Tag: skype

Top Sales and Marketing Software Tools & Platforms to Grow Your Business in 2025

Are you looking for tools to help boost your sales and marketing efforts? This is the perfect spot!

Research indicates that a significant portion of sales teams (73%) see working across departments as extremely or very important for the overall success of their sales process. In addition, 86% of employees and executives blame workplace failures on a lack of collaboration or ineffective communication.

The success of collaboration and teamwork is not solely dependent on having a strong team, but also on the tools and technology used, such as PCs, laptops, software, and apps, which significantly impact the level of collaboration and cooperation.

In today’s fast-paced business world, sales and marketing teams are expected to deliver results in a constantly evolving and competitive environment. To achieve this, having the right tools at your disposal is crucial.

No matter what industry or field you work in, having the right marketing and sales tools is necessary for the successful completion of your job. The right tools can help you streamline your sales and marketing processes, automate repetitive tasks, and provide valuable insights into customer behavior.

In this blog, we will be exploring some of the best sales and marketing tools available in the market, and how they can help you improve your sales and marketing efforts. From lead generation and email marketing to customer relationship management and data analysis, we have got you covered. Get ready to take your sales and marketing efforts to the next level!

Best Marketing and Sales Tools

Here we are sharing 13 unique and extremely helpful sales and marketing tools that SaaS companies can use to streamline their business process.

S. No.	Tool	Key Features	Rating
1	NeverBounce	Email verification, real-time email validation, bulk list cleaning	⭐⭐⭐⭐
2	Google Analytics	Website traffic tracking, user behavior insights, conversion tracking	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
3	Salesmate	CRM automation, sales pipeline, built-in calling & texting	⭐⭐⭐⭐½
4	Reply	Sales engagement, automated outreach, email & LinkedIn integration	⭐⭐⭐⭐
5	LinkedIn Sales Navigator	Advanced lead search, CRM integration, personalized outreach	⭐⭐⭐⭐½
6	Salesforce	Market-leading CRM, advanced analytics, scalable customization	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
7	Marketo	Marketing automation, lead management, campaign analytics	⭐⭐⭐⭐½
8	Clearbit	B2B data enrichment, lead scoring, real-time prospecting	⭐⭐⭐⭐
9	BuzzSumo	Content research, influencer identification, social media insights	⭐⭐⭐⭐½
10	Salesflare	Automated CRM, email & meeting tracking, pipeline visualization	⭐⭐⭐⭐
11	Optimizely	A/B testing, personalization, digital experience optimization	⭐⭐⭐⭐½
12	Slack	Team collaboration, integrations, real-time messaging	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
13	Skype for Business	Video conferencing, instant messaging, Office 365 integration	⭐⭐⭐⭐
14	Omnisend	Omnichannel marketing, email & SMS automation, segmentation	⭐⭐⭐⭐½
15	HubSpot	All-in-one CRM, marketing & sales automation, reporting dashboard	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

NeverBounce

Website	Neverbounce.com
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web
Best For	Real-time email verification and email list cleaning services

Over 130,000 organizations trust NeverBounce for their email verification and cleaning services,the allowing you to reach more customers by cleaning your lists and preventing bounces, all for less than a penny per email.

Preserve your domain’s authority and brand reputation by not getting penalized for bounced emails. NeverBounce also has easy drag and drop importing via their dashboard or API access, with popular ESP and CRM integrations.

How NeverBounce Helps in Marketing and Sales?

It helps to verify the email address of your potential customer so that you never miss any marketing opportunity.
It allows you to boost your marketing campaign by targeting it to the right email addresses of your customers.
It helps to reduce the bounce rate by eliminating outdated and invalid email addresses.
By simply dropping the email list into the tool, you can clean any number of emails in bulk.
It can save a lot of time and resources compared to manually reviewing each email address.

Pros:

80+ integration option
Bank-level security
A pay-as-you-go plan is available
Free credits in the demo
Live chat support is available

Cons:

Poor customer support
Some users experienced that it inaccurately reports spam emails as valid

Pricing Plans

NeverBounce categorizes their pricing plans into two categories i.e. Pay-As-You-Go and Sync (Automated Cleaning)

Pay-As-You-Go Pricing:

Emails	Price per email
up to 10,000	$0.008
up to 100,000	$0.005
up to 250,000	$0.004
up to 1,000,000	$0.003

Custom price available for emails over 1,000,000 under the enterprise plan.

Sync (Automated Cleaning) Pricing:

Emails	Price per month	Price per year (save 20%)
up to 1,000	$10.00	$8.00
up to 10,000	$49.00	$39.20
up to 50,000	$99.00	$79.20
up to 100,000	$159.00	$127.20
up to 250,000	$259.00	$199.20
up to 5,00,000	$499.00	$399.20
up to 1,000,000	$999.00	$799.20
over 1,000,000	Custom Price	Custom Price

Google Analytics

Website	Analytics.google.com/analytics/web/provision
Free Trial	Completely Free
Platforms supported	Web, Android
Best For	To get information about traffic on your website

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It allows website owners and marketers to track key metrics such as the number of visitors, the source of traffic, and how users interact with the website.

The tool provides detailed reports on the performance of the website, including the number of pageviews, the average time spent on the site, the bounce rate, and conversion rates. This information can be used to optimize the website for better engagement and conversions, and to make informed decisions about marketing and advertising efforts.

Overall, Google Analytics is a powerful tool that helps website owners and marketers to understand and improve their website performance and to make data-driven decisions about their online presence.

How does Google Analytics Help in Marketing and Sales?

It gives you insights into the performance of your marketing campaign so that you can make better decisions.
It helps to know the different stages of a customer’s journey and how they interact with your site.
Provides real-time data on website traffic, conversion rates, and other key metrics.
It allows you to integrate your Google Ad account to get insights into the effectiveness of online advertising campaigns.
You can play with different settings and filters to customize the report according to your needs.
It helps to know the audience that comes to your websites, such as their location, age, interests, and much more.

Pros:

Free to use
Seamless sign-in through a Google account
Effortless integration with other Google products
Google help articles
Robust reporting and analytics
The mobile app is available

Cons:

Different ways to get customer support
Steep learning curve

Pricing Plans

Google Analytics is Free to use.

Salesmate

Website	www.salesmate.io
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	CRM, sales management and automation software

Salesmate is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) software designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It is a platform that helps sales teams manage their customer interactions and track their sales pipeline, from initial contact to close.

With user-friendly UI and automated workflows, sales managers can help their team members keep their eye on the most crucial deals and pursue them regularly.

Global sales teams use this CRM for capturing leads and managing their sales pipelines. With intuitive integrations, managers can be assured that all the additional details of the prospect get filled automatically into the sales pipeline hence decreasing unnecessary manual labor.

With Salesmate CRM, business owners can easily generate insightful sales reports and manage their deals on the go. With real-time notifications of the deal updates on the smart devices, business owners can pursue new leads while they are away from their desks, too. Salesmate CRM has also developed iOS and Android apps for smart devices so that you can make more sales while on the go.

How Salesmate Helps in Marketing and Sales?

It comes with a marketing automation feature that automates repetitive tasks in marketing campaigns.
Just like marketing automation, Its CRM comes with a sales automation feature that helps you to focus on product selling rather than time-consuming repetitive tasks.
It allows sales and marketing teams to collaborate and communicate in real time.
Performance indicators and sales pipeline analytics of this tool will help you track your sales and marketing performance.
It helps you to recognize and manage potential customers, including lead tracking and lead nurturing.

Pros:

A 15-day free trial is available
Live chat and email support
iOS and Android apps are available
API Access
Chrome extension is available
Free templates and tools
Video tutorials and ebooks are available

Cons:

The cost of calls is relatively higher
Some integration features could be smoother

Pricing Plans

Salesmate offers four pricing plans that include Starter, Growth, Boost, and Enterprise. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

Plan	Yearly Price (Save 20%)	Monthly Price
Starter	$12/user/month	$15/user/month
Growth	$24/user/month	$30/user/month
Boost	$40/user/month	$50/user/month
Enterprise	Custom plans	Custom plans

Reply

Website	Reply.io
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web
Best For	Multichannel sales engagement and sales automation platform

Reply is an email prospecting and sales automation tool that automates personalized emails and follow-ups. The platform allows users to send an email with automatic follow-ups, connects replies to your mailbox, and provides detailed analytics such as delivery, click, open, and response rates.

It’s an effective way for sales teams to save up to 10 hours a week on outreach and allow them to spend more time on the actual selling.

How does Reply Help in Marketing and Sales?

With the email automation feature of Reply, you can send personalized emails and follow-ups to prospects at scale.
It helps to engage with prospects through various channels, such as email, social media, and phone.
It can help you to improve your response rates and engage more prospects through personalized email messages and follow-ups.
Powerful Chrome extension of Reply helps you to extract email contacts from social media sites like LinkedIn.
It helps you to verify the email addresses and phone numbers of prospects to save time and establish healthy communication.

Pros:

AI email assistance
Robust reports and analytics
Email A/B testing
Reply Academy to learn the software
Wide range of integration
Chrome extension is available
User-friendly interface

Cons:

Difficult to connect to the third-party mail server
It’s not easy to set up

Pricing Plans

Reply categorizes their pricing plans into two categories, i.e., Sales Engagement and Email Search.

Sales Engagement For Business Pricing:

Plan	Pricing
Starter	$60/user/month
Professional	$90/user/month
Custom	Custom Price

Sales Engagement For Agencies Pricing:

Plan	Pricing
Agency Starter	$60/user/month
Agency Professional	$90/user/month

Email Search Pricing:

Plan	Pricing
Starter	Free
Advanced	$49
Unlimited	$99 (Free with Annual sales engagement plans)

Start Using Reply Now

LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Website	Business.linkedin.com/sales-solutions
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web
Best For	To uncover sales insights and find new prospects for any sales operation

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is an intuitive sales tool created to assist sales teams, business owners, and individuals in building and nurturing customer relationships inside their networks. This sales prospecting tool enables the said users to enhance their sales closure, hence boosting their business revenue.

Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator, sales professionals can reach out to customers with enhanced search and filter features. This tool provides actionable insights into the leads and prospects so that sales professionals do not work in the dark and know their traits.

Engaging with leads and prospects becomes really easy using personalized schemes with these insights. Business owners and sales professionals can easily bifurcate personal and professional brands, allowing individuals to focus on their sales outreach campaigns. LinkedIn Sales Navigator is somewhat expensive for small businesses, as pricing for teams is set on a per-seat basis.

How does LinkedIn Sales Navigator Help in Marketing and Sales?

It helps to extract potential leads based on a user’s preferences and activity on LinkedIn.
It allows you to send personalized messages to leads that eventually increase sales.
Provides seamless integration with popular CRM tools, such as Salesforce and HubSpot, to build strong connections.
It helps you to manage your sales leads and customer relationships more efficiently.
Insights and updates on lead activity and company news, which can be used to personalize and prioritize outreach efforts.

Pros:

A free trial is available
Advanced search options
Engagement tracking
Integration with popular CRM
Wide range of filters
Creates custom lists

Cons:

Some users report that the pricing is higher

Pricing Plans

LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers three plans that include Core, Advanced, and Advanced Plus. Pricing of all these plans is based on a custom pricing model.

Salesforce

Website	www.salesforce.com
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	A cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform for sales, service, and marketing

While there are many options available today, Salesforce remains the industry standard for customer relationship management (CRM) software that allows tracking every step of the sale. This software enables users to effectively manage leads, opportunities, sales pipelines, support requests, and more. From phone calls and emails to working with colleagues, everything is tracked in one place, enabling your sales team to stay on top of every deal and also engage more effectively with prospective clients. The SaaS allows you to:

Collect and monitor leads
Track insights for better sales opportunities
Improve the productivity of your sales reps
Engage directly with leads and create email campaigns
Collaborate with sales reps and other members of your team

It also integrates with HubSpot, creating a seamless connection between marketing and sales if you’re on the marketing automation platform.

How does Salesforce help in Marketing and Sales?

Provides insights to enhance the experience of customers at every step of the buying journey.
It helps to view your customer data to cater to their needs, preferences, and buying behavior.
It helps to automate the sales process, set up alerts for key sales activities, and collaborate with team members.
You can easily create targeted marketing campaigns, track campaign performance, and automate marketing tasks to increase efficiency.
It helps to close deals faster and provides you with real-time insights to optimize campaigns.

Pros:

Call support
User-friendly interface
Huge learning resources
A free trial is available
Real-time sales insights
Seamless integration with other Salesforce products

Cons:

Difficult to customize

Pricing Plans

Salesforce offers four pricing plans that include Essentials, Professional, Enterprise, and Unlimited. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Essentials	$25/user/month
Professional	$75/user/month
Enterprise	$150/user/month
Unlimited	$300/user/month

Marketo

Website	Business.adobe.com/in/products/marketo/adobe-marketo.html
Free Trial	Not Available
Platforms supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	A marketing automation platform for lead management, email marketing, and analytics

Marketo offers powerful marketing automation software to engage prospects and customers via digital marketing. The platform offers a suite of applications to drive engagement from one place, from personalized display ads to predictive content.

With an integrated approach to customer marketing, sales teams can benefit from increased insights and from creating effective automated sales campaigns.

How Marketo Helps in Marketing and Sales?

