Zoom is a video-conferencing application that was specifically designed for business use cases. While Zoom is also great for personal use cases, their extensive list of features makes it perfect for work meetings.
To help you leverage Zoom for your business, we cover the best features for work use. We address the following topics to help you learn how to use Zoom for work and how to choose the right plan.
What is covered in this article
Before we get into it, we’ll touch on why Zoom is a great tool for work meetings.
Is Zoom suited for work?
Whether you are a startup, small, medium, or large business, Zoom Meetings offers a wide range of features that are ideally suited for work applications. Most of Zoom’s features are included in even their Basic plan, with higher plans adding more hosts, cloud recording, and improved customer support.
Zoom’s base service offers high-quality audio and video supported by intuitive collaboration features that make it easy for organizations to work together among and across departments and teams. No matter which plan you get, there are features designed and suited for business uses, as opposed to some of the other social-focused video apps like Skype and Google Duo.
10 best Zoom features to use for work meetings
While Zoom’s application is great for personal use, it’s high-quality video and range of features make it ideally suited for business use. Many of the features – even included in a Basic plan – are great for work meetings, allowing teams to collaborate, work more efficiently, and increase productivity.
We outline 10 of the most useful features for work meetings so you can make the most of Zoom and leverage it for your organization:
1. Screen-sharing
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars
The screen-share feature lets the host and – with permission – participants share their screen, a portion of their screen, or a specific application. This is ideal for collaborating on work together one-on-one or with teams, as you can view the same content. Overall, this helps you stay on the same page when working together and can make collaborating faster and more productive. Screen-sharing is an ideal feature that is used by many teams within your organization.
2. Calendar scheduling
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars
Zoom comes with built-in scheduling, but also easily integrates with commonly used calendars such as Google Calendar and Outlook. For organizations that already have a calendar application, you can easily integrate Zoom and schedule meetings using your work calendar. With permission, you can even allow users to schedule meetings on other employees’ behalf.
3. Meeting dial in and call out
Cost:Free [Basic; additional call-in options available as add-ons]
Works with: Zoom Meetings, Zoom Rooms, Zoom Webinars
Participants can join a Zoom meeting using a traditional phone, allowing them to join in on the audio or video conference call. This is great for users that don’t have a microphone on their computer, don’t have access to a smartphone while on the road, or cannot connect to the internet while on-the-go. This feature is ideal for businesses that frequently have team members, clients, or stakeholders that need to join calls while traveling and without access to the Zoom app.
4. Waiting rooms
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings
The Waiting Room feature funnels meeting attendees into a waiting room when they attempt to join the meeting. The host can then screen and admit participants to the meeting, either one at a time or as a group. This is a great safety feature to manage meeting participants and control who is able to enter your meeting. You can also set the Waiting Room up to admit invitees with a specific domain in their email. This is great for when you have frequent meetings with clients or potential customers, as your team will automatically join and you can control admission of the other meeting participants.
5. Video recording with cloud storage options
Cost:Free local storage [Basic] / Paid cloud storage [Pro or higher; additional cloud storage space can be purchased as an add-on]
Works with: Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars
Meetings can be recorded locally or to the Zoom cloud. Using a cloud storage option is great for a business, as it will give users centralized access to the meeting recordings. Users can all access recordings from the same place, without costing you storage space on your work devices or servers. Zoom handles storage of your Zoom recordings and transcripts.
6. Breakout rooms
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars
The Breakout Rooms feature lets the host create sub-rooms within a Zoom meeting. They can then assign participants to a specific Breakout Room and choose when users are filtered into their Breakout Rooms, as well as when they return to the main call. The host can also enter each Breakout Room individually to monitor or participate.
Breakout Rooms are ideally suited for work applications, as teams can split up during a meeting, do separate work sessions, and then come back to join the group meeting. This feature is great for collaborating, brainstorming, and other group activities and work sessions.
7. Whiteboards
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings, Zoom Webinars
The Whiteboards feature gives meeting participants a whiteboard that they can annotate. The host can control permission settings. If the host simply wants to use the Whiteboard to share or explain a concept, they can restrict participants from annotating. If you are working as a team to brainstorm or work collaboratively, participants can be allowed to annotate as well.
8. Virtual hand raising and polling
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings
Zoom Meetings has both built-in Virtual Hand Raising and Polling features. These features are great for fostering engagement and participation, helping the person running the meeting get feedback from participants in real-time and for later. Virtual hand raising is a great tool for getting in-call feedback and to know when someone wants to interject without interrupting. Set guidelines for how to use the hand-raising feature so all participants use it the same. Polling can also be used in meetings to vote on different things and get an idea of what the majority of participants are interested in.
All of these help you get immediate feedback from your teams in a work setting, helping you collaborate. It can also help manage the conversation and ensure it runs smoothly, with participants still able to contribute when they want without people interrupting.
9. Personal meeting room with custom meeting ID
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings
As a Zoom user, you get access to a Personal Meeting Room. This is a virtual meeting room – with a specific meeting ID – that is always reserved for your use. This is ideal for business applications, as you will have a regular location to meet with team members you meet with consistently. This way, you can give people one Meeting ID that they can use to connect with you frequently.
With a Pro plan or higher, you get access to a custom meeting ID. This lets you change your personal meeting ID and pick a unique ID that is easier for you to remember and share. You can also change the meeting ID when you’ve shared it and are worried about your meeting being compromised.
10. File sharing
Cost:Free [Basic]
Works with: Zoom Meetings
While it’s a relatively common and standard feature on most modern online services, file sharing is a key feature of Zoom meetings, especially for work applications. Share files – including docs, images, and more – in Zoom chat and in-meetings. This is a great way to collaborate with your team and ensure that all users have the files they need. You can easily share a file while on a call and it makes working together as a team – and across teams – extremely easy.
Zoom plans and subscriptions for business
Zoom offers a range of different plans and subscriptions, allowing you to tailor your plan to fit your business needs. Many of Zoom’s features are available in the Free plan, but for access to more hosts, you will need to get a more advanced plan. Below is a simple breakdown of the available Zoom plans:
- Basic [Free]: Host meetings with up to 100 participants with a 40 minute limit on group meetings. Get access to an unlimited number of meetings, ticketing support, and video-conferencing features.
- Pro [$14.99/mo/host]: Increase group meeting limits to 24 hours, gain reporting information, customize your personal meeting ID, and get access to cloud recording storage.
- Business [$19.99/mo/host]: For small to medium sized business, you can host meetings with up to 300 participants and get access to dedicated phone support, single-sign on for your organization, company branding, and more.
- Enterprise [$19.99/mo/host]: For large businesses, you can host up to 500 participants and get access to a dedicated customer success manager, as well as discounts when you bundle other products, such as Zoom Rooms and Zoom Webinars.
This covers the basics of the plans, but we have a full Zoom plan and subscription comparison to help you choose the best subscription for your organization.
Now that you have an idea of the features you’d like to use for your work meetings, you can make a better decision about which plan is best for your organization. Use the features highlighted in this article to leverage Zoom to improve your businesses productivity and efficiency. Learn about all Zoom features available to see what you can get out of Zoom.
