What is our primary use case?
I used Zoom for some training programs that I conducted for younger children in school. The version I am using is for the Mac.
I used Zoom when I was doing an assessment. I did a waste management audit for an energy company, which has a large presence in 15 countries, because of the COVID pandemic. I had done a virtual audit of the waste management process of their production facilities. I did a comprehensive audit for all their 15 operating countries, for example, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Wuhan in China, South Korea, Japan, and India. I had used Zoom to talk to people.
How has it helped my organization?
Zoom had served as a handy tool to connect and communicate with the world, especially my client organizations during the COVID phase. The fact that I could establish a seamless bridge is attributable to Zoom. Be it Online training sessions or Business Assessments, Zoom has served as a handy tool. So business sustenance served well.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features of Zoom are voice and camera clarity. The time latency of the response is good. The facility to view all the participants who are online is a benefit. In most of the other similar solutions, they too have this feature. However, since I have used Zoom, I find it as an advantage because you can see all the participants online and you can choose.
When using Zoom for a training program, seeing the participants online and then the latency is very good, it is more in real-time. Additionally, the security features are good.
What needs improvement?
My only concern in Zoom is the stigma associated with being a Chinese product. However, it has been acquired by the US government or a US counterpart has taken over it. There is not any issue with respect to data security. This being said, there is a little bit of apprehension when it comes to the data security aspect. It's better if they give a public statement that we are compliant with the GDPR requirements. It will be helpful for them in promoting their solution in a much better way.
The internet infrastructure in India is not as good as in other places, such as the USA. Zoom could benefit by optimizing the connection to allow better operation of the solution under low bandwidth. Management of the latency time will give them an edge for data calls over other products.
If I want to do a recording quickly, the way we should be able to do it should be slightly easier for the author. For example, if you are conducting a program and you are hosting it with a trainer that is subcontracted to your organization. In this case, the trainer, when you're giving me access to Zoom, I am using Zoom as the bridge to train your audience.
In such a situation, as an author, or trainer, should have the facility to record it myself, I should be able to gain a copy of my training session for later usage or for a review. If they could add some feature to accomplish this it would be helpful. It would be very motivating for the trainers and auditors to do self-reviews and then later on they can review themself for improvement areas to work on.
When I take a look at my own recording, I can have a better idea of how to improve for the next session or training program.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Zoom for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Zoom is highly stable.
I never had connectivity issues where suddenly the line went off, and despite my internet bandwidth issues, I never faced a blackout. I had conducted training programs, for example, using zoom with several trainees in the session. Conceptual clarity is only possible when the bridge with the participants is clear enough to comprehend for the participant. I guess Zoom was good enough to connect well despite constraints, peak times and bandwidth issues which are often the challenges associated with online presence.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
I had no problems with the scalability of Zoom.
Since the COVID pandemic, this is the new way of communicating for many people. Many people are carrying out business, training programs, and virtual meetings. Many things that are happening, Zoom has a huge potential. If they can make their offering more attractive, easier to use, with beautiful dashboards, it is a big market for them. They can have their share value going up in the market.
How are customer service and support?
I have not needed to contact Zoom's technical support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have previously used Webex and Microsoft Teams.
I have been using Microsoft Team prominently. A lot of people are preferring Microsoft Team because it is more reliable than most of the other solutions. Zoom is slightly less popular because of the data security issues associated with it and has been taken over by a US company. China does not own it anymore but there is still a stigma associated with data security and privacy when using Zoom, in my opinion.
How was the initial setup?
I do not remember how the initial implementation was but when the Zoom is implemented there is some waiting time when the login happens. Sometimes we are not sure if the connection is happening or not. There's a waiting time but happens also in Microsoft Team. At times it is as if we are blindfolded and waiting for the meeting connection to happen, you don't have a clue whether the connection is happening or not. I don't know if the issue is because of my internet connectivity, Zoom tool version, the other side of the connection is ready, or if the other party is joining or not. There are many question marks that are there that could be answered with some dashboard of what is the status is similar to tracking of a courier. It has gone somewhere and, midway, it is stuck, and then the other side is still yet to join.
If Zoom can manage this delay and make it more creative in reflecting the participant and have the ability to inform the organizer of whether the connection is in place or not, it would be really helpful.
What about the implementation team?
Implementation and usage of Zoom are very user friendly. Sometimes when the meeting is arranged by the client the system admin of the client organization would extend support to share a document or share screen or other maneuvers. Support was good enough to enable the business discussion further without breaks breaks and interruptions.
What was our ROI?
Seamless integration with the business processes and timely communication with the clients adds huge value to the sustenance of Business. In a Virtual world of an evolving and fast emerging tomorrow, Zoom would be playing a pivotal role in supporting and enhancing the Business Performance of Corporates across the world. My RoI is a small piece of a similar experience and experimentation with the Virtualization of the business ecosystem with Zoom.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There is a free version of Zoom which allows you a certain limited amount of time usage and there is a corporate version of the solution where you have to pay.
They could improve the free version by allowing more time to use, it could benefit sales in the future. For example, let's say some students are using it or a certain kind of some CEOs or non-profit organizations are using, they can extend free access to such people.
The Microsoft Teams solution is more expensive than Zoom.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When evaluating other solutions to Zoom, they all have similar functionality. For example, the dashboard icons are at the bottom of the screen. There is standardized functionality in most of the solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others.
They need to remove the Chinese stigma attached to the solution and then it would be better in the market for sales.
If a customer comes to me and asks if Zoom is a good solution I highly recommend it.
I rate Zoom a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Google
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.