It helps you to streamline and automate your marketing, which ultimately leads to increased sales.
It helps you to understand where leads are in the sales funnel and what their interests are.
Targeted emails and other communications can help move leads closer to a purchase.
You can manage and measure the success of marketing campaigns across multiple channels, such as email and social media.
You can align your sales and marketing teams by providing real-time visibility into the lead status and activity.

Pros:

Insightful marketing analytics
Native CRM integration
Advanced personalization
Sales insights
Good support

Cons:

Pricing is not disclosed
Lack of personalized learning resources for Marketo

Pricing Plans

Marketo offers four plans that include Growth, Select, Prime, and Ultimate. Pricing of all these plans is based on a custom pricing model.

Clearbit

Website	Clearbit.com
Free Trial	Not Available
Platforms supported	Web
Best For	Lead management platform with AI and ML technologies

Clearbit is a business lead management solution that collects data about customers. This SaaS (Software as a Service) tool enables users to create sales teams, identify prospective leads, and gather important information about their customers.

Clearbit is a collection of powerful APIs that are designed to help business owners grow their businesses. This smart tool is helpful in successful lead segmentation using their email address. Just feed your contacts’ email addresses and Clearbit will provide you with the associated social data of your contacts, such as –

Name,
Twitter and Facebook profiles,
Avatars,
URLs and more.

With such a powerful profile enrichment tool, you can successfully run all your online sales and marketing campaigns using tailored promotions based on the contacts’ online activities. This SaaS tool provides information about a company using its domain address, such as

company name,
capital generated,
number of employees,
market categories.

With such powerful insights, you can run your best promotions that include competitive pricing and discounts. Being a sales professional or a digital marketer, we can bet that such a great tool enables the success of your SaaS business campaigns.

How does Clearbit help in Marketing and Sales?

It helps to capture contact details, job titles, social media profiles, and company details of potential customers.
It allows you to segment the audience based on job title, industry, company size, and more.
It helps to understand the needs and pain points of your prospects for more informed and personalized sales conversion.
Provides insights into customer behavior and preferences to optimize marketing campaigns and track performance.
Automated and real-time data enrichment makes the data collection process quicker and more efficient.

Pros:

100+ attributes
Native integration
User-friendly interface
Help Center articles are available
API Access
The demo is available on demand

Cons:

Pricing is not disclosed
Difficulty in finding LinkedIn profiles of companies

Pricing Plans

Clearbit offers custom pricing plans. You can contact the vendor for pricing details.

BuzzSumo

Website	Buzzsumo.com
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web
Best For	Content curation & influencer marketing

To get a full picture of the competitive environment in your market, you have to understand how content is performing in all avenues of the web, and BuzzSumo helps you do that. BuzzSumo is an excellent tool for marketers when it comes to analyzing social media data as well as curating content ideas. BuzzSumo allows you to analyze content by domain or topic to see which posts are being shared the most. It’s also great in helping you find key influencers whom you can contact once your content has been published as part of your content promotion strategy.

The social SaaS provides:

Content insights regarding author, domain, and more
Search content engagement in the past 24 hours and up to the past year
View shares of content across all social media platforms
Search social backlinks
Content curation
Find and research influencers

How BuzzSumo Helps in Marketing and Sales?

It helps to analyze the content of competitors to know their strengths and weaknesses.
It helps to connect with influencers, build relationships, and leverage their audience for promoting your brand.
It provides insights into the most shared and engaged content on social media platforms.
You can smooth your marketing strategy by utilizing the data provided by this tool.
It monitors the trend in your industry to keep you aligned with the latest trends.
It helps to generate leads by identifying people who are interested in specific topics or brands.

Pros:

Chrome extension is available
API Access
A 30-day free trial is available
A free plan is available
Intuitive interface
Help Center articles and live chat support

Cons:

Lags sometimes when integrating with Slack
Search is limited to only 10 in the free plan

Pricing Plans

BuzzSumo offers one Free plan and three pricing plans that include Pro, Plus, and Large. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

Plan	Yearly Price (Save 20%)	Monthly Price
Pro	$79/month	$99/month
Plus	$139/month	$179/month
Large	$239/month	$299//month

Try BuzzSumo For FREE

Salesflare

Website	Salesflare.com
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	CRM tool for small and medium-sized B2B businesses

Salesflare is an easy-to-use CRM for small to medium businesses, designed to help them increase sales with minimal effort. This platform is simple to use, provides visuals, and automatically stores your customer data so you can attend to your customers and focus on sales.

Salesflare is an artificial intelligence sales assistant for Outlook, Gmail, and mobile devices. Working with your CRM, the platform automatically assists your follow-ups, takes over your admin, and creates transparent customer conversations that can be handled by the team. Salesflare makes it easy for teams to boost sales performance.

How Does Salesflare Help in Marketing and Sales?

Automation and lead tracking can help you focus on closing deals rather than manual data entry.
It helps to keep track of all your leads and their interactions with your team to streamline the sales process.
A visual pipeline view offered by Salesflare helps you to manage your sales funnel, track deals, and analyze your performance.
It assists you in following up on potential prospects at the right time.
You can easily integrate with 3000+ tools, including sales and marketing tools, using Zapier integration.

Pros:

Live chat support
Interactive dashboard
A free trial is available
Knowledge base articles to learn
Drag and drop functionality
Automated emails based on triggers

Cons:

Some users faced issues connecting their email to Salesflare
Sometimes sends multiple reminders instead of one

Pricing Plans

Salesflare offers three pricing plans that include Growth, Pro, and Enterprise. Pricing details of each plan is given below:

Plan	Monthly Price
Growth	$29/user/month
Pro	$49/user/month
Enterprise	$99/user/month

Try Salesflare Now

Optimizely

Website	www.optimizely.com
Free Trial	Not Available, but have Free version
Platforms supported	Web
Best For	Digital experience platform software as a service

Optimizely is a website optimization platform that provides users with A/B and multivariate testing. Users who do not have a technical background can

make dynamic variations to websites,
test the discrepancies to live traffic and
gather instant results.

Optimizely allows users to optimize customer experience and enables business owners to drive up the value of their digital products and campaigns through a best-in-class experimentation software platform. Product and marketing professionals can use evidence-based results for:

accelerating innovation,
lower the risk of new features, and
drive up the return on investment (ROI)

How Optimizely Helps in Marketing and Sales?

It offers a marketing campaign management platform that helps to manage and streamline marketing efficiently.
It helps you to test different versions of a website to see which one performs better in terms of sales, conversions, and engagement.
Helps to measure the performance of the campaigns and make data-driven decisions with real-time analytics.
It enables you to segment the audience based on various criteria such as demographics, interests, and behavior.
It helps to enhance the experience of individual users based on their behavior, preferences, and past interactions with the brand.

Pros:

User-friendly dashboard
Detailed data and insights
Customizable targeting
Seamless integration with other tools
Learning resources are available
Advanced Targeting

Cons:

Pricing is not disclosed
Limited support

Pricing Plans:

Optimizely pricing is available on request. You’ll need to reach out to the vendor for a custom quote.

Slack

Website	Slack.com
Free Trial	Available
Platforms supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Team communication and workflows

Slack is a messaging app that allows users to migrate their communication in one place with real-time messaging, archiving, and search features. Slack allows seamless integration with external services.

With its built-in internal and external sharing options, sales and marketing professionals can store and share files with their teammates from any place and from any device with internet. An advanced search, filter, add-on, and sorting procedure from Slack enables users to have those important files right in front of them. Slack has apps for iOS and Android that are an add on to your work on the go style, so even when you are logged into multiple devices, your system will recognize the same and will mark messages as “read” when you do so.

How does Slack help in Marketing and Sales?

It helps to easily connect with client teams to discuss ongoing projects or to make sales pitches.
The file-sharing feature makes it easy for the sales and marketing teams to collaborate and access important information.
It can send notifications when leads are generated, deals are closed, or when certain actions are taken.
It helps to track the progress and measure the success of the sales and marketing team through robust reporting and analytics.
It offers a wide range of communication channels such as direct messaging, group messaging, and video conferencing.

Pros:

The mobile app is available
A lot of integration options
User-friendly interface
Accessible on any device
Resource library to learn
Workflow builder

Cons:

Lack of live customer support

Pricing Plans

Slack offers a Free plan and three pricing plans that include Pro, Business+, and Enterprise Grid. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

Plan	Monthly Price
Pro	₹218/user/month
Business+	₹375.20/user/month
Enterprise Grid	Custom Price

Skype for Business

Website	www.skype.com
Free Trial	No Free Trial, But Free Version Available
Platforms supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	VoIP software for phone calls, chats, and video conferencing

Skype - Marketing and Sales Tool — Skype – Sales and Marketing Platforms

Skype is a VoIP solution that enables managers to do video conferencing, make international calls, and send texts to prospects, clients, and team members via the web. Skype enables its users with

instant messaging,
group video conferencing,
video and group chat,
document and image sharing.

Skype, although it has a free basic tool available in the market, it also offers business features in its paid version. Business owners can use this paid version and get

business conferencing (up to 250 people),
MS Office tool,
third-party business app integration.

Pricing Plans

Skype offers a Free plan and three pricing plans that include Microsoft Teams Essentials, Microsoft 365 Business Basic, and Microsoft 365 Business Standard. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

Plan	Monthly Price
Microsoft Teams Essentials	₹100.00/user/month
Microsoft 365 Business Basic	₹136.25/user/month
Microsoft 365 Business Standard	₹719.40/user/month

Omnisend

Website	www.omnisend.com
Free Trial	Available
Platforms Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	E-commerce businesses looking for omnichannel marketing automation with email, SMS, and push notifications to boost customer engagement and sales.

Omnisend is a marketing tool built especially for online stores. It combines email, SMS, and automation to help businesses connect with customers, boost sales, and build loyalty. With ready-to-use workflows, customer segmentation, dynamic content, and A/B testing, it makes it easy to create personalized campaigns across multiple channels, ensuring consistent communication with customers wherever they are. It is one of the best sales and marketing software for small businesses.

Pros

Supports multi-channel marketing across email, SMS, and web push.
Tailored for e-commerce with tools like abandoned cart reminders and product suggestions.
Easy to use with a drag-and-drop editor.
Flexible pricing plans suitable for different business sizes.

Cons

Limited features for B2B companies.
Some features take time to fully learn.
Customer support response may be slower during peak times.

Pricing Plans:

Plan	Monthly Price
Free	$0/month (up to 250 contacts & 500 emails/month)
Standard	From $16/month (based on contact list size)
Pro	From $59/month (based on contact list size)

HubSpot

Website	www.hubspot.com
Free Trial	Available
Platforms Supported	Web, Android, iPhone/iPad
Best For	Businesses of all sizes that need an all-in-one CRM with powerful sales, marketing, customer service, and automation tools to grow and manage customer relationships effectively.

HubSpot Sales Hub is a CRM that helps sales teams manage leads and track progress with clear dashboards. It’s known for its simple design and strong customer support.

How it helps sales teams:

Lead management: Let teams build custom workflows and automatically move leads through the pipeline.
AI and automation: Uses AI to help reps write better emails and save time.
Reporting: Provides easy-to-read dashboards so teams can quickly see their progress.
Sales engagement: Reps can send, schedule, and track emails directly from the platform without needing another tool.

Pros

Easy-to-use design with a simple interface.
Strong customer support and resources.
Powerful lead management and automation features.
Built-in email tools for outreach and engagement.
Clear dashboards and reporting for tracking progress.

Cons

It can get expensive as you scale and add features.
Some advanced tools require higher-tier plans.
Setup and customization may take time for new users.

Pricing Plans:

Plan	Monthly Price
Free	$0/month (basic CRM tools)
Starter	From $18/month (billed annually, 2 users)
Professional	From $450/month (billed annually, 5 users)
Enterprise	From $1,200/month (billed annually, 10 users)

Conclusion

Our picks of the top sales and marketing tools are comprehensive, covering everything from customer management, data analysis, and email marketing to social media management and team collaboration.

Whether you’re a startup or an established business, investing in the right sales and marketing tools can lead to substantial improvements in your business, boosting productivity, simplifying work processes, and generating revenue. Consider the specific needs and goals of your SaaS company and choose the tools that best align with your sales and marketing strategies. With the right tools in hand, you’re on your way to achieving greater success in the SaaS industry.

With this list at your disposal, your sales and marketing teams will no longer fall short of their goals and will be able to work cohesively and effectively.

FAQs

What are sales and marketing tool?

A sales and marketing tool are software or technology platform that helps businesses improve their sales and marketing efforts. These tools can assist with a wide range of activities, including lead generation, customer relationship management, email marketing, social media management, data analysis, and more.

What are some of the best marketing and sales tools available today?

Some of the best marketing and sales tools include NeverBounce, Salesforce, Salesmate, Marketo, Reply, Clearbit, BuzzSumo, Slack and Salesflare.

Why is it important to use marketing tools?

Marketing tools are crucial for businesses to effectively reach target audience, communicate value, and measure marketing success, leading to increased brand awareness, traffic, leads, and revenue growth.

What should I look for when choosing marketing and sales tools?

When choosing marketing and sales tools, you should consider factors such as your business goals, target audience, budget, and available resources. You should also look for tools that are user-friendly, offer robust analytics and reporting, and integrate with your existing technology stack.

