7 Skype for Business Alternatives: Which One Is the Best?

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Waiting at the boarding gate of Hong Kong
International Airport for your flight to Europe,
you heave a sigh of relief when the attendants
finally announce Boarding will now begin for
First Class and Business Class passenger." Your
phone rings at exactly the same moment you're
expected to board. The call is from your supplier
in Shanghai who urgently needs you on site to
sort out a serious manufacturing issue with a
major new product you're about to launch in
Europe. You can't be in two places at the same
time. If only you had set up a decent Skype for
Business alternative that connected everyone
together. The tendency is to reach for what is
already familiar when faced with complex
situations. After all, busy senior executives
just don't have time find to Skype Business
alternatives, they're too busy managing their
company, readying products, and reaching out to
customers. Finding the right tools for
communicating with members of staff, suppliers,
clients, and customers is essential to maintain
the successful flow of business processes,
especially when tricky situations need
attention. What Is Skype for Business? Since
2003, Skype has been the primary tool for online
meetings for over a decade now. After
Microsoft's purchase of Skype in 2011, Skype for
Business was launched to replace their original
offering. Microsoft is increasing its efforts to
integrate Skype with their Office 365 products
in the business software/services marketplace. So
it's a natural fit for many entrepreneurs, but
what is Skype for Business? And does it really
suit a fast-growing small enterprise? Skype for
Business provides communication services on many
platforms, not just the desktop. It integrates
basic chat services, HD video, and phone call
capability for both incoming and outgoing calls
in a familiar Skype wrapper. The desktop software
creates virtual conferencing places where the
team comes together across a variety of
platforms and software. Of course, it is linked
to Microsoft's Office tools as well, such as
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook for
calendaring. Outlook calendars are the key
ingredient, allowing users to set their current
status and availability, so meetings can be
coordinated properly across
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time zones. PowerPoint slides can be presented
online, too. Document sharing for financial
spreadsheets, legal documents and contracts, etc.
is also easily facilitated by the software. The
instant messaging and collaborative whiteboard
options create options for brainstorming, problem
solving and discussion, as well as collaborative
editing through the Office suite.
Why Does Skype for Business Fall Short?
Skype for Business has issues that will force
many small businesses to reconsider its use
within their organization, especially if you're
relying on teams in two of the biggest markets in
the world. In China, clients are expected to
install a modified version which monitors all
text messages and voice calls, even from outside
China. So sharing sensitive topics, IP security,
and technical documentation with local clients in
China represents a real threat to companies who
may find their important communications
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ending up in competitors' hands. In India, it's
no longer possible to originate Skype calls to
landlines or mobile so contacting people via
Skype for online meetings is difficult unless
everyone is using their data connections. For
technical issues, users also report logging-in
glitches, sharing screen failures, non- message
delivery, slow attachment upload, slow software
start-up times, resource- hogging on the host
computer, to name but a few. For small companies
who don't have an IT team on-call the software
presents real challenges, even on the Mac
desktop. 7 Skype for Business Alternatives So
what's a busy executive to do? Well, this article
will introduce seven alternatives to Skype for
Business Google Hangouts, ezTalks Cloud Meeting,
Facebook Messenger, Apple's FaceTime, join.me,
TrueConf and Appear.in. Is any of them a suitable
Skype Business alternative? Read on. 1. Google
Hangouts For everyone who uses Gmail, Google
Hangouts resides in the bottom left of the main
screen. For iOS and Android phone users, there
are apps available in the relevant app store
that can be installed. There is also a web page
service that connects to the browser for
cross-platform connections. Non-Chrome browsers
will need an extension. On handsets, Google Duo
replaces the Hangouts apps. Hangouts provides
three ways for connecting with people chat
messaging, phone calls, and Goolge video
conferencing call with up to 10 users. Chat
messaging and video conferencing call can be set
up for multiple recipients. Hangouts limits
interaction via phone networks, so there is no
way to have a group call over a phone network,
nor can a phone caller participate in meetings.
This is a real problem if you are trying to host
an online meeting where internet connectivity is
poor, but the telephone network is solid.
Additionally, there are no real capabilities to
schedule, manage or record online meetings. All
in all, if you're looking for a Skype for
Business alternative client, keep reading.
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2. ezTalks Cloud Meeting The second option that
we look at is ezTalks Cloud Meeting which is
video conferencing software which allows users
to host or join any online meeting. The
portability of the software means that users can
create a meeting on a mobile device wherever they
are. Simplified login from the Facebook or
Google account means that user never have to
worry about forgetting that password. Users are
served with professional grade features for
scheduling online meetings and sending reminders
even across time zones. ezTalks Cloud Meeting
provides users with a wide range of meeting
management tools that manage speakers and
invitees share desktops and documents, make
online presentations, make annotations, and use
interactive online whiteboards and allow
participants to record and review
proceedings. Chat, HD video and phone calls are
integrated across all major platforms. The
meeting host and participants have access to
granular controls for video with pinch to zoom,
screen rotation, and private chat inside/outside
the main meeting room. ezTalks Cloud Meeting
also provides the most generous free plan for up
to 100 people with unlimited meetings. ezTalks
Cloud Meeting is available on all major
platforms and
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via browser. The communication is encrypted as
well for high-grade security. But for the fast
growing company, it's the only alternative to
Skype for Business that allows for massive
meetings on its paid plans. The Pro Package
allows for 500 participants, and the Entreprise
Package can scale right up to 10,000 in-meeting
participants.
