Zoom Versus Microsoft Teams: Which Should You Use?
If there is one technology tool that “won” over the others during the pandemic of 2020, it’s been video conferencing.
During lockdown orders and even now as people still try to work as safely as possible, video meetings have become the norm for many central Florida businesses and other organizations (from schools to HOAs).
Zoom’s users in the U.S. have increased by 30x this year as compared to the end of 2019. Microsoft Teams has seen similar increases as users flock to video and cloud communication tools that keep them connected with remote workers and customers.
Which video meeting application is right for your business? Should you choose the ease of Zoom, which has become incredibly popular, or Teams in Microsoft 365, which has more features?
We’ll go through a comparison of the two below to help you decide which one is best for your business needs.
Zoom vs Teams: Features & Capabilities
Similarities between Teams and Zoom include the ability to video conference with anyone, screen sharing, and features such as a waiting room and chat.
But once you go beyond the basic ability to hold video meetings in the platforms, the distinct differences begin to appear.
What is the Application Designed to Do?
Zoom is designed strictly for video conferencing. While you can chat within a Zoom call, the platform is not set up to be a messaging app or go beyond the basic purpose of facilitating online video meetings.
Microsoft Teams is designed to be a cloud-based team collaboration work hub. Video conferencing is just one of the many features the application offers. In addition to video conferencing, Teams capabilities include:
- Channeled team chats
- Full integration with Microsoft applications (apps can be opened inside Teams)
- Integration with third-party apps
- Alerts and status messages
- File storage and sharing
- Use of gifs, emojis, and stickers within messaging
- One-to-one chat as well as team chats
- VoIP capability (with add-on)
Ease of Use
In the ease of use category, Zoom wins. One of the reasons that the platform has been adopted by so many business and non-business users alike is because it has a very friendly user interface that makes it easy for even the least tech-savvy people to use right away.
Microsoft has been making Teams easier to use, but you still have an additional step of going to the video component within Teams since it’s one part of many features.
Both Teams and Zoom can be used through a web client so video attendees don’t have to download any software if they don’t want to.
Security
Zoom became infamous in 2020 due to the phenomenon of Zoom-bombing. This is when an uninvited person crashes an unsecured Zoom meeting with the goal to disrupt it.
Zoom did respond pretty quickly, adding better default security protections, but you didn’t see nearly as much of this happening on other platforms, like Teams. One key reason is because many more consumers/casual users flocked to Zoom during the pandemic.
Both platforms have security features like waiting rooms or virtual lobbies where those trying to join a meeting must stay until they’re granted entry.
Microsoft Teams has additional security that can be tied to Microsoft 365 policies. For example, if you use sensitivity labels for data security, these sensitivity categories can be used when setting up Teams groups.
Both Microsoft and Zoom state their platforms are HIPAA compliant.
3rd Party Application Integrations
Both Teams and Zoom have 3rd party application integrations. However, these are more limited in Zoom because it doesn’t have the same platform capabilities as Teams.
For example, the Salesforce integration allows you to set up Zoom meetings and view scheduled meetings in Salesforce but doesn’t really go beyond that.
The Teams integration with Salesforce is more robust, and includes the ability to update accounts, opportunities, contacts, and custom objects between the two platforms as well as allowing co-authoring of documents from Teams or Salesforce.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that Teams is a much more powerful platform and does more than Zoom is designed to do. However, what Zoom is made for (strictly video calls), it does very well.
If your business is only looking for video conferencing and doesn’t need a team collaboration tool or unified communications platform, then Zoom will be easy for new users to adopt.
However, if you’re looking for something more integrated and the ability to do multiple tasks beyond just video calls, then Teams is a much more robust platform that gives you a lot more capabilities.
Get Help Customizing Microsoft 365 & Teams for Your Needs
Companies get so much more out of tools like Microsoft 365 when they have an expert customization. C Solutions can set up Teams and Microsoft 365 to create a productive and streamlined workflow for your central Florida team.
Schedule a free consultation today! Call 407-536-8381 or reach us online.