and audio quality, screen sharing capabilities, and more once you upgrade to a paid subscription.
RingCentral Meetings
RingCentral, a cloud communications provider, also offers online meetings solutions as part of their service package. Their audio and video conferencing solution is meant to increase collaboration within the company, as well as promote efficiency, and ultimately reduce the expenses related to face-to-face, physically exhausting meetings.
RingCentral’s mobile video conferencing feature boasts of high-definition video during calls, even for non-RingCentral customers who are dialing in. Participants can easily join the call with just a click of a link (from the meeting host,) and they can get the best audio and video quality as long as they have a reliable internet connection and a capable mobile device. You can easily join or host conferences from home, hotels, airports, or even by the beach. You can use a local dial-in number and save on international charges with this capable feature.
And perhaps the best part of this premium feature is that you are not limited to just talking and listening while you’re on a video conference call. You can share your screen for a more convenient slide presentation, or share files and other content even while on call. You can even make annotations as the video conference call progresses, and send text/chat messages to meeting participants. Currently, you can host up to 200 participants in a meeting, starting at $40/month per user.
Cisco WebEx Meetings
Cisco WebEx is one of the first full-featured communication software to offer video conferencing on mobile. This edge allowed WebEx to have a wide variety of collaborative and productivity features integrated on the mobile software. With the mobile app, users get almost the full range of tools available on the web version. Cisco WebEx can be installed on any mobile device, including Apple, Android, Windows, and even Blackberry.
Joining or hosting a video meeting on mobile is easier with Cisco WebEx. You can see simultaneous video feeds of up to seven participants, and still be able to share your screen for your presentation. With a shared screen, participants can easily markup or edit a file together, or create a plan from the ground up using a digital, shared whiteboard. You can send and receive files through the app itself, so it’s easier to pass around resources for your team, no matter where you are. So even when you are away from the office, it is very easy to connect with other team members and collaborate like you normally would.
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