How do marketing and sales tools help in customer relationship management?

Marketing and sales tools can help businesses manage and track interactions with their customers, including email communications, phone calls, and meetings. This data can be used to personalize customer experiences and build stronger relationships with them.

Can marketing and sales tools automate tasks?

Yes, many marketing and sales tools offer automation features that can save time and effort by automating repetitive tasks, such as email campaigns, social media posting, and lead nurturing.

September 10, 2025

After 21 Years of Operation, Microsoft will Retire Skype on May 5

Microsoft has said that it will shut down Skype, its video-calling service, on May 5 of next week. Skype was one of the most popular video-calling platforms in the last two decades when it was launched in 2003.

However, the emergence of WhatsApp and FaceTime for video calling, which increased competition, coincided with the rapid advancements in communication technology. As part of its larger plan to simplify its other communication platforms and concentrate on Microsoft Teams, Microsoft revealed in an official blog post that Skype is being decommissioned.

“We will be retiring Skype in May 2025 to focus on Microsoft Teams (free), our modern communications and collaboration hub, in order to streamline our free consumer communications offerings so we can more easily adapt to customer needs,” the company said.

Existing Users can Migrate to Teams

Since these Skype IDs can be used to log in and effortlessly move contacts and chats on the Teams platform, Microsoft has also confirmed that current Skype users won’t experience any significant problems when switching to Teams.

In order to give people enough time to adjust, the firm first disclosed this decision earlier this year for this and other reasons. The move won’t be too difficult because both systems have comparable functionality, and Microsoft has promised consumers that thorough help would be provided during the transfer process.

Microsoft has announced that Skype Credit and calling plans, among other premium services, will no longer be available to new customers. Nevertheless, paying subscribers can still utilise Teams to access their active subscriptions and credit.

Additionally, Microsoft has made it clear that even when Skype Credit is stopped, any unused services will remain accessible. Via the Skype web portal or Microsoft Teams, paid users will also get access to earlier premium features like the Skype Dial Pad.

History of Skype

With the assistance of a group of former classmates who had no prior telecommunications experience, Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, who had previously co-founded the peer-to-peer file-sharing application Kazaa, established Skype in Estonia in 2003. Skype started off as a way for users to make free online calls to each other.

The unusual title was a reference to the VoIP (voice over internet protocol) infrastructure that underpinned the service: “sky peer to peer”. Skype quickly gained popularity. Eleven million users had registered by 2004.

With 54 million users, Skype was expecting $60 million in revenue annually from fees from people who wanted to call landlines and mobile phones by the time eBay revealed plans to purchase Skype Technologies SA for $2.6 billion in 2005.

Meg Whitman, the CEO of eBay at the time, had the idea that by bringing buyers and sellers together, Skype would enable individuals to sell goods—especially expensive ones—more rapidly. Additionally, eBay might charge more for these calls.

Skype users worldwide could also learn about PayPal and eBay. After 29 days, the transaction was finalised.

May 2, 2025

10 Best Video Conferencing Software for Businesses in 2024

In today’s fast-paced business world, keeping in touch with colleagues and clients is more important than ever. With more and more companies turning to remote work, video conferencing has become a vital tool for staying connected. According to a recent study by Grand View Research, the global video conferencing market is expected to reach $19.73 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 12.5% during the forecast period (2022–2030).

Video conferencing is the future of business communication. With the ability to connect with team members, clients, and partners from anywhere in the world, it has become an essential tool for companies of all sizes. Studies have shown that video conferencing leads to increased productivity, improved collaboration, and reduced travel costs.

This means that now is the perfect time for businesses to invest in good video conferencing software. With the right software, you can take your business to new heights of success.

What Is Video Conferencing Software?
List of Best Video Conferencing Software
Google Meet
Zoom
Microsoft Teams
Zoho Meeting
Skype
Slack
BlueJeans
GlobalMeet
Webex Meetings
GoTo Meeting

What Is Video Conferencing Software?

Video conferencing software is an advanced technology that allows users to conduct real-time, online meetings, presentations, and video calls with one or more people via the Internet. This innovative tool has revolutionized the way businesses and organizations conduct meetings and presentations. It enables users to connect with others from anywhere in the world, regardless of their physical location, and share ideas and information in real time.

Video conferencing software provides a wide range of features and capabilities, such as screen sharing, document collaboration, and recording. These features allow users to share presentations, documents, and other multimedia content with their colleagues and clients. This makes it easier to collaborate and get things done.

One of the major benefits of video conferencing software is that they save time and money by eliminating the need for travel. Businesses and organizations can conduct virtual meetings and presentations, which can save thousands of dollars in travel expenses. This also allows employees to be more productive and efficient, as they can participate in meetings and training sessions from the comfort of their own homes or offices.

List of Best Video Conferencing Software

The following are the best video conferencing software for individuals and businesses in 2024:

Google Meet

Video Conferencing Software	Google Meet
Rating	4.5
Best For	User-friendly video conferencing
Website	meet.google.com

Google Meet is a video conferencing tool developed by Google LLC. It allows users to conduct virtual meetings, webinars, and video chats with remote teams, clients, and partners. One can use this tool free of cost for up to 100 participants and a 60-minute meeting duration. It is highly secure and compliant with industry-standard security protocols. It is suitable for use by companies of all sizes and across all industries, whether they are small businesses or large enterprises.

One of the key features that set Google Meet apart from other video conferencing tools is its integration with the rest of Google’s suite of productivity tools, such as Gmail and Google Calendar. This makes it easy for users to schedule, join, and manage meetings directly from their inbox or calendar.

Features Offered by Google Meet:

Participants can share their screens with others during the meeting, making it easy to collaborate on documents and presentations.
It can be easily scheduled, joined, and managed directly from Gmail and Google Calendar.
Meetings can be recorded and saved to Google Drive for later viewing.
Up to 500 participants can join the meeting at a time when you opt for a paid plan.
Noise cancellation feature that reduces unwanted disturbing background noise.
Automatic captions are generated during the meeting, making it easy for people with hearing impairments.
Hosts get full control over who can enter the meeting.

Pros:

It can be used via mobile app or web browser on any device
Highly secured
Live caption
Easy to use
Screen sharing and recording
Comprehensive help articles
Also available for free

Cons:

Difficult to get live customer support

Pricing Plans of Google Meet:

Pricing details of each pricing plan of Google Meet are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Free	Free
Business starter	$6/user/month
Business Standard	$12/user/month
Business Plus	$18/user/month
Enterprise	Contact Sales

Note: It’s a Google workspace Pricing which also includes other products of Google at the same price.

Zoom

Video Conferencing Software	Zoom
Rating	4.5
Best For	Feature-Rich and High-Quality Virtual Meetings
Website	zoom.us

Zoom is a video conferencing platform by Zoom Video Communications, Inc. founded by Eric Yuan in 2011. Zoom has quickly grown in popularity since its launch and is now used by millions of people around the world, including businesses, schools, and government organizations. With its user-friendly interface and robust feature set, Zoom is quickly becoming the go-to choice for virtual meetings and collaborations.

It can host large meetings with up to 1000 participants. This makes it ideal for hosting webinars, conferences, and other events where a large number of people need to be connected at once. Another aspect that makes Zoom stand out is its ability to work seamlessly across devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. This makes it easy for people to join meetings from anywhere and on any device.

Features Offered by Zoom:

It provides the ability to create and customize virtual avatars to use at the meeting.
Several meeting templates are available that are fully customizable based on the type of meeting you’re conducting.
Threaded messages and reactions allow participants to chat in a threaded form and reply to comments, and also react to replies with emojis.
Leverage the Q&A feature to engage the participants throughout the meeting session.
It allows for meetings with up to 1000 participants, making it ideal for hosting webinars, conferences, and other large-scale events.
Users can share their screens with others during meetings which makes it easy to present documents, slides, and other materials.
Meetings can be recorded and saved for later playback, which is useful for training and review purposes.
It allows users to change their backgrounds during meetings, which is useful for hiding messy rooms or for adding fun backgrounds for meetings.

Pros:

Huge learning resources
Interactive dashboard
Accessible on any device
A free plan is available
App Marketplace with more than 2300 app integration
Virtual background
Excellent support with useful articles

Cons:

Limited features when you join via browser

Pricing Plans of Zoom:

Pricing details of each pricing plan of Zoom are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Basic	Free
Pro	$14.99/user/month
Business	$19.99/user/month
Enterprise	Contact Sales
Pay Per Meeting	$5.99/meeting

How to Use Zoom

Microsoft Teams

Video Conferencing Software	Microsoft Teams
Rating	4.3
Best For	Integrated video conferencing for collaborative teams
Website	microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/

Microsoft Teams is a collaboration and communication platform developed by Microsoft Corporation. It is designed to bring teams together in one place, allowing for seamless communication and collaboration on projects and tasks. It is available on various devices, including desktop and mobile, making it easy for teams to stay connected and productive while working remotely.

One of the key features that set Microsoft Teams apart from other similar tools is its integration with other Microsoft products such as Office 365. This allows users to easily access and share documents, schedule meetings, and collaborate on projects without leaving the Teams platform.

Features Offered by Microsoft Teams:

It offers a free plan in which up to 100 participants can join the group meeting for 60 minutes.
Features like guest access allow teams to collaborate easily with external partners, vendors, and clients.
You can create custom tabs, channels, and bots to streamline your workflow and improve collaboration.
It supports screen sharing and recording, making it easy to collaborate on projects and documents.
Built-in HD video and audio conferencing capabilities, allowing teams to hold virtual meetings and discussions.
Users can also share files, images, and videos within the chat.
A feature called Together mode uses AI to place participants in a shared virtual space, such as a conference room, making it feel more like an in-person meeting.
Provides breakout rooms that help the organizer of the meeting to divide attendees into smaller groups for more focused discussion.

Pros:

Single sign-on
30-day free trial on a paid plan
The free plan is available
User-friendly interface
Accessible on any device
integration with Microsoft products such as Office 365 and SharePoint
Learning resources are available

Cons:

Limited integration with non-Microsoft products
Difficult to get direct support

Pricing Plans of Microsoft Teams:

Pricing details of each pricing plan of Microsoft Teams are given below:

Plan for Home	Pricing
Microsoft Teams (free)	Free
Microsoft 365 Personal	$6.99/ month
Microsoft 365 Family	$9.99/ month

Plan for Business	Pricing
Microsoft Teams (free)	Free
Microsoft Teams Essentials	$4.00/user/month
Microsoft 365 Business Basic	$6.00/user/month
Microsoft 365 Business Standard	$12.50/user/month

Zoho Meeting

Video Conferencing Software	Zoho Meeting
Rating	4.5
Best For	Growing Teams and Webinars
Website	zoho.com/meeting

Zoho Meeting is a powerful and versatile web conferencing tool that allows businesses to easily conduct online meetings and collaborate with team members. It is developed by Zoho Corporation, a global software company that offers a wide range of products and services to help businesses of all sizes to streamline their operations and increase productivity.

It has the ability to integrate seamlessly with other Zoho products, such as Zoho CRM, Zoho Projects, and Zoho Mail. This allows users to easily schedule meetings and collaborate on projects with team members, directly from the platform. The platform is user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy for anyone to start a meeting or join one with minimal setup. It also offers a wide range of customization options that allow users to personalize their meetings and make them more engaging.

Features Offered by Zoho Meeting:

Provides insightful reports of webinar data such as engagement, polls, Q&A, attendees, and registration.
Lock meeting feature that doesn’t allow other participants to join the meeting even if they have a joining link, the host can allow and disallow the joining request.
Provides seamless integration with Zoho products and other useful tools like Slack and Gmail.
It helps you to conduct webinars with features such as live streaming, live chat, and Q&A sessions.
Empower users to personalize their meeting links with their own branding and logo.
Breakout rooms are available that empower users to split a large meeting into smaller groups.
Users can annotate and mark up shared screens in real-time which makes it easy to give feedback and make suggestions.

Pros:

2-factor authentication
Integration with other Zoho products
Intuitive interface
The mobile app is available
Excellent support
Learning resources
A free plan is available

Cons:

Limited integration with non-Zoho tools

Pricing Plans of Zoho Meeting:

Pricing details of each pricing plan of Zoho Meeting are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Free	Free
Standard	Starting at $1.00/ month
Professional	Starting at $3.00/month

Skype

Video Conferencing Software	Skype
Rating	4.3
Best For	Seamless Video Calling and Conferencing
Website	skype.com

Skype is a communication tool that allows users to make voice and video calls, as well as send instant messages and share files. Developed by Microsoft, Skype uses advanced compression technology to ensure that calls are clear and lag-free, even when the internet connection is not the strongest.

Skype for video conferencing doesn’t charge any money and allows group calls with up to 100 people. This is a great option for businesses, as it allows team members to collaborate easily and stay connected with each other. The created link comes with no expiry which means you can use the link to pre-plan any meeting. You can even use this link anytime in the future to connect with the people with the joining link.

