Working from home during the pandemic still has uncharted territory for most companies, especially those who struggle to find the right app to help them conduct meetings. While one app may work well for one company, or even one group in a company, the same may not be said for others. The reasons can vary from person to person— preference, security, internet usage, habit, etc—but whatever the case, there will always be the question of software security and quality.
Thankfully, there are many different options to choose from and none of them are bad in terms of quality. Here are some of the free software anyone can use as alternatives:
- Zoom is a well known application by now, having come into prominence in the last few months. It has both a free and paid version, however the free version is known to be enough for most companies. Free users can avail of a virtual meeting room for up to 100 participants for 40 minute intervals, plus unlimited one-on-one meetings.
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- Microsoft teams offers both paid and free services for users. Paid users can host up to 300 people in each video meeting and can benefit from screen sharing and recording. For those who use the free version, users can invite 100 people to a video conference, schedule an unlimited number of 1 hour long meetings, share screens, and safeguard and access important documents with 10 GB of shared and 2 GB of personal free cloud storage.
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- Skype is another video chat software and is widely used and well-known. Skype now has a new Skype Meet Now feature to challenge Zoom. The software is free and allows users to invite up to 50 other people without requiring an account to sign in.
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- Facebook messenger rooms is the next software available, purely free for use. This feature of messenger allows Facebook members to create public or private video chat rooms that can hold up to 50 people for an unlimited amount of time, Participants don’t need accounts to join a Messenger Room through a link.
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- Discord also offers online conferencing options. The software is generally popular with gamers, but many other people have begun using it as well. It offers encrypted chat, messaging and video calls; it also allows up to 50 users in a video conference. Many have also reported that Discord uses a significantly lesser amount of broadband. Students and teachers seem to enjoy using this as well for its numerous features.
Here is additional information.
This content is part of the Banker’s Association of the Philippines’ (BAP) #CyberSafe campaign, where the BAP aims to promote awareness in cybersecurity. The campaign will upload new posts tackling common web security questions and issues, on Wednesdays and Sundays every week.
For more content on cybersecurity, visit the BAP Official YouTube channel.
