Zoom Meetings for Business: Guide to Cost, Features and More

When the world went into lockdown, many employers turned to Zoom to keep their workers connected and their

businesses running. Zoom Meetings provides high-definition video, voice, chat and content sharing across mobile devices, desktop computers, laptops, phones and conference room systems.

With available add-ons, the product can support up to 1,000 participants in a single meeting. Conversations can be one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many.

Here are some things to know about the service that might help in the decision-making process.

Zoom provides pricing plans to meet the needs of a range of users:

Zoom Webinars is a separate product, with prices ranging upward from $400 a year per license (100 attendees). The platform’s architecture can support up to 50,000 attendees.

Among the key features are high-definition video and audio, with support for up to 1,000 video participants and 49 videos on screen; built-in collaboration tools, such as simultaneous screen sharing; the ability to record meetings locally or to the cloud, with searchable transcripts; and the ability to start meetings from Outlook, Gmail or iCal.

Another key feature, Chat, allows users to send text, images, audio files and other content instantly across desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices. Organizations can use messaging to collaborate in groups or one-to-one channels, share files and stay connected. Users can easily switch from a chat to a video meeting during a conversation.

The security features of Zoom Meetings include encryption for real-time content; default password and waiting room settings; host controls such as lock/mute all, expel participant and report a user; audio signature; screen-sharing watermarks; restrict meetings to specific domains; and a variety of authentication methods.