Features Offered by Skype:

It ensures that the calls and messages are encrypted, keeping your conversations private and secure.
Background blur feature to blur the background so that the next person doesn’t see the messy background.
It allows Easy pairing with visual studio live share extension which helps you to collaborate with your team and debug the code.
Skype offers a real-time translation feature in call and chat. This makes it easy for users to communicate with people who speak different languages.
Screen sharing feature during a call for presentations and remote collaboration.
Users can record their calls for later reference. This is a great feature for businesses, as it allows team members to easily review important conversations.
You can send instant messages to other Skype users. This feature is great for quick conversations and sending files or links.

Pros:

No sign-up required
Free to use
No download required
Screen recording
Accessible on any device

Cons:

Doesn’t support browsers other than Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome.
Average support

Pricing Plans of Skype:

Skype-to-Skype calls are free anywhere in the world. You can use Skype on a computer, mobile phone, or tablet. If you are both using Skype, the call is completely free.

Users only need to pay when using premium features like voice mail, SMS texts, or making calls to a landline, cell, or outside of Skype.

Plan	Pricing
Unlimited North America	$7.99/month
Unlimited World	$13.99/month
Unlimited US & Canada	$2.99/month

Slack

Video Conferencing Software	Slack
Rating	4.5
Best For	Team Collaboration with Video Conferencing
Website	slack.com

Slack is a powerful and versatile communication tool that is designed to help teams work more efficiently and effectively. Slack Technologies Inc. is the company behind the tool. Founded in 2009, Slack Technologies is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has grown rapidly in recent years. It has attracted a large and loyal user base with more than 200,000 paying customers.

The most unique feature of this tool is its integration. Slack has a huge network of more than 2,500 apps that allow seamless integration. The robust API of this tool enables you to connect it with your favorite tool and fetch important data. The platform is designed to be easy to use, with a clean and simple layout. This makes it easy to find the information and tools that you need. Additionally, Slack offers a wide range of features, such as direct messaging, group chats, and video and voice calls.

Features Offered by Slack:

Hurdles and clips feature that helps in collaboration with short audio and video sharing, multi-screen sharing, link, notes, and much more.
Different visual controls are available such as dark and light modes, message display settings, and zoom level.
Customize the images and emojis to send a reaction on the chat.
Slack offers advanced security features to keep user data and communication safe and secure.
It is available on all major platforms, including web, desktop, and mobile.
You can customize your notification settings, so they are only notified of important messages and events. This helps you to stay focused on the task at hand and reduces distractions.
Powerful search functionality that helps users to find messages, files, and other information quickly and easily.
Users can invite other team members to join a group chat and can also share files and other information within the chat.

Pros:

A mobile app is available
A lot of integration options
User-friendly interface
Accessible on any device
A resource library to learn
Workflow builder

Cons:

Lack of live customer support

Pricing Plans of Slack:

Pricing details of each pricing plan of Slack are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Free	Free
Pro	₹218/user/month, when billed annually
Business+	₹375.20/user/month, when billed annually
Enterprise Grid	Contact Sales

BlueJeans

Video Conferencing Software	BlueJeans
Rating	4.3
Best For	Cloud-Based and Seamless Video Conferencing
Website	bluejeans.com

BlueJeans is a revolutionary video conferencing platform that allows users to connect easily with colleagues, clients, and partners from anywhere in the world. BlueJeans is developed and maintained by Verizon Communications, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. With a reputation for quality and reliability, Verizon has been at the forefront of the video conferencing industry for many years.

Airtel has a partnership with Verizon to offer BlueJeans as a video conferencing solution to its enterprise customers. Airtel’s partnership with BlueJeans allows its enterprise customers to access the BlueJeans video conferencing platform and its features through Airtel’s network infrastructure. This partnership allows Airtel to expand its enterprise communication services portfolio. It also attracts more business customers who are looking for a reliable and advanced video conferencing solution.

Features Offered by BlueJeans:

It is compatible with a variety of devices and platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and web browsers.
It Uses advanced technology to provide high-definition video and audio quality for clear and seamless communication.
You can share your screens during a video call to facilitate collaboration and presentations.
Allows users to record their video calls and provides a transcription service that generates a text transcript of the conversation.
Integration feature that allows users to schedule and join video calls directly from their calendars.
Virtual backgrounds to video calls, help to reduce distractions and improve the overall video call experience.
Host control over the meeting, such as mute/unmute, lock/unlock, end meeting, etc.
Facility to create smaller groups of participants for a proper discussion on the topic.

Pros:

AES 256-bit encryption
A lot of integration options
A free trial is available
Virtual background
Meeting Highlights and Recordings
User-friendly interface
Accessible on any device

Cons:

A free plan is not available
Lack of file-sharing facility

Pricing Plans of BlueJeans:

Pricing details of each pricing plan of BlueJeans are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Pro	₹699/month, when billed annually
Enterprise	Contact Sales

GlobalMeet

Video Conferencing Software	GlobalMeet
Rating	4.2
Best For	Businesses and Professionals Needing Web Conferencing
Website	globalmeet.com

GlobalMeet is a Video Conferencing platform for businesses and organizations looking to connect with their teams, clients, and partners from anywhere in the world. It supports large-scale high-definition video conferences with up to 1,000 participants. With the ability to share screens, documents, and other multimedia content, users can easily collaborate and share ideas. This makes it an ideal tool for creative brainstorming sessions or project meetings.

GlobalMeet Video Conferencing is highly secure, with end-to-end encryption and a range of security features to protect user data and communications. It offers a range of options for personalizing the platform to suit the specific needs of different teams. One can create custom meeting rooms, set up recurring meetings, and even schedule meetings in advance.

Features Offered by GlobalMeet:

It is a cloud-based platform, which means that users can access it from anywhere, at any time.
Participants can communicate with one another through instant messaging or chat, this makes it easy to ask questions or share information during the meeting.
Screen recording feature to record the screen and use it in the feature.
The host can split the screen into smaller groups for more focused discussions or tasks.
Users can record live sessions for future reference.
You can schedule meetings in advance, which makes it easy to coordinate with others and plan ahead.
It is highly customizable, with a range of customization options.
End-to-end encryption and a range of security features to protect data.

Pros:

Multi-lingual support
G-suite integration
Accessible on any device
Advanced reporting and analytics
Custom branding
Digital whiteboarding

Cons:

Price is not disclosed

Pricing Plans of GlobalMeet:

GlobalMeet offers three plans: Essential, Professional, and Enterprise. You need to contact their sales team to get details on the pricing of each plan.

Webex Meetings

Video Conferencing Software	Webex Meetings
Rating	4.2
Best For	Collaborative Video Conferencing Solutions
Website	webex.com

Webex is a video-conferencing platform by Cisco that offers high-quality video and audio capabilities. The platform uses advanced technology to ensure clear and crisp video and audio, even in low-bandwidth environments. It uses encryption to protect your data and offers features such as password-protected meetings, waiting rooms, and the ability to lock or end meetings at any time.

One of the most highlighted features of this tool is its customization. You can customize meeting room layouts, choose from a range of background images and themes, and even create your own branded meeting rooms. It offers top-notch security to secure your valuable data. Features such as password-protected meetings, waiting rooms, and the ability to lock or end meetings at any time are available.

Features Offered by Webex Meetings:

Provides detailed insights into meeting attendance, engagement, and more. It allows users to make data-driven decisions about their meetings.
It has the ability to integrate with popular apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, and Slack.
Hosts can create smaller, more intimate meetings within a larger meeting that allows more focused and productive conversations.
Users can join and participate in meetings from any device, including smartphones and tablets.
Meeting management tools such as screen sharing, recording, and polling help users effectively manage and lead meetings.
You can customize meeting room layouts, and choose from a range of background images and themes.
The advanced technology of Webex ensures clear and crisp video and audio, even in low-bandwidth environments.
Participants can easily schedule and join meetings from their calendars, share files and documents, and collaborate on projects.

Pros:

A free plan is available
Two-way Whiteboarding
Advanced search and filter
Third-party integration
Accessible on any device
User-friendly interface

Cons:

Complex to use
Lack of interaction feature between host and participants

Pricing Plans of Webex Meetings:

Pricing details of each pricing plan of Webex Meetings are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Basic	$0
Meet	$14.50/license/month
Business Meet + Call	$25/license/month
Enterprise	Contact Sales

GoTo Meeting

Video Conferencing Software	GoTo Meeting
Rating	4.2
Best For	Seamless Web Conferencing for Businesses
Website	goto.com/meeting

GoTo Meeting is a web conferencing software by GoTo that is designed for businesses of all sizes. With its reliable performance and user-friendly interface, GoTo Meeting has become a go-to choice for virtual meetings, webinars, and online collaborations.

GoTo Meeting video conferencing platform is trusted by millions of people for real-time virtual communication and collaboration. It is an easy, fast, and reliable professional virtual meeting solution that allows individuals and businesses to meet face-to-face, and connect with colleagues through in-meeting chat, screen sharing, and more with just a click of a button.

Features Offered by GoToMeeting:

Customizable meeting templates to suit different types of meetings.
Easy scheduling and calendar integration for efficient meeting management.
Real-time screen sharing and presentation capabilities for seamless collaboration.
Integrated chat and Q&A features for interactive discussions.
Recording and playback options for future reference and training purposes.
Virtual backgrounds to customize the meeting environment.
Mobile apps for on-the-go participation in meetings from any device.
End-to-end encryption for secure and confidential meetings.

Pros:

User-friendly interface
Flexible pricing plans
Integrations with popular productivity tools
24/7 customer support

Cons:

Advanced features require additional subscriptions or add-ons

Pricing Plans of GoTo Meeting:

Pricing details of each pricing plan for GoTo Meeting are given below:

Plan	Pricing
Professional	$12/organizer/month, billed annually
Business	$16/organizer/month, billed annually
Enterprise	Contact Sales

Conclusion‌‌

Video conferencing is the future of communication. With these software platforms, you can easily connect with your team, clients, and partners from anywhere in the world.

The platforms are easy to use and provide a seamless experience for all users. This makes them the perfect solution for any business looking to improve its communication and collaboration. So choose the suitable software from the above-mentioned list and experience the power of video conferencing for yourself!

FAQs

What is video conferencing software?

Video conferencing software is an advanced technology that allows users to conduct real-time, online meetings, presentations, and video calls with one or more people via the Internet.

Which is the best video conferencing software?

The best video conferencing software includes the following:

Zoom
Zoho Meeting
Microsoft Teams
Google Teams
Skype
Slack
GlobalMeet

Who are Zoom’s top competitors?

The top competitors of Zoom are Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex Meetings, Skype, and Zoho Meetings.‌‌‌‌‌‌

April 11, 2024

How Pandemic Contributed to the Success of Zoom Video Communications?

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Zoom.

The global video conferencing market size is expected to reach USD 10.92 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period. Zoom Video Communications, Inc. incorporated on April 04, 2011, is a provider of video-first communication platform and Web conferencing services. In recent times, Zoom became a global phenomenon as businesses had to revert to working from home.

The Company offers cloud-native platform, which unifies cloud video conferencing, online meetings, group messaging and a software-based conference room system, which enables users to easily experience Zoom Meetings in their physical meeting spaces.

With the coronavirus pandemic hitting the whole world at large, face-to-face business activities had to take a plunge. That’s when this company became a savior for every online meeting that took place. We are talking about the Zoom cloud meeting which was founded by Eric S. Yuan in 2011.

Zoom is an American company offering remote conferencing services. It is headquartered in San Jose, California. Zoom also has offices in Europe, Asia, and Australia. It primarily provides a remote conferencing service that combines other tertiary services like video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration to facilitate conducting business virtually. It is one of the online meeting platforms which paved its way for success.

Zoom success during pandemic was unexpected and it was a turning point in their organization. Read on to know more about the Zoom success story below.

Zoom – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Zoom
Headquarters	San Jose, California, United States
Industry	Video Communication and Conferencing
Founder	Eric Yuan
Founded	2011
Total Funding Raised	$276 Million
Parent Organization	Zoom Video Communications, Inc.

Zoom – About
Zoom – Impact of COVID19
Zoom – Founder
Zoom – Startup Story
Zoom – Customer Acquisition
Zoom – Mission
Zoom – Business Model
Zoom – Mergers and Acquisitions
Zoom – Funding and Investors
Zoom – Valuation
Zoom – Competitors
Zoom – Challenges Faced
Zoom – Future Plans

Zoom – About

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (or simply Zoom) is an American communications technology company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides videotelephony and online chat services through a cloud-based peer-to-peer software platform and is used for teleconferencing, telecommuting, distance education, and social relations.

The company develops a people-centric cloud service that transforms real-time collaboration experience. The Company offers unified meeting experience, a cloud service that provides a 3-in-1 meeting platform with HD video conferencing, mobility, and web meetings. The company’s cloud-native platform enables face-to-face video and connects users across various devices and locations in a single meeting. Zoom, which was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in San Jose, California, serves companies of all sizes from all industries around the world.

Zoom Cloud meetings offer a free video-conferencing facility for up to 100 participants. It offers a communications platform that connects people through video, voice, chat, and content sharing. Zoom is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Chrome OS, and Linux. Originally, it came with a 40-minute time limit but now due to coronavirus lockdown, this limit has been removed. If the companies want to add more participants and avail of more advanced features, paid subscriptions are available with the Zoom meeting app. Zoom’s closed source software is claimed to be compliant with FedRAMP, HIPAA, PIPEDA and PHIPA, and the GDPR.

