Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom: Compare video conference platforms
The 2020 pandemic has forced many businesses to embrace work-fromhome strategies, thus accelerating the need for collaboration tools for remote employees. As businesses look for ways to keep employees virtually connected, two popular options have bubbled to the top: Microsoft Teams and Zoom. While both support remote employees, each platform differs in its ease of use, roster of capabilities and integration. In this article, we explore those differences and take a look at limitations, security protections, pricing and deployment use cases. This Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom roundup can help you determine which platform might be the right fit for your organization’s needs.
Microsoft Teams history and product direction
Microsoft launched Teams in 2017 as the successor for its aging, but popular Skype for Business tool, adding it as a core component of Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise. In 2018, Microsoft launched a free version of Teams for those who only required a few of the more popular features, such as chat, online meetings and file storage. Microsoft’s goal was simple: to make Teams available to as many businesses as possible and to deter IT leaders from choosing alternative collaboration software. In essence, Microsoft created an environment where IT leaders could say, “Since we’re already paying for it through Microsoft 365, we may as well use Teams as our business collaboration platform.” So far, this tactic has worked well.