When you’re running a business, day-to-day communications can be difficult, especially during a worldwide pandemic. With the transition to work from home, our interactions are now mostly virtual. To get things done remotely, you’ll need a business meetings tool that can connect your team whenever, wherever.
Hoot Meetings is one solution that we have been testing for our team internally at Momentum Conferencing. We really like how intuitive it is to use as well as a host of features that take it to the next level as a business collaboration tool.
With so many options on the market, how do you sift through and decide which collaboration tools to use? Every business has different needs and not all tools are created equally.
To simplify this process, we’ve highlighted five key features you need to prioritize when shopping for your next business meetings app.
1. Affordability without compromise
Online meetings and video collaboration are all the rage these days, with each provider trying to differentiate their offerings from the competition. Beyond offering the basic functionality to connect participants, many have built out added features, which has in turn driven up costs.
In this environment, it can be difficult for businesses, especially mid-sized and smaller ones, to find something that provides good value without breaking the bank.
There are affordable options out there that don’t sacrifice quality or features. For example, Hoot Meetings gives you almost everything you need at a fair price.
Starting at $17.99 per user (host) per month for the Lite plan on a three-year contract, all Hoot Meetings plans give you the essentials, from meeting archives, unlimited calling to 5GB of cloud storage for each user, with more as you move up the tiers. While there is no free option, the platform is continually updated with new features and performance improvements.
2. Don’t skimp on security
With the explosion of people working from home, many businesses embraced Zoom because of how quick and easy it is to use. However, that ease comes at a cost – security!
Ease of use is certainly important, but it should never come at the expense of security and peace of mind. Without strong safety and encryption measures, you’re putting your participants and company at risk – leaked information and unwanted guests to name a few.
If you’re looking for a secure solution, we recommend a platform built from the ground up with integrated security protocols across every facet of the experience, from account registration to in-meeting controls.
3. Ease of use & dependability
Your online meeting tool should be intuitive, allowing you to get in and engage without much hassle. We’re all busy and no one should be scratching their head trying to figure out where all the feature are and how to use them.
The best options on the market maximize usability. It should be easy to share your screen, navigate the platform, offer a variety of engagement choices and seamlessly integrate with calendaring and scheduling tools (such as Microsoft Outlook) to keep track of your sessions.
Beyond that, reliability can’t be taken for granted either. Your online meetings should just work. The last thing you need is inconsistent video and audio quality leading to unnecessary disruptions. If you’re in a remote or poorly connected region, we suggest looking into tools with network workarounds that compensate for this variability.
4. Keep everyone happy with accessibility
Your online meeting platform of choice should be accessible to everyone. For example, users should be able to use it on iOS or Android devices, without losing access to key features such as mute, video, speaker and call join/exit. It it can seamlessly integrate with other communication tools your business already has, that’s also a plus.
For example, Hoot Meetings offers significant flexibility. You do not need any plug-ins or downloads to login into a session. It also supports a single sign-on (SSO) for quick access as well as a no-client interface for a seamless experience.
5. Access to recording and archives
Personal or otherwise, sometimes people cannot attend a scheduled meeting. That’s why it’s important that your online meeting app can record sessions and send them to anyone who’s absent.
Beyond that, this feature allows you to review the session again and mark areas for improvement in future meetings – there’s always ways to deliver meetings more efficiently without going over the allocated time.
If you need more help choosing a business communication and collaboration solution, the experts at Momentum Conferencing have you covered. We are vendor agnostic and offer a wide range of options. For more tips on remote success, read our breakdown of the skills your workforce needs to succeed working away from the office as well as the strategies you can employ to deal with work from home fatigue.