Initially, when Zoom was launched, it could host video conferences with only 15 participants which got increased to 25, two years after its inception. From there, it directly jumped to a participation limit of 100 in 2015 followed by 1000 for business customers.

Users can hold one-on-one meetings or conduct video conferences with up to 500 participants. Screen sharing allows meeting participants to better coordinate within meetings and distribute information.

The company has an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, collaboration, chat, and webinars across mobile devices, desktops, telephones, and room systems.

The worldwide adoption of Zoom is powered by its two core products: Zoom Meetings and Chat as well as Zoom Rooms and Workspaces. Zoom Meetings can be attended and held via a web browser, or desktop and mobile applications. The Chat works as an extension to the Meeting product where users can interact through a chat with each other, share files, or create groups.

Rooms and Workspaces, on the other hand, allows businesses to utilize hardware such as a computer, tablet, camera, microphone, and more to hold virtual meetings. The product is specifically aimed at larger-scale organizations, which need to hold meetings across different offices. To make integration with the hardware easier, Zoom even offers its own set of hardware that they developed in collaboration with other manufacturers.

Zoom – Impact of COVID19

COVID-19 really boosted the success story of Zoom. This is when the Zoom Success strategy worked out really well. We’ve outlined its impact below!

With the pandemic intensifying, lockdowns were announced in almost all the affected countries which took Zoom to an altogether new level.
Be it companies, schools, or colleges, all started using Zoom Video Communications to conduct business meetings and deliver lectures.
Zoom offered its services to K–12 schools free of charge in many countries.
Zoom also released a paid education plan which allows unlimited meetings for up to 300 people. Not just that, these meetings are graced with the options of recording, transcription, and various other administrative controls.
These activities contributed to a sharp rise in Zoom usage and contributed to Zoom success during pandemic. For example, in just a day, the Zoom application was downloaded 3,43,000 times.
The company gained over 2.22 million users in the initial months of 2020. This number exceeded the number of users and Zoom had amassed entirely in 2019.
Consequently, by March 2020, the Zoom share price increased to US$160.98 per share. This drafted an increase of about 263% as compared to its initial share prices when it came out with an IPO.
Zoom also became the go-to social platform for the Millennials. During this pandemic when they couldn’t step out, they used Zoom for blind dates and recess and many more fun activities that could turn their boredom into delight.
The founder, Yuan, added $20 Million to his net worth in just one day. This took his total net worth to $5.6 Billion!

Zoom – Founder

The Founder of Zoom is Eric S. Yuan.

Educational qualification

Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in applied mathematics and computer science from the Shandong University of Science and Technology.

Early life

Yuan was working with WebEx, which was acquired by Cisco Systems and that’s when he became vice president of engineering. After that, he went on to launch Zoom Video Communications.

Zoom – Startup Story

Eric Yuan is a former corporate vice president for Cisco WebEx. He left Cisco in April 2011 with 40 engineers to start a new company, originally named Saasbee, Inc. Prior to starting Zoom, Yuan spent 14 years leading engineering teams – first at WebEx, then at Cisco after its acquisition of WebEx in 2007.

At Cisco, he often saw how frustrated the company’s customers were with their inability to listen to their demands and the slow product iteration process.

The company had trouble finding investors because many people thought the video telephony market was already saturated. In June 2011, the company raised $3 million of seed money from WebEx founder Subrah Iyar, former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman, and venture capitalists Matt Ocko, TSVC, and Bill Tai.

In May 2012, the company changed its name to Zoom, influenced by Thacher Hurd’s children’s book Zoom City. In September 2012, Zoom launched a beta version that could host conferences with up to 15 video participants. In November 2012, the company signed Stanford University as its first customer.

The service was launched in January 2013 after the company raised a $6 million Series A round from Qualcomm Ventures, Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang, WebEx founder Subrah Iyar, and former Cisco SVP and General Counsel Dan Scheinman. Zoom launched version 1.0 of the program allowing the maximum number of participants per conference to be 25. By the end of its first month, Zoom had 400,000 users and by May 2013 it had 1 million users. In the recent COVID times, Zoom rose to worldwide prominence as many companies use it to conduct meetings and organize their work processes.

Zoom – Customer Acquisition

Zoom's Business Customers growth — Zoom’s Business Customers growth

Within just one year of inception, Zoom recorded participation of 1 million user base. In its first year, Zoom established partnerships with multiple B2B collaboration software providers which included Redbooth (then Teambox), and together created a program that was named “Works with Zoom“. This, in turn, worked for Zoom in establishing more superior partnerships with hardware and software vendors like Logitech, Vaddio, and InFocus.

Zoom in 2014

Zoom had already reached 10 million users by 2014. And this number skyrocketed in 2015 when it went on to 40 million individuals with 65,000 organizations subscribed to the Zoom Video Conferencing Services. By 2015, Zoom had already hosted a total of 1 billion meeting minutes since its inception.

Zoom in 2017

Zoom hosted Zoomtopia 2017 in the year that was Zoom’s first-ever annual user conference. During this conference, they announced a dynamic series of new products and partnerships, which also included Zoom’s Partnership with Meta. This partnership was envisioned to integrate Zoom with Augmented Reality, more popularly known as AR. Also, Zoom announced its native support for Skype for Business and its futile integration with Slack, Workplace by Facebook, and its initial steps towards artificial intelligence (AI) speech-to-text converter.

Zoom – Mission

Zoom’s mission statement says, “Our mission is to develop a people-centric cloud service that unifies your meeting experience and improves the quality and effectiveness of communications forever.“

Zoom – Business Model

The business model of Zoom is built on charging businesses a reoccurring subscription fee for the various products the company offers. On top of that, Zoom makes money from the promotion of hardware products.

Zoom – Revenue and Growth

Zoom's Revenue Growth — Zoom’s Revenue Growth

Zoom has recorded annual revenue of $953 Million in 2021.

Zoom Video Communications’ revenue for the quarter ending October 31, 2020 was $0.777B, a 366.52% increase year-over-year. Zoom Video Communications revenue for the twelve months ending October 31, 2020 was $1.957B, a 262.29% increase year-over-year.

Zoom has 504,900 business customers.

Zoom – Mergers and Acquisitions

Zoom extended its communication network and service through mergers and acquisition as listed below.

In 2015, Zoom announced the integration of Zoom video conferencing with Salesforce’s customer relationship management platform. This collaboration allowed the sales team to initiate such conferences with their sales leads without leaving the application.
In 2017, Zoom went on to launch Telehealth. This platform is a scalable product in the telehealth category which allows doctors to remotely visit their patients through video communications for consultation.
In 2017, Zoom Video Communications announced a partnership with Polycom. This partnership integrated Zoom’s video meetings into the partnered company, Polycom’s conferencing systems and enabled a wide array of features that included multiple screens and device meetings, HD and wireless screen sharing, and calendar integration with Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and iCal.
In March 2020, NextTech AR Solutions acquired a software company named Jolokia. Through this acquisition, it intends to integrate Zoom into Jolokia’s Inferno platform. The highlight is that this integration will allow Zoom Video meetings to support up to 100,000 participants. Not just that, with added and advanced features like “real-time Q&A Plus immersive AR.” and additional features like the ability to start a Zoom meeting from the Inferno platform and the incorporation of closed captioning in 64 languages to meeting recordings.
Very recently, in May 2020, Zoom acquired Keybase. Keybase offers end-to-end encrypted chat, file-sharing, and code-hosting all based on a cryptographic platform.
Zoom has acquired German startup Karlsruhe Information Technology Solutions (KITES) on June 30, 2021. The company’s acquisition would bring in the knowledge of language translation via machine learning and is deemed to be a step forward to break the language barriers and speed up the work across the organizations the world over.

Zoom – Funding and Investors

Zoom has raised a total of $276 Million in funding over 8 rounds. Their latest funding was raised in January 2017 from a Series D round.

Here is a list of all the funding rounds of Zoom:

Date	Stage	Amount	Investors
November 2021	Post IPO Equity	$130 Million	ARK Investment Management
January 2017	Series D	$100 million	Sequoia Capital, Emergence Capital Partners
February 2015	Series C	$30 million	Emergence Capital Partners, Horizons Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures
September 2013	Series B	$6.5 million	Horizons Ventures, Jerry Yang, Patrick Soon-Shiong
January 2013	Series A	$6 million	Qualcomm Ventures, Jerry Yang
June 2011	Seed Round	$3 million	TEEC Angel Fund, Michael Everett, Matt Ocko
February 2010	Pre Seed Round	$500K	–

Zoom – Valuation

The Zoom valuation is currently at $9.2 billion. It raised a total of $751 million at IPO.

Zoom – Competitors

There are several online video conferencing services available.

Top competitors of Zoom are:

Cisco WebEx Meetings
GoToMeeting
Google Hangouts Meet
BlueJeans Meetings
Skype
Webex
Slack
Adobe Connect
Cisco Jabber
TeamViewer

Zoom – Challenges Faced

With all this extra attention, Zoom is now facing a huge privacy and security backlash as security experts, privacy advocates, lawmakers, and even the FBI warn that Zoom’s default settings aren’t secure enough. Zoom now risks becoming a victim of its own success.

Zoom has battled security and privacy concerns before. Apple was forced to step in and silently remove Zoom software from Macs last year after a serious security vulnerability let websites hijack Mac cameras. In recent weeks, scrutiny over Zoom’s security practices has intensified, with a lot of the concern focused on its default settings and the mechanisms that make the app so easy to use.

Each Zoom call has a randomly generated ID number between 9 and 11 digits long that’s used by participants to gain access to a meeting. Researchers have found that these meeting IDs are easy to guess, allowing anyone to get into meetings.

While Zoom still states on its website that you can “secure a meeting with end-to-end encryption,” the company was forced to admit it’s actually misleading people. “It is not possible to enable E2E encryption for Zoom video meetings,” said a Zoom spokesperson in a statement.

Zoom – Future Plans

During the vision keynote of Zoomtopia 2020, Zoom Video Communications, Inc. unveiled major developments to its platform that evolve the future of communications.

OnZoom: A one-of-a-kind online event platform for Zoom users to create and host free, paid, and fundraising events. Hosts can grow their businesses, expand their reach into new audiences, and give back through native donation integration. Zoom users can discover these events and sign up for new experiences with additional functionality like gifting tickets and an attendee dashboard to keep tabs on favorite events and brands.

New end-to-end encryption (E2EE) offering: This optional feature will be generally available in technical preview to free and paid Zoom users next week. It can be enabled at the account, group, and user level, and, depending on how the account admin sets up the feature, can be toggled on and off by the host on a by-meeting basis. When enabled, Zoom’s E2EE ensures that communication between meeting participants using Zoom applications is encrypted using cryptographic keys known only to the devices of those participants.

Customizable SDK: Zoom is adding new enhancements to its SDKs, enabling developers and companies to enrich their own custom video-based applications with Zoom’s platform, available now on Android, iOS, and web. Developers can take advantage of a customizable UI and session control, making it easier for them to bring high-quality video, audio, and instant chat to their applications.

Zapps: Zapps enable developers to create apps that power workflows before, during, and after the meeting. Zoom has brought first and third-party developed apps into the meeting experience for real-time adoption. Zapps are designed to give developers a fast and flexible web view canvas to create apps, viral distribution, and IT deployment and manageability.

FAQs

Is Zoom free?

The basic plan for Zoom is free for all with no trial period.

Who is the owner of Zoom?

Eric S. Yuan is the owner of Zoom. He founded Zoom in 2011 in San Jose, California, United States.

Who’s the CEO of Zoom?

Eric Yuan is the CEO of Zoom.

How does Zoom make money?

What are the competitors of Zoom?

Top competitors of Zoom are:

Cisco WebEx Meetings
GoToMeeting
Google Hangouts Meet
BlueJeans Meetings
Skype
Webex
Slack
Adobe Connect

May 4, 2022

Top 8 Best Alternatives For Microsoft Power Automate
Nowadays Project Management Software is a necessary technology, that is widely used by many people searching for user-friendly, productive software solutions with dependencies, resource allocation, project management, and recurring tasks. One of the most popular automated workflow systems is Microsoft Power Automate (earlier known as Microsoft Flow) but people are looking for other automated systems that offer more features for lesser costs.

What is Microsoft Flow? The platform is a cloud-based system that allows a user to create automated workflows, simplify various business processes and manage them more effectively. Microsoft Flow now known as Microsoft Power Automate is a new app that is a part of the office 365 suite and allows users or employees to automate business processes by building workflows based on certain triggers and actions.

Once the flow is built into the device, it can be managed on the desktop or even through a mobile app. Microsoft Power Automate can be integrated with various Microsoft services and apps such as Power BI, Dynamics 365, PowerApps, and Office 365.

One of the main reasons employees use Microsoft Power Automateis because of its services like automation for notifications, synchronizing files, alerts, data gathering, and communication that will help them spend less time. Let us take a look at some of the top Microsoft flow alternatives.

What are the uses of Microsoft Power Automate?
Features of Microsoft Power Automate
IFTTT
Zapier
Huginn
n8n.io
Integromat
Skyvia
Automate.io
CloudHQ
Conclusion
Frequently Asked Questions

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What are the uses of Microsoft Power Automate?

