The company that operates Skype, Skype Technologies, is a subsidiary of Microsoft. Users of Skype use a Microsoft account to login to Skype and use its features.

Skype has nearly 2 million users worldwide. The app has seen slow but consistent growth since it passed 1 million users in 2014.

Skype can be installed on Windows and Mac computers as well as on iPhone and Android mobile devices.

I the past, Skype video chats were only possible between two participant who have Skype installed. However, it’s possible now to join a Skype video call using a web browser.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Skype lost much of its marketshare to upstart Zoom, a newer video conferencing solution that better fit the needs of people who were forced to work or learn outside of a shared office environment.

Skype Features

Skype’s set of communication features include:

• Audio calls
• HD video calls
• Screen sharing during calls
• Recording of video and audio conversations
• Smart messaging
• Calling to mobile and land-line phones
• Encrypted private conversations

How to Use Skype

The video tutorial below introduces you to Skype and shows how to use its most popular features.

Skype Devices

Skype is supported on the following devices:

• Mobile phone
• Desktop computer
• Tablet
• Web browser
• Alexa
• Xbox

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Zoom was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, whose experience as an executive and engineer at Cisco gave him a solid foundation for creating a solution for video conferencing. Cisco released the first version of its video conferencing software in 2013. The company is headquartered in San Jose, California, and employs 2,700, and has offices in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Zoom Company Info

Here’s a quick intro to the Zoom Meetings app from Zoom Video Communications, which is the official name of the company that produces Zoom meeting software.

Zoom Pricing

Zoom standard pricing plans range from Free to $250/year/user for the four different Zoom product solution:

• Free
• Pro: $149.90/year/user
• Business: $199.90/year/user
• Business Plus: $250/year/user

In addition to these standards pricing plans from Zoom, there are Enterprise plans whose pricing tiers are dependent upon specific needs. Pricing for custom Zoom Enterprise plans can be obtained by talking with a Zoom sales rep and negotiating a price based upon necessary features and expected usage.

Differences between the various Zoom pricing tiers focus mostly on the number of attendees allowed for a meeting.

Here we will cover Zoom pricing options for the product that has made Zoom a household name: Zoom Meetings. More information about the features of Zoom Meetings can be found below.

Zoom Meetings Free

Zoom’s free plan for videoconferencing allows a user to host a meeting with up to 100 participants for up to 40 minutes. Once the 40 minute time period expires, the meeting automatically ends.

Zoom Meetings Pro

Price: $149.90/year/user

Zoom Meetings Pro removes the time limit from meetings. It also provides 5GB of cloud storage for automatically recording meetings. The user limit of 100 participants is the same as with the Free Zoom Meetings plan.

Zoom Meetings Business

Price: $199.90/year/user

The Business plan for Zoom Meetings increases the meeting participant limit to 300. It is designed for organizations that are larger than the small- to medium-sized entities that use the Pro version of Zoom Meetings.

Zoom Meetings Business plan adds a few extras beyond Zoom Meetings Pro, including:

• Unlimited whiteboards
• Single Sign-on to make logging in easier
• Managed domains to make it easier to manage Zoom users
• Company branding for meetings

Zoom Meetings Business Plus

Price: $250.00/year/user

The Business Plus plan from Zoom Meetings allows the same number of participants (300) as the $199.90 Business plan, but adds features included with Zoom Phone. Business Plus also provides additional storage (10GB versus 5GB) above what’s included with the standard Zoom Business plan.

Zoom Solutions

Zoom Meetings

Zoom Meetings is what people normally think of when referring to Zoom. Zoom One allows people to hold videoconferencing meetings with capabilities that include screen sharing, chatting among members of the meetings, and using whiteboards that can be saved to be referenced after the meeting.

The Zoom Meetings solution has a free plan that is popular for people whose video conferencing needs aren’t too stringent. With the Zoom One plan, a meeting host can hold a meeting that lasts up to 40 minutes, and that can have up to 100 attendees. For the casual user, Zoom Meetings free plan is highly attractive.

Zoom Phone

Zoom Phone does not have a free plan. It is a paid solution designed for business users.

Zoom Phone is a business phone system that makes interacting by phone easier and more accessible for lots of different business uses. Zoom Phone integrates phone calls, video conferencing, and other forms of communication to help businesses be effective at communicating within the company as well as with partners and customers.

Zoom Phone call management can be done with any of the following:

• VOIP desk phone
• computer
• mobile device

The description of Zoom Phone in the intro video shows some of the other important features of Zoom Phone.

Zoom Events and Zoom Webinars

Zoom Events and Zoom Webinars are video conferencing solutions for businesses and other organizations to hold large meetings (with up to 500 attendees) that can last up to 30 hours. In addition to the in-session features for webinars and events, Zoom provides reporting and other business functions, including integration with CRM and other software used for marketing automation.

Zoom Events has features that go beyond Zoom Webinars, including customizable ticketing and registration. Zoom Events is designed to extend live events to both on-premise and remote audiences, and to allow users to measure audience engagement.

Zoom Rooms

Zoom Rooms allows organizations to turn almost any workspace into a meeting room.

Implementation of Zoom Rooms requires the use of specific hardware for many of its features, including huddle room kits, interactive whiteboards, and other devices that give a particular workspace the functionality required for a specific purpose.

The intro video below for Zoom Rooms will give you an idea of how they work and what you need to set them up.

Zoom Contact Center

Zoom Contact Center is a new solution released by Zoom in 2022 to allow companies to be much more accessible to their customer base, including through video calls. Zoom Contact Center integrates Zoom Meetings, chat, phone call, and text communication such that companies can be available to customers in such a

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