3. Facebook Messenger Messenger is slowly
evolving into something that is a part of the
Facebook family of apps, but with its own
distinct identity. As a way to reach friends and
family, it is an effective platform wherever
they are online. Recent additions have boosted
its capabilities, including HD video, call out
to landlines, and group call. In Japan, Facebook
even functions as a business tool among business
people. But there are a number of obstacles to
using Messenger for business meetings. First, not
everyone likes to mix the personal with
business, business people may not be willing to
share their personal Facebook details with
employees, contractors or customers. Security is
also an issue shared documents that are
confidential could be delivered
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outside the closed network through deliberate or
accidental means. It's also not possible to
schedule meetings, share whiteboards, or record
proceedings. In all, it's just not a practical
Skype Business alternative.
4. join.me Join.me is part of the LogMeIn family
of team collaboration software. It is a meeting
and online collaboration system that uses the
freemium model for providing services. The base
service is its desktop app, which connects to
mobile apps for the most popular mobile
services. Ideal for webinars, screen sharing
tools make it possible, but annotation, passing,
recording and sharing webinars are all part of
the premium plans. Simplicity is its focus ease
of meeting set-up, invitations and notifications
helps speed users along. No complex software
installation is needed, either. Free plans are
limited to 10 attendees, 5 video streams, screen
sharing and internet-based calling. The Pro plan
raises this to 50 attendees with 10 streams, but
it adds audio conferencing, meeting management
tools and a productive feature set. There is now
a third-tier, which enhances the available tools
with 250 attendees.
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For getting started, join.me is one of the
easiest tools, but a fast-growing company will
easily outgrow its service. Additionally, reports
of crashes and problems with the audio setup,
operation and administration of join.me accounts
all hinder its adoption as a great Skype
alternative for business everywhere.
5. Apple FaceTime for iOS/Mac Apple's own entry
to online video conferencing is called FaceTime.
It's a high quality experience for the world of
iOS or Mac. FaceTime offers an easy way to
connect with users for HD video or audio-only
calls on both Wi-Fi networks and mobile networks.
The calls are encrypted for security end-to-end
and quality is high for both audio and video
calls. FaceTime is also available on the Mac,
iPhone, and iPad. However, its crucial
limitation is that you cannot connect with the
hundreds of millions of non-iOS users out there.
There is no way to make either a video or
audio-only call to any Windows, Linux or Android
user via the FaceTime platform. Currently,
FaceTime also doesn't offer a group video chat
feature either. So hosting any kind of team
meeting is impossible. Meeting scheduling,
recording, whiteboards, screen sharing, etc. are
all currently impossible, too. FaceTime is just
not a powerful Skype Business alternative for
video conferencing tool for the professional user.
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6. TrueConf TrueConf is another desktop-based
video conferencing solution that aims to bring
the desktop together with the cloud and mobile
world for video conferences rooms, and
workplaces. TrueConf provides an array of
co-working tools to chat, record, present, and
share the meeting space right on the desktop or
laptop. Not only does it work cross - platform,
it also integrates tightly with their server
software and conference terminal. Flexible in its
choice of layouts, and video resolution up to 4K,
TrueConf requires a download to get started. It
is simple to set up and use. Login is available
via a number of social networks as well as
direct login. A few niggles have been exposed in
its operations, including the limit to one device
per login user which means that you cannot
listen simultaneously on your computer and on a
mobile device because one login is permitted
only. Users should also note that the free plan
is truly hobbled only video conferencing calls
up to 3 users is supported. The power comes in
the TrueConf Server edition with conferencing up
to only 250 members suggesting that it is a
contender as a serious alternative to Skype for
Business.
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7. Appear.in Appear.in offers a simple way to
create an web video conference right on the
browser window. Then, the host welcomes guests
via the room code. Meetings can be held on the
fly without creating a permanent room, or claimed
by the meeting host. All chat is currently using
the peer-to-peer model. Shared screens are added
via a browser extension for popular browsers. No
downloads are necessary for the browser-based
apps to work because Appear.in supports WebRTC.
The freemium model also applies here, with 8
concurrent video chats for the trial version, and
12 for the premium model. There are limitations
no phone call capability because of peer-to-peer
connections, users will need fast network
connectivity and a powerful computer for
processing so much video, and Mac users have to
install a separate desktop browser, because
Safari is not supported. Otherwise Appear.in
supports Chrome, Firefox and Opera on all
platforms, with iOS via an app. Appear.in premium
is still in beta-stage, so features required by
business users are still in development. If
business users require stable services, then
perhaps Appear.in should not be in your list of
alternatives to Skype for Business any time soon.
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So What Tool Is a Real Skype for Business
Alternative?
The market space for online video conferencing
for business professionals and entrepreneurs is
exciting with a lot of options coming to the
table, the less professional, everyday solutions
quickly show their limitations for commercial
usage. FaceTime, Messenger and Hangouts suffer
from serious limitations on their technology that
make even the free price unpalatable. Profession
al Skype for Business alternatives are attractive
and provide some degree of professional grade
functionality. Only ezTalks Cloud Meeting covers
the ground between the startup, fast growing
company and small or medium enterprise. This
ability to interact virtually saves every
enterprise the travel expenses and human costs
by replacing tedious business travel with online
video conferenc es. So, if you need to be in two
places at the same time, you should choose
ezTalks Cloud Meeting for your Skype for
Business alternative client.
https//www.eztalks.com/video-conference/skype-for
-business-alternative.html
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