One of the main uses of the Microsoft workflow tool is that it automates everything from a simple push-up notification, alerts, data gathering, and important content management. So, for example, an automated workflow can send sales representatives an email or text message with details about the lead. It can also be used to copy files, as when a new file is added to dropbox for business, the workflow can instantly transport the file to SharePoint.

When it comes to Collecting data, for instance, it helps users find out what people are saying about a particular service, product, or brand by capturing new tweet that mentions the product, service, or brand and putting a copy of those tweets in an SNL database. Microsoft flow software bots can also help employees trigger flows within Team’s conversations. Microsoft changed its name from Microsoft flow to Microsoft Power Automate in 2019.

Anyone that has a Microsoft account can use flow, it also comes along with business versions of Office 365 workflow tools and Dynamics 365. Microsoft Flow cost is divided into three pricing plans that come with a certain number of runs and checks.
- The Per-user plan: This allows the user to create unlimited flows and allows individual users to analyze their processes.
- The Per-user plan with attended RPA: This plan allows individual users to analyze their processes and create unlimited cloud flows, plus automate legacy applications via the RPA and AI. This also includes 5,000 AI Builder service credits per month. This plan costs $40 per month per user.
- The Per Flow Plan: Implement cloud flows with reserved capacity for unlimited users across your organization. It also offers its users many exclusive premium features and add ons and is $500 per month for five flows. While additional flows may be purchased for $100 per flow per month.
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Features of Microsoft Power Automate
- Unlike flow alternatives, this platform can integrate with the other Microsoft products, software, and apps like Power BI, Dynamics 365, PowerApps and is a Office 365 alternative.
- The Microsoft workflow software can also be used with other apps such as Salesforce, SQL Server, Twitter, Box, DocuSign, Slack, Skype, and Google Drive.
- Flow offers a wide arrange of prebuilt flows known as templates depending on what the user wants.
- Save Gmail attachments to OneDrive or dropbox.
- When the Power BI data alert is triggered, the flow will send emails to the audience.
- Save tweets with specific hashtags, brand, service, or products names to a SharePoint list.
- Get notifications when you receive an email from your employees or boss.
- The Microsoft flow chart creator helps you make your own (personalize) flows depending on what action you want, for example, it will manually press a button when the flow is triggered or schedule action based on time or day.
Many of these alternatives come from a wide variety of platforms like Online / Web-based, Windows, Linux, SaaS, and iPhone, etc.

How to use Microsoft flow for basic tasks? The platform has both low code or codeless automation tools and cloud-based apps that can be used by users to connect apps, they can also use drag-and-drop tools, prebuilt connectors, automated office processes, and perform mundane tasks with ease.

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Here are the top alternatives to Microsoft Power Automate

IFTTT

IFTTT Website

IFTTT is also known as If This Then That is a popular platform that provides services that allow a user to program response to events in the world. IFTTT is one of the Best Microsoft flows alternatives because it can be used as a web interface or as apps on both iOS and Android. The platform was first founded by Tibbets and Jesse Tan and launched in 2011.

Unlike IFTTT alternatives, this tool uses syntax and conditional statements to automate workflows, not only that it also offers single action workflows. One of the main features of IFTTT is that the user can create automation chains between many of their apps so that certain events trigger other events to occur automatically.

IFTTT was initially free, but in 2020 it switched to a limited freemium model with a subscription-based version known as “IFTTT Pro”, which allows services to use conditional statements and query data for more complex tasks.

Zapier

Zapier Website

Zapier is a well-known company that allows end-users to integrate web applications that they use. Zapier was started by Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig, and Mike Knoop as part of the first Startup Weekend Columbia in 2011. The company is one of the top flow alternatives, which is currently based in Sunnyvale, California, and has over 350 employees in the US and 23 other countries.

Its main features are that it provides workflows to automate the use of web applications together at the business or personal level. People use zapier for Facebook lead ads but don’t allow users to make automate multistep workflows, but also provide its users with third-party apps. Zapier’s open-source alternative has a free option, as well as two levels of monthly paid subscription plans for businesses.

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Huginn

Huginn is another popular Microsoft power-apps alternative to Microsoft flow as it is a web-based scheduling service that runs workers knowns as agents. Huginn was created by Andrew Cantino in 2013 to help users create agents that monitor and act on their behalf. Huginn alternatives like Zapier and IFTTT but is open source and similar to each other.

With Huginn, a user can automate simple tasks such as watching for air travel deals, constantly watching for certain topics on Twitter, or scanning for sensitive data in your code. This Microsoft flow alternative is responsible for performing functions like sending an email or requesting a website and can be scheduled or executed manually. After installing Huginn, the user can extend it by using one of the many available agent gems, or by creating their own.

n8n.io

n8n.io Website

n8n.io is free and powerful automated alternatives that provide an open node-based workflow automation tool that can be self-hosted, easily extended, and used with other internal tools. It can also be used with 3^rdparty web applications and custom in-house tools to automate repetitive tasks. The platform is a Microsoft zapier alternative and was founded by Jan Oberhauser in 2019 with its headquarters based in Berlin.

Users of n8n.io can move beyond making simple integrations to build multistep workflows that can be combined with third-party APIs and their own internal tools to create easy-to-use automation. Flow alternatives are the best for small startups to the enterprise as it is available to self-host, and allow you to add your own custom functions, logic, and apps.

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Integromat

Integromat Website

Integromat is a top alternative to office 365 for windows 10 and is a well-known mobile app/automation tool that allows its users or businesses to automate tasks that are currently done manually. The company was founded by Michal Toman, Ondrej Gazda, Patrik in 2012 and is currently freemium. It provides services such as connecting to any app or service, unlimited checks unlike microflow flow, and over 1500 ready-to-use templates.

Unlike the Microsoft workflow tool, this platform users can track real-time scenario executives to complete visualization of the data, schedule according to their preference, have multiple teams work on the same scenario, work with different kinds of files, etc among the various services. It is also similar to Microsoft flowchart software as it triggers which can return bundles that were newly added or updated and has modules that can split a large bundle into multiple smaller bundles.

Skyvia

Skyvia Website

Skyvia is one of the top flow alternatives and a widely preferred freemium cloud data platform for many people as it has no coding data integration, cloud to cloud backup, management via SQL and even data access through a Data interface. Skyvia was founded in 1997 and has its headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic. This is one of the Microsoft powerapps alternatives that is a quicker and easier solution for many data-related tasks without the requirement of coding, while it is similar to Microsoft flow chart creator.

It’s known for its solutions to Data Integration, cloud data Backup, data management with SQL, CSV import/export, Query, and Connect as it is similar to power bi data-driven alert. Unlike Skyvia alternatives, it does not require locally installed software except for a web browser, however these products come with their own set of pricing and are priced separately.

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Automate.io

Automate.io Website

Automate.io is known to be the world easiest workflow automation and iPaaS platform. The platform helps many small to medium businesses in automating repetitive tasks and workflows by connecting their cloud applications. Automate.io is a leading power automate alternative, founded in 2016 and has its headquarters in San Francisco, California.

Automate.io is one of the best Microsoft Power Automate alternatives as users can send automated emails, run campaigns, automate social and mobile messages, run smart Twitter campaigns, etc. Compared to other automate io alternatives, the platform has over 200 plus connectors for all leading cloud and SaaS apps available. Other features include formatting data, time delay into your workflows, data encryption, etc.

CloudHQ

CloudHQ Website

CloudHQ is an IT company that was founded by Senad Dizdar in 2011 with its headquarters in San Francisco, California. This Microsoft Power Automate alternative offers a huge suite of productivity tools that can also be integrated with Gmail. Its main tools are an email tracker, email templates, and email sharing. One of the few Microsoft powerapps alternatives that come in two options one-way sync to two-way sync.

One way sync replicates from one main cloud service to a secondary account, while two-way sync adds and does revisions in the main account that will eventually be replicated to the secondary account. Just like Microsoft workflow software, the main objective of the company is to synchronize data for companies make it easy for sharing of files and data across multiple platforms, integration between cloud services, project collaboration and backup of data, etc.

Conclusion

Many of these workflow automation platforms usually have similar features like automation for notifications, synchronize files, data synchronization, alerts, data gathering, and communication, etc. And that is exactly what Microsoft Power Automate is known for, but the best apps like flow can be costly and complicated to use.

This is why the alternatives above can be used as they help small businesses get these features at an economical price so they can automate away your tedious and repetitive tasks. Hopefully, these Microsoft Power Automate alternatives helped you find what you were looking for.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Microsoft Power Automate?

Microsoft Power Automate also known as Microsoft Flow is a cloud-based system with which a user can create automated workflows, simplifying the business processes and machining it easier to manage them more effectively.

What are some of the features of Microsoft Power Automate features?

Some of the features of Microsoft flow are that you can integrate it with the other Microsoft products, Save Gmail attachments, save tweets with specific hashtags or names, get notifications, and make your own flows, etc.

How much does Microsoft Power Automate cost?

Microsoft Flow has three pricing plans that come with a certain number of runs and checks. Which is the free version, The mid-tier level, Flow plan 1 costing $5 per month and The business level, Flow Plan 2 which costs $15 per month.

What are the alternatives of Microsoft power Automate?

The Microsoft Power Automate alternatives are CloudHQ, Automate.io, Skyvia, Integromat, n8n.io, Huginn, Zapier and IFTTT.

What replaced Microsoft Flow?

Microsoft rebranded Flow to ‘Power Automate’, but it is the same platform with some advanced tools.
January 2, 2022
5 Best Discord Alternatives You Should Use in 2022
When talking about texting, today, every task or meeting is mostly done through texting as it provides a better platform for discussion and sharing data with team members or friends. While keeping this in mind, it is very important to have an application that provides you with the proper features that you require and possesses a good facility for the security of your chat. Texting is important for both professionals as well as gamers. And, the gamers require the proper application that does not ruin their game performance, while texting.

For these purposes, an application called, Discord is quite famous among many people. Discord provides you with a convenient yet fancy space for texting and is loved among gamers. But, when talking about security or end-to-end encryption, Discord lacks in many ways. It is not a safe application, especially for professionals. Also, it does not prove professionals’ features and services.

Texting is an important part of our day. So, it is necessary to use an application that gives you better services and some incredible features, alongside.

Through this article, we present you with some fascinating and absolutely safe alternatives for Discord. Stay tuned!

Best Discord Alternatives
1. Wire
2. Element
3. TeamSpeak
4. Telegram
5. Skype
Conclusion
FAQs

About Discord and Best alternatives of Discord

Best Discord Alternatives

Wire

Wire – Best Discord Alternative

Wire has proven an incredible texting application that provides a safe space for you and your team. It allows you to easily video call or shares any of your files, without worrying about the security measures. It’s a great space to create groups for important discussions and sharing tasks or projects.

Also, it allows you to invite users to an encrypted group created by you. With its features, it is an incredible Discord alternative.

Features
- Conference calling feature
- File transfer feature
- Instant messaging
- Data synchronization
Pricing
- Wire Enterprise is offering Wire worth $9.5/month, on buying annually.
- Wire Pro is offering Wire worth $5.83/month, on buying annually.
For other platforms, you may contact the Wire support team.

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Element

Element – Best Discord Alternative

Discord is quite famous among gamers and considered an incredible application for texting and calling. But, what needs to be taken under consideration is the security and privacy of the chats. Discord is no doubt an amazing application but it does not provide end-to-end encryption. In that case, it is very important to choose an application as an alternative to Discord. Element is the application you must check out. It’s a video and chats application that offers end-to-end encryption.

Element comes with tons of tools to prove a smooth workflow. It is mainly used by professionals because of its amazing features. It allows you to share files of any size within any group, or friend. It is built on the Matrix open communication protocol, which provides a feature of calling within its estimated network.

Features
- Matrix protocol
- End-to-End encryption
- Clean UI
- PopTransfer any size of the file
Pricing

Although this application is free of cost, it provides a plus pro plan service of $2/month.

TeamSpeak

TeamSpeak – Best Discord Alternative

TeamSpeak is considered the best alternative for Discord. It is a brilliant application based on a VoIP communication system mainly made for voice mails or chats. It is absolutely end-to-end encrypted with some very advanced features like high and clear quality for the voice text, clear sound without any disturbance, total security of chat ad incredible performance.

Features
- Instant delivery of messages
- Volume adjustment according to the microphone and echo and background noise cancellation
- Synchronize data, servers and durable setting between device along with cloud-based service
- Absolute control on who can join your channel, who can chat with you, and any more such features
Pricing

The price of TeamSlack is based on the server software you prefer for the gaming license. It varies according to the game licence plan you prefer, such as:
- The annual renewal of server 1 is $55
- The annual renewal of server 2 is $100
- The annual renewal of server 2 with 256 slots is $175
- The annual renewal of server 2 with 512 slots is $300
- Annual renewal of server 2 with 1024 slots $500
Telegram

Telegram – Best Discord Alternative

Telegram is an absolute secure texting app that provides you with a great package of features. Telegram is a popular choice among many people as it is an open-source application and very handy to use.

With being an open-sourced application, it assures the security of your chat, completely.

Features
- Self-destructive feature together with end-to-end encrypted chats
- Share any file regardless of its size
- Instant messaging
- Groups can include up to 200,000 members
- Customize texting
Pricing

This open-source application is absolutely free of cost.

