Has COVID created an extra room for new video conferencing providers?

The world pandemic has changed almost every sphere of life people were already used to. Open borders are not so wide anymore, we have to keep security measures and...work from home. Remote teams existed before, but with the quarantine times a lot of employees who haven’t even imagined working from home, now have to face a new reality.

One more important thing that was changed dramatically is the way we communicate. Earlier it was more common to go for lunch with colleagues or have small talk in the office to clarify all the issues. Now you have to plan a video conference. Sometimes it can also be challenging due to a lot of factors.

Problems here and there

In May 2020, for example, hundreds of companies and educational institutions were shocked because of the news about Zoom security problems. Back then, the number of Zoom users was around 2 mln people. It was found out that Zoom-meetings, not protected with the special security code, can be easily entered by strangers. It’s on the one hand. On the other hand, Zoom implements not the usual encrypt one-to-one method, like WhatsApp or other well-known messengers, but the AES-256-ECB method that, in principle, allows the company to get access to video and audio streams.

Other meetings software, like Skype or Microsoft Teams, also have issues. For example, Skype allows a maximum of 50 users to enter the meeting. So, gathering big conferences with Skype is technically not possible. Microsoft Team’s interface can be difficult to understand for people who don’t deal with such types of software on a daily basis. FaceTime is available only for Apple users and so on. On top of that, there is one big disadvantage that applies to all available video conference solutions - users need to download files and install them on the PC or phone.

Are there any variants?

In March 2020 Harvard Business Review has made a list of needed things one has to provide and organize to have a successful video conference. And this list consists of 12(!) items. Impressive, isn’t it? So, it’s absolutely not surprising, that companies all around the world can’t build effective remote work due to a simple lack of reliable and functional software for team communication, checking the progress, and exchanging information. Taking into account that the home office is, probably not only our reality but also the future (latest researches say that around 50% of companies prefer to work without a physical office even after pandemic), the solution should be found.

Do you remember the golden rule of economics - demand creates supply? In the case of video conferences software it also works. Some companies nowadays already create solutions that are able to fulfill all the requirements. One of them is Call Lab. It seems that it can make online conferences less stressful and more effective. Call Lab is still in development but already has a promising list of features. Judge for yourself:

high-security level – for private and business information;

easy-to-use after the first login in;

no necessity to download and install something – Call Lab works also from the browser with the full stack of functions;

possibility to create individual interface and design - this is very important for companies and private speakers who want to invite guests for the branding events.

So, it’s hard to disagree that we live in a special time when a lot of people change. We can’t affect everything that goes around. But at least keeping communications on the higher level is pretty much possible.