oi Business Services

If you have not yet tried it, visit: Grok.com.

Grok says:

Zoom has the largest user base among video chat tools, with over 300 million daily active users as of 2024, significantly outpacing Microsoft Teams, which reports around 320 million monthly active users.

Other platforms like Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and Slack have smaller user bases, with Slack at around 32.3 million daily active users, and no recent figures for Google Meet or Webex surpassing Zoom or Teams.

Zoom’s dominance stems from its ease of use, accessibility (no account needed for joining), and widespread adoption during the 2020 pandemic, growing from 10 million to over 300 million daily meeting participants in a few months. Teams, while popular in organizations using Microsoft 365, has a more complex interface and is often used for internal collaboration, which may limit its reach compared to Zoom’s broader appeal for both personal and professional use

If your business has used Skype, Google Voice, or Amazon Chime Business Calling services; you are aware that these services are changing and some are even being phased out by the big three cloud companies.

I am presently evaluating Zoom phone as a replacement for these services. Although Zoom is primarily known for its video calling, conferencing and webinar features, Zoom phone adds features reminiscent of products like Microsoft Teams at an affordable entry price. The service scales from a $10/month per phone number to a multi-extension/multi-user PBX in the cloud with a limited set of call center features.

The cell phone app for Zoom coexists quite well with your phone company number and services. A distinctive ring and caller ID makes it easy to see a Zoom caller versus a regular cell caller. A corporate number can be routed to a particular company user, and can multi-ring multiple users or multiple devices belonging to the same user.

Company work hours can be configured and after-hours calls can be routed to a voicemail. Voicemail notifications “pop” on all connected devices, and voicemails can also be automatically transcribed into text and emailed.

You might need a little help porting over existing numbers and configuring any advanced features. Zoom expects you to read up on and follow their processes, and these things are a little tricky at first.

For larger organizations, you may want to step up to enterprise cloud contact center solutions like Amazon Connect. For small business, this service is shaping up to be a serious contender for customer contact anywhere and anytime.