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Skype

Skype – Best Discord Alternative

Skype is an absolutely convenient and handy application that provides you with a simple and familiar service of texting. Skype is quite famous for its amazing feature of texting and video chatting. It is the platform that provides you with the simplest method and functioning that is required for communication with your friend or a group.

Besides, it permits you to share files and chat within any group together with amazing video chatting features. Skype gives you one of the most incredible chatting experiences that you must try.

Features
- Very handy and convenient
- Share files up to 300MB
- Video call, audio call and texting
Platforms that support skype

Windows, Android, macOS, and iOS

Pricing
- With its amazing features, skype is free of cost which is amazing.
Conclusion

Discord has been an incredible texting application, especially for gamers. But, in the long term, it can not be trusted with the privacy of chats. Therefore, it’s good to have another possible alternative that provides you with end-to-end encryption and other advanced features. These alternatives are described in this article with their possible details for you to choose conveniently. It’s very important to own the privacy of your data while sharing it on a digital platform with someone. So, keep these things in mind and get started with your texting app.

FAQs

Is the Discord application closing?

No, there isn’t any news on the closing of the Discord application.

Is TeamSlack a better application than Discord?

Well, in several ways, yes. TeamSpeak provides you with a safe and secure space to discuss any of your topics in the chats. Besides, TeamSlack has been providing their customers with some extreme facilities like channel support, dark mode and more.

Is hacking possible through Discord?

Yes, there have been some cases where the user’s discord account got hacks due to lack of proper security. Also, some concerning issues like stealing a user’s account certificates from Discord.
December 25, 2021
Alternatives to Zoom App while Working Remotely
The COVID-19 pandemic has made governments across the world to take measures to contain the spread of coronavirus. Many governments have implemented lockdown. So almost all the companies are asking their employees to stay home and work remotely as much as possible to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The companies are asking employees to keep in touch with one another while working in teams, with the help of phone & video conferencing. To increase the efficiency of work, the right software and tools must be chosen. Many are using video conferencing software like Zoom to get work done and talk to colleagues or family.

Video Conferencing tools have become the Need of the Hour

Zoom is one of the fastest-growing video conferencing apps out there. It’s easy to set up and host video calls. But due to recent security and privacy concerns about Zoom, the company has landed itself into trouble. While the company promises it’s working to address those issues, one can switch to other similar apps offering the same services rather than waiting to get issues solved.

There are plenty of video chat services, each with their advantages and disadvantages making them better suited to different uses. Some of these have free versions, some are paid while some offer temporary access to additional features if you need them. Though some are paid ones, they are worthy of spending money. This article will show you some of the best alternatives to Zoom.
Best Software Alternatives to Zoom
- 1. Cisco Webex
- 2. Skype Meet Now
- 3. Google Hangouts & Google Meet
- 4. Microsoft Teams
- 5. Zoho Meeting
- 6. GoToMeeting
- 7. Crowdcast
Cisco Webex Meetings

The best alternative to Zoom is Cisco Webex Meetings. Webex is a video-conferencing app whose company was originally founded in 1995 and was subsequently acquired by Cisco in 2007. Since then, it is known as one of the best business applications and continues to focus on serving companies. It also offers a trial free version that’s worth checking out. It has expanded the features of the trial free version from 50 to 100 participants, removed of the 40-minute limit on meetings and added call-in abilities.

Cisco Webex Meetings

Webex also offers premium plans starting at $13.50 per month, per host. The premium plans offer additional features like cloud storage, recording transcripts, a downloadable video file of meetings, customizable meeting room links, and more. The company also sells a range of video conferencing products for business users such as the Cisco Webex Room Kit and the Cisco Webex Desk Pro.

It’s one of the great apps like zoom for small businesses that often hold short meetings, as the service offers a free plan. If that’s too short for you, upgrading to one of the company’s paid plans is the way to go. With Webex, one gets all the standard business-focused features one would expect.

Key Features
- Free Trial: Available
- Free Period: 30 days
- Premium Price: Starts at $13.5 per month
- Number of participants: Up to 200
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Skype Meet Now

Another alternative to Zoom app is Skype. Skype is one of the few video-conferencing software that was made available to the public in 2003. It is popular for its high-quality audio and video due to its large bandwidth. It’s Meet Now feature offers free video-conferencing. Meet Now in Skype allows you to easily set up a collaboration space and invite both Skype contacts and friends or family who are not on Skype.

How do I create a meeting in Skype?

For more professional meetings and conferences, the paid version is also available – Skype for Business that helps you manage your employee accounts with enterprise-grade security. In standard Skype, number of participants is limited to 25 people on a conference call at once but Skype for Business raises this limit to 250, making it much more suitable for large-scale presentations, meetings or live webinars. It just costs $2 per user per month.

Key Features
- Keeps a recording of the call for up to 30 days.
- Can blur the background (if required).
- Share presentations.
- Skype for Business Price: $2 per user per month
- Number of participants: Up to 250
Google Hangouts & Google Meet

If you need a google alternative to the Zoom app, we have Google Meet. Google Hangouts is a video-conferencing app by Google, which is free to use. You can use Hangouts to video chat with up to only 10 people. There aren’t a lot of features. You still have access to a text chat and can share your screen, but that’s all about it.

If you are an existing G Suite (paid) customer, you may want to consider looking at Hangouts Meet. Meet allows a few additional features like real-time captions and support for up to 250 participants and 100,000 live stream viewers. The video conferencing service is part of the company’s G Suite subscription that includes several other features.

Google Meet

G Suite starts at $6 per month per user and includes access to Gmail for Business and also up to unlimited cloud storage space, as well as access to all of Google’s other services such as Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc. for your business. Thus, Hangouts Meet gives you all the business-centered tools you need to hold online meetings. You can record and then save them to Drive, easily invite people to join in via a link, and much more.

Key Features
- Free plan available: Only Google Hangouts
- Free trial: 14 days
- Meet Pricing: Starts at $6 per month
- Number of participants: Up to 250
- Gives access to all of Google’s services like Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc
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Microsoft Teams

Another Zoom alternative is Microsoft Teams. In 2017, Microsoft replaced its Skype for Business tool with a new service called Microsoft Teams that combines messaging as well as video conferencing into one. It allows you to host online meetings for up to 250 people. You get all the business-focused features expected from a tool like this including screen sharing, instant messaging, and the ability to record meetings.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams pricing starts at $5.00 per month, per user. Microsoft’s video conferencing tool is just one part of the Google Teams subscription plan. You also get access to all Office apps, 1TB of OneDrive storage, and more. The exact features depend on the plan you go with.

Key Features
- Free plan available: No
- Free trial: No
- Pricing: Starts at $5 per month
- Number of participants: Up to 250
Zoho Meeting

Zoho Meeting is a nice alternative to Zoom app. It is a great tool for online meetings as well as webinars and comes with lots of features. You can share your screen, mute the mics of the participants, and record your group chats & calls among other things. And you can easily import documents, spreadsheets, and presentations since the service is integrated with Zoho’s Office suite. Zoho Meeting pricing starts at $8 per month.

Zoho Meeting

The open-source video conferencing service allows you to host end-to-end encrypted video meetings and calls for up to 100 people. Participants don’t need to sign up for a login; they can access the meetings through a link or a dial-in via web browsers, desktop clients, or mobile apps. Zoho has even provided a handy chart comparing its product to Zoom.

Key Features
- Free plan available: No
- Free trial: 14 days
- Pricing: Starts at $8 per month
- Number of participants: Up to 250
GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting is a feature-packed Zoom alternative and one of the first video conferencing services out there. The entry-level plan allows for 150 participants, while the enterprise plan can include up to 3,000. GoToMeeting pricing starts at $12 per month. It also offers a free 30-Day Trial.

GoToMeeting

GoToMeeting offers all the standard tools, like the ability to record meetings and share your screen. You can also have multiple meeting facilitators. And the service is accessible on web browsers, Mac, PC, Linux, iOS, and Android. Whether you’re a small business or a large company with thousands of employees, GoToMeeting has you covered.

Key Features
- Free Trial: Available
- Free trial Period: 30 days
- Pricing: Starts at $12 per month
- Number of participants: Up to 3,000
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Crowdcast

When you want to offer a special member or audience the opportunity to learn from you or share the news with your fans who are excited to attend, you need to host seminar-like event. With your topic and materials on hand, all that’s left is setting up a webinar to broadcast the workshop. For this Crowdcast is a great tool.

Crowdcast is the most engaging and easy-to-use live streaming experience on the market. It is a browser-based solution for creating interactive webinars, live Q&As, workshops, and online summits that meet your needs. Crowdcast offers a simple platform to engage with attendees via live chat, polls, time-stamped Q&As, and face-to-face calls. Beyond collecting emails, Crowdcast provides advanced data and analytics around your event and audience and much more!

Crowdcast

Crowdcast tries to simplify that by making webinars a teaching tool to connect with your audience. Teachers, thought leaders, and professionals can use Crowdcast to reach out and share their knowledge with their fans and followers. Whether you’re hosting a workshop or a 3-day digital conference, you can create events where interaction and conversation are necessary.

Crowdcast costs little more due to its features at $49.00 per month. Managing live events successfully requires careful preparation and hard work. With multistream, built-in engagement tools, and quick payments for paid events, Crowdcast makes sure you only need to focus on bringing high-quality content to your audience.

Key Features
- Pricing: Starts at $49.00 per month.
- Free trial: 14 days
- Number of real-time viewers: Up to 3,000
- Lets you hold digital conference up to 3 days
FAQs

What is Zoom app?

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars.

Is Zoom secure?

Yes, it is secure.

Who are zoom competitors?

Competitors and Alternatives to Zoom:-
- Microsoft
- Google
- Cisco
- 247meeting
- TeamViewer
- BlueJeans by Verizon
- Zoho
Are there safer alternatives to zoom?

Yes, there are safer alternatives to zoom.

What is the safest way to use zoom?

To maintain the security of your next meeting, our recommendations are below:
- Password protect your meetings
- Authenticate users
- Join before host
- Lockdown your meeting
- Turn off participant screen sharing
- Use a randomly-generated ID
- Use waiting rooms
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April 30, 2021

Skype vs Zoom: The Better Video Conferencing Application

This pandemic has completely changed the way we communicate, work, and attend college. Some of it was for the better, while others, not so much. Work from home has become the new norm, and online classes have taken over the traditional classroom teaching. Even meeting friends and distant family has been reduced to video calling them, at best. Video conferencing in online classes, as well as professional meetings has served as a viable replacement for traditional meetings.

While there are many platforms for online video conferencing, some more popular than others, Skype and Zoom definitely bag the title of ‘two of the most recognized video conferencing applications‘. There have been a lot of debates and arguments regarding which is the better conferencing application among them. Here we present to you a comprehensive analysis to compare each of their aspects, features, and pricing plans, to find the one more suited to you.

Skype

Skype is one of the more powerful and popular Video Conferencing Applications, and allows you to video call your friends and family even if you haven’t signed up. With a plethora of features, you can either download Skype directly from the official website, or you can use it directly on your browser as SaaS. In the wake of this pandemic, use cases of Skype have skyrocketed, and it is the preferred platform for Online interviews for professionals, as well as virtual family reunions.

Zoom

Zoom is a video conferencing application, mostly known for conducting online classes and conference rooms. It allows for online meeting rooms and chat, virtual webinars for marketing events, conference rooms, and even managing a marketplace with the help of some required integrations. Zoom is more popular for conducting online classes, as major institutions use it for the purpose, while Microsoft has come up with another platform for virtual classes.

Skype vs Zoom: Solutions and Products

Skype

Meet Now is a features offered by Skype which allows you to schedule a meeting without any sign ins or even installing the application. You can invite up to 99 people, and all you need is just a browser.
Skype Manager helps users manage groups. It comes in quite handy when allocating credits and managing features business and family groups.
Alexa calling via Skype is also made available for users, where all you need to do is say, ‘Alexa, call… on Skype’; and the call is forwarded via Skype to the concerned person or group.
Content Creators can integrate Skype calls to their podcasts, live streams, and vlogs by going to the advanced settings and allowing ‘NDI usage’.
Skype for Business can also be used as a communication tool with the professional meeting solution. Microsoft also offers Teams platform for more formal meetings and even online classes.

Zoom

Meetings and Chat can be initiated and partaken any where on any platform and from any device. It lets you experience HD video call, audio call, collaboration, and chat.
Rooms and Workspaces such as conference rooms make it easy for users with a one touch joining option. Wireless shares and meeting security are other features of Zoom workspaces, which make it all the more viable.
The Cloud Phone Solution offers users premium features by streamlining communication, enhanced centralized management, along with secure and reliable calls.

Webinars allow you to host online events with up to 100 active participants with custom branding, easy set up, and CRM integrations.
App Marketplace can be used to find applications which help make your Zoom meetings and calls even more efficient. The applications can be found via category, and easily downloaded and integrated.

Skype vs Zoom: Pricing comparison

Skype

Skype has most of its services free of cost and users can benefit from these free services. This also gives Skype an edge over Zoom. However, Skype does offer subscription based calling plan for direct Skype calling.

Other than this, users can enjoy premium Skype features with Microsoft 365 plans which offers a suite of tools and services including Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, and other Microsoft services. The personal suite of features in Microsoft 365 comes at a cost of Rs 4199, while the Family suite costs around Rs 5299 with user limit of 6 members.

