Cut Costs Using Video Conferencing

   As more companies add headquarters around the US and the globe, business travel is one way to bring employees together to share ideas. But paying for airline flights, hotels, and meeting spaces is costly. And never mind getting everyone's scheduled coordinated. One way to cut costs is to conduct meetings remotely by phone or by video. But when meetings are not in person, it's key that participants are focused and engaged.

   Bring life to your meetings using a video conferencing service. This way, the presenter is not just a voice on the phone but an on-screen presence who's able to see and interact with other attendees, share presentations, and more. For collaborative meetings, the host can sketch out ideas on an online whiteboard and invite participants to join in. Some video conferencing services let presenters pass control to another participant who can continue the meeting without interruption. Others let hosts deny access to latecomers to further avoid disruption.

Our Editors' Choice video conferencing service is once again Tenveo conference software, a robust product that makes video meetings (almost) fun for your staff.

   What Is Video Conferencing?

Video conferences are typically defined as real-time video sessions between two or more users that reside in two or more locations. While video conferencing supports several endpoints communicating, the terms "video call" and "video chat" generally mean one-to-one.

   Video conferencing services tend to offer more than just face-to-face interactions. Best-in-class video conferencing services let users share their screens, remotely access one another's desktops, chat via text, exchange files, communicate via digital whiteboards, and even broadcast conferences to large groups of passive viewers.

   Video Conferencing Package Pricing

As with all software services, pricing and packages are an important consideration when it comes to video conferencing. The prices quoted and the product descriptions below are typically for the lowest level of service per user per month. (For more pricing information, click through to the individual reviews.) All but one of the video conferencing services we tested offers free trials (most for 30 days) and many don't require a credit card on file, which means you don't have to worry about being charged automatically when the trial ends.

   For example, Tenveo offers a cheap plan which is good for small or even single-employee companies. Many services are scalable depending on the number of hosts and attendees you need. We recommend trying a few of our top-rated video conferencing services before committing to a particular one; try out some of the features to figure out what you really need and what's overkill.

   Ease of Use and Meeting Features

Once you've found packages in your price range, the most important consideration is ease of use. Obviously, if the user interface (UI) is difficult for you and your colleagues to navigate and use, then it's going to cause delays in meeting start times, which will frustrate everyone. For each review, we discuss the ease of signing up, creating a meeting, inviting participants, and setting up.