Zoom

Zoom comes with a range of products and services and varying costs and plans. This includes Zoom Meetings, Phone, Video Webinars, and Zoom Rooms. While the purpose is pretty much the same, features vary according to the use cases. Here we discuss the pricing plans of Zoom Meetings.

Basic Version	Pro Version	Business Version	Enterprise Version
Free of cost and used for personal meetings	Can be used for small teams, and costs Rs 13200 per year per license	Can be used by SMEs and costs Rs 17700 per year per license	Used by bigger enterprises and costs Rs 21200 per year per license
Allows you to host up to 100 participants	Allows you to host up to 100 participants	Allows you to host up to 300 participants with single sign on	Allows you to host up to 500 participants with unlimited cloud storage
Allows for up to 40 minutes of meetings	Allows for group meetings for up to 30 hours	Offers recording transcripts and managed domains	Offers recording transcripts and and dedicated customer success manager
Offers unlimited one-on-one meetings	Offers up to 1GB cloud recording per license	Offers an option add-on of India Audio Premium Toll	Offers an option add-on of India Audio Premium Toll

Skype vs Zoom: Features Offered

Skype

Skype offers its users Audio and HD video calling experience with both group calls as well as individual calls along with call reactions.
On call features include smart messages and mentions, call recording and live subtitles along with screen sharing and end to end data encryption.
One click meeting creation without the need to sign in make it really easy and productive. You can interview anyone, from anywhere in the world.
You can use Skype Credit to call any landline phone at low call costs, and you can also choose a subscription based program for the same.
Skype numbers, available in 25 countries can be used for unlimited calling with a subscription based plan including SMS.

Zoom

Zoom offers Video communication services for hybrid classrooms and has temporarily suspended the 40 minute limit on video conferencing as a need of the hour.
Zoom offers HIPAA/FERPA compliance to meet the security standards, and also offers a 256 bit encryption for data security.
Offers integration with various software and services such as Moodle, Canvas, and Blackboard for seamless usage.
Zoom also offers Cloud Conference Room Connectors, along with Emergency Preparedness and system notifications for important announcements.
You can also incorporate hardware for a better teaching and learning experience along with any technical needs.

Skype vs Zoom: Languages Used

Skype

Skype is one of the best online video communication tools when it comes to remote working with a plethora of supported languages. Among the languages that it supports are French, Greek, Hindi, Indonesian, Arabic, Chinese, Turkish and others. You can choose any of them as the default language and enjoy working with your native language. The list of languages supported by Skype can be viewed on the official website.

Zoom

Zoom has a relatively smaller bandwidth when it comes to supported languages, but a diverse range nevertheless. These languages include English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish among other. Other languages supported by Zoom are available on the official website.

Skype vs Zoom: Pros and Cons

Skype Pros

Skype offers an easy to use interface with single click meetings, without the 40 minute meeting limitations.
The video calling is great, specially the one-on-one calls.
The international calling feature is quite affordable compared to standard rates.
Skype offers excellent team collaboration features including Q&A, polls and others.

Skype Cons

A high speed internet connection is required to make video calls, specially high quality calls.
Owing to its popularity, Skype can be a target for hackers to steal private information.
Some users claim that the support is not up to the mark.

Zoom Pros

Offers solutions and products ranging from education and healthcare to government and finance.
User experience is simple, intuitive, and efficient.
Customer support is quite decent with email and phone call.
Supports various third party integrations including Google services such as Drive, Dropbox, and Salesforce.

Zoom Cons

Zoom group video calls are sometimes blurry and of poor quality, hence not up to the standards.
Security and user privacy are some other concerns for Zoom users.
Zoom can be a bit expensive for larger teams, and since most Skype features are free of cost, it has an edge over Zoom in this area.

December 28, 2020

How to use Skype for Business

Microsoft Skype had a wider adoption and is still the preferred medium in some areas of the world to connect to the. Skype for Business formerly known as Microsoft Lync is a platform for instant messaging developed by Microsoft as part of the Office suite.

Skype for Business is designed to use with the on-premises Skype for Business Server, and software as a service version offered as part of Office 365. This software also supports video call, text, audio, and integrates with Microsoft Office components such as SharePoint.

Skype for Business is a strong and robust replacement that lets the users collaborate with 250 people at one time and helps coordinate the employee accounts with enterprise-based security. This user-friendly solution allows us to integrate all the office apps on the go and is available with the Office 365 suite of products costing $2/month/user.

Skype for Business can be deployed on-premises, in the cloud service. It can be licensed as a stand-alone product or as part of the Office suite. It is known as Skype for Business Server, or a cloud-based service, known as Skype for Business Online.

Microsoft Teams is an online collaboration software that has similar facilities and capabilities to Skype for Business. While both Microsoft products are part of Office 365 and feature calling, messaging, presence, voice and video communications, and conferencing.

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Skype for Business Features

Skype for Business is an online communications platform that integrates common channels of business communication and providing the users with multiple features like virtual meetings, including instant messaging, VoIP, voicemail, file transfers, video conferencing, web conferencing, email and much more.

Features of Skype for Business

Set Meetings from Outlook

Skype for Business can be easily scheduled with the Outlook plugin. This allows to schedule required online meetings through Outlook with an easy single click. The host can choose a meeting topic and can even determine which and how many participants can join the meeting.

Data Sharing

Skype for Business helps to take the business meetings to the next level by allowing the user to share the desktop screens, files, Excel sheets, and presentations.

Record and Playback

Skype for Business allows the user to record important meetings. The recording facility is cloud-based and is available on the latest version of Skype. The Skype calls for Mac can be recorded too using various third-party software available in the market. As soon as the recording begins, everyone in the call is notified. The recording can be saved for the next 30 days after the call.

Portability

Skype for Business, is based on Cloud technology, lets the user connect with the workplace from anywhere, anytime and via any device. Thus, the hectic office travels are saved and can be dialled in from anywhere and participate in the video, audio and web-based conferencing.

No Compulsory Authentication

Authentication is not mandatory for Skype for Business participants. If a particular attendee does not have an account but has received an invitation, they can easily join the meeting by signing in with a guest account.

Easy Accessibility

The users have easy accessibility to meetings and calendars using Skype for Business. This helps to stay updated with the latest tasks, schedule and track the meetings.

Broadcasting

The Skype Meeting Broadcast facilitates the user to broadcast content to over 10,000 attendees which are a viable solution for conducting webinars. Users can also reduce the number of participants to any number.

Furthermore, the tool allows the posting of recorded video meetings. Anyone can join the call with a web browser and can either watch it live or afterwards.

Some of the key features of Skype for Business include HD video conferencing, Instant messaging, Whiteboard collaboration and many more.

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Learn how to use Skype for Business

The global pandemic forced many businesses to go remote and work from home which comes with tons of communication challenges and lack of physicality. Microsoft’s Skype for Business is one of the best options for video conferencing that can help and overcome the issue.

Microsoft will be replacing Skype for Business with Microsoft Teams, support for Skype for Business will come to an end nearly by 2025. Additionally, new Office users won’t be able to download Skype for Business anymore.

Number of Skype users in millions

Step 1- Register/Login to the respective Skype for Business account.

Step 2– Setting an availability status makes it easier for the other team members and business clients to communicate effectively. Skype for Business allows the user to display the availability status with various statuses like Available, Busy, and Away.

Step 3- Setting up and syncing the contacts in Skype for Business. Skype for Business lets the user add people from their contact list.

Step 4- To make a call, find the person in the contact list and click the Audio or the Video icon. When received a call on Skype for Business, a pop up offering various call settings appears.

Step 5- Video Conferencing with Skype for Business. Skype for Business features video conferencing to combat the lack of face-to-face interaction when working remotely. Skype for Business users can also share their screen with participants during a call easily.

Step 6- Share the screen during Skype for Business calls. Users can show someone how to perform a specific task and need to discuss the file or data which is screen shared. As a presenter, the screen can be easily shared via Skype for Business. By clicking on the Present icon which is shaped like a monitor in the meeting window. This activity will open a pop-up, giving the presenter several options to share the screen.

Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Skype for Business

There are several notable differences between Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Skype for Business.

Skype

Skype is used at home and is great for smaller businesses of up to 20 employees. It is free to use unless the user wants to buy credit to make calls to landlines and mobiles.

Microsoft Teams

Teams let the user host audio, video, and web conferences with anyone inside or outside your organization. Teams of 10 or 10,000 members can meet in one place. Files can be shared easily, participating in one-to-one and group chats, and more, all with enterprise-grade security.

Skype for Business

It lets to add the user up to 250 people in online meetings, providing enterprise-grade security, and also allows to manage employee accounts.

Wrap Up

There are several communication tools which facilitate video calling, voice and recording help organizations better organize teamwork and achieve higher results. Skype for Business is amazing with its capabilities and a great tool to meet the modern collaboration which needs a digital workplace.

September 27, 2020
6 Must Follow Tips to Work from Home During the Coronavirus Outbreak

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of work and life. Coronavirus spread during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic led many organizations to recommend their staff to work from home full-time; now also being known as WFH, for their safety. As more and more companies implement work-from-home policies due to the spread of COVID-19, employees are now asked for trying to be just as productive without the normal routines and resources that they get in the offices while working. While working from home sounds like a luxury, in theory, it’s certainly no vacation and being productive is not very easy.

But to get the same productivity from work from home, some specific strategies & Goals need to be implemented. Every job is different and the amount of work one can achieve will vary between career types, employers and internal policies, but there are some key strategies to working from home when it comes to getting your tasks done efficiently. Working remotely or the practice of working for an extended period outside the formal office environment is growing steadily in popularity by using various digital tools from Web conferencing, e-mail to mobile collaboration applications and virtual event platforms to connect people and make sure the work-from-home is possible without any difficulty. “Some of the best strategies & Goals to make yourself productive without distractions are”.

Create a dedicated Work Space
Make sure you have Strong Internet access
Stay Connected with colleagues
Get used to Video Calls
Make use of Google Docs and Sheets
Prepare for Distractions

Create a Dedicated Workspace

As an employee, one needs to create a dedicated work area at home even if it is temporary during this Coronavirus outbreak situation. It can be a separate room or a space at home where you can’t get distracted. Although it’s convenient to stay in bed or on your sofa but to get in that work mode, it is always better to create a dedicated workspace. A separate workspace is healthy as well as keeping to your regular work routine, even though you are not in the office. If you don’t have a desk, one can use the dining room table which can make you feel like you’re at the office. This helps you focus on your work, avoid distractions, and maintain a work-life balance at home.

Creating a Dedicated Workspace

Make sure you have Strong Internet access

Internet access is the most important thing for getting your tasks done at home. When you work at home, having a strong internet connection will be most advised as most of the work or tasks assigned to you will be over the internet. Wifi/Data Card/Hot Spot is used for better network connectivity. Having a robust internet connection is required for video conferencing and chatting will make you an active participant and also helps in finishing your tasks without difficulty.

Strong Internet access

Stay Connected with colleagues

Staying connected with colleagues is very important for a professional. It helps you evaluate your work, perform well in your tasks and also social skills. If you work on a team, it is essential to keep in touch with the other team members. For this purpose, there are many platforms like WhatsApp, Slack so that people get updates for the quick task. One can also stay connected with team members with the help of email communications. Any queries, inputs must be discussed with the other teammates. Messaging programs like Slack is a good idea to set up regular check-ins via phone or video conferencing like Skype, FaceTime, or Zoom.

Get used to Video Calls

Working from home means a lot more video calls. On the tech front, video calls can make a remote workday feel more connected. Video calls are crucial as teams like to see each other when they collaborate for a better understanding of each other’s perspectives. For this, you need a good webcam and headset to have a comfortable and quality experience. Using your built-in webcam and basic headphones should work well enough but if you want to upgrade the experience, investing in a webcam or headset is a good idea if the worker’s base computing device does not have one. In some organizations, 720P is the minimum acceptable resolution for quality results, for which one may need to get a webcam. A high-quality headset or headphones with a mic are a must for phone or web conferencing. Apart from this, using appropriate software for web or video conferencing is important. There are many software available for connecting people on video conferencing like Skype, FaceTime, Zoom, Microsoft Teams Webex, Zoho & so on. Accounts are free for the basic plan in Zoom if your company does not already have a corporate one. Zoom is packed with features and is fast with clear audio and video. Now, these companies are making many features free and lifting the limitations to cope with coronavirus outbreaks.

Make use of Google Docs and Sheets

Google docs and Sheets are used to interact & update the status or progress of the assigned task. It is advisable to use Google Docs and Sheets to keep the records and store the data. Google Docs and Sheets let teams collaborate making monitoring tasks easier and evaluating the progress without any confusion. There is one more tool named Zapier which is a web service having many features like voice typing which increases productivity and also makes the work easy.

Prepare for Distractions

Needless to say, working at home comes with the high possibility of distractions. Working from home is never as same as working in offices. You must realise that at home we can’t always be as productive as we are in the office with the family being at home.

Conclusion

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed our perspective towards many things. Work-from-home is one of them. Work-from-home can be possible and very effective if you make an effort to make yourself productive by creating your own goals and strategies. Following a strict routine and improving your skills every day can make you a better professional.

March 17, 2020