The year is 2020. Hand sanitizer is scarce. Bidets have finally breached American borders. Professional sports are nowhere to be found. Coughing is now, undoubtedly, the worst thing you can do in a public setting.
And you, after years of perfecting your workflow within the cozy walls of your office cubicle, now have to replicate that efficiency from the comfort of your own home. To date, many state governments have enacted some version of “stay-at-home” orders in an attempt to reduce social interaction and flatten the curve as COVID-19 makes its way through the United States. That’s forced many companies across the U.S. to get creative in how they’ll transition into a new way of life: teleworking.
Teleworking has its pros, of course. You free up a big chunk of your day by eliminating your daily commute, save money on gas or transportation, and often have a better work-life balance. And let’s not sleep on all the extras Z’s you’re bound to snag by having your bed located so close to your desk.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Literally. You may not see the sun unless you force yourself to go outside every once in a while. So, probably do that (safely — masks+6 feet apart!). You may also feel isolated from a lack of social interaction, be less productive with kids running around, and struggle to securely communicate with those who were once just a few feet away.
We at Beacon Cloud Solutions (BCS) can’t really do much about those first three issues, but we do have some insight on that last one. As a San Diego-based company with employees scattered across the country, we’re almost as versed in collaborative communication tools as we are in cyber-security itself.
By now, you’ve probably heard about Zoom, a popular video conferencing tool that’s received a fair amount of recent criticism from cyber-security experts across the globe over security and privacy issues. The FBI has even issued a warning over using the software, noting hackers’ ability to spy through your computer’s webcam or microphone, as well as their ability to “hijack” video conferences and post hate speech and/or pornographic images. Not to mention a few Zero-Day vulnerabilities that allow nefarious individuals to access your personal computer through their software.
We’d shout it from the rooftops if we were allowed to go outside, but we’re running low on masks so let us do it here: Protect. Your. Data.
There is virtually no reason to put your privacy at risk; not while there are other viable options at your disposal. Below, we take a look at BCS’s top five alternatives to Zoom.
Cost
$6.67 a month per user
Security
In-transit, at-rest encryption
Capabilities
Up to 15 participants in each meeting
Searchable/unlimited message history
App integration
You know a company’s made it big when it becomes a verb. Trust us, introduce this software into your workplace and it won’t be long before your colleagues will say they’ve “slacked” you a message, file, or meme.
A collaborative instant messaging platform with a searchable archive, Slack ensures you won’t have to go far to retrieve a file you sent somebody three weeks ago. Slack can be free, but you’ll need to upgrade to the Standard Plan to access video conferencing for up to 15 people.
With the Standard Plan, Slack will encrypt your data both in transit and at rest, meaning your data will be (a) encrypted while it’s actively moving from one location to another, and (b) encrypted while it’s stored/archived on a device. That’s often good enough for most, although there is some risk acceptance involved.
Organizations dealing with more sensitive information may opt to upgrade to the Enterprise Plan to see full end-to-end encryption.
Cost
$6 a month per user
Security
In-Transit, at-rest encryption
Capabilities
Up to 100 participants in each meeting
Google Suite access
Google, the Silicon Valley giant, has also established its presence in the workplace communication realm — introducing a variety of tools that have been rebranded and outright replaced over the years. Here, we’ll talk about its most popular platform in 2020: Google Hangouts Meet.
Included in Google’s Basic G-Suite plan, Hangouts Meet is a bit of a no-brainer for anybody already paying for access to all of the other goodies that come along with that package. That’s right, if you are a G-Suite subscriber, you already have this at no extra cost.
Where Hangouts Meet lags behind Slack in terms of hip new verbs (quit trying to make “Hangouts Meeted” a thing, Jan), it definitely has the edge in videoconferencing capabilities. Hangouts Meet allows for up to 100 participants per call through its Basic package. (As an aside: just because you can have 100 people on the same call doesn’t mean you should have 100 people all talking at the same time. The mute button is your friend, friends.)
All data in Hangouts Meet is encrypted in transit, and any recordings you decide to store in Google Drive are encrypted at rest. Google does note that anybody who chooses to join a video meeting by phone, rather than the link provided, subjects the audio to that phone carrier’s network security measures… which may not include encryption.
All the more reason to shame any of your stubborn coworkers who — for whatever reason — prefer to dial in. Get it together, +1 619-***-**77.
Cost
$Free
Security
End-to-end encryption
Capabilities
Group messaging
One-to-one video and audio calling
Let us be clear here: Signal likely won’t solve all of your teleworking problems all by itself. Lacking video conferencing options between more than two users, as well as video calls on its desktop platform, Signal does leave a bit to be desired.
So how did Signal land on this list? Because it’s incredibly secure and incredibly free.
Featuring high-level security measures, Signal boasts end-to-end encryption for text, image, audio, and video messaging between multiple users. It also includes that same encryption for voice or video calling, albeit limited to only two users at a time.
Signal also includes an option for Disappearing Messages, which will delete messages after a certain period of time for added privacy. Think Snapchat, but for adults in business suits.
If you’re operating on a budget and are in the market for a secure messaging platform without the need for videoconferencing among more than two people, Signal should be on your radar.
Cost
$12 a month per host
Security
End-to-end encryption
Capabilities
Up to 150 participants in each meeting
Unlimited cloud recording
Recording transcription
Hosting more than 75 million virtual meetings per year, GoToMeeting is next on our list.
Where both Slack and Google Hangouts offer relatively substantial workplace communication platforms that range from instant messaging to videoconferencing, GoToMeeting focuses its attention on perfecting the latter. But it comes at double the cost.
Technically speaking, not everybody has to be a member. For just $12 a month per organizer, you can include up to 150 participants. That should work just fine for the occasional all-hands-on-deck meeting, but if you have numerous departments that need to host their own meetings, costs go up.
They’ll go up exponentially if you want to make use of the platform’s instant messaging features, which requires everybody to be a member.
But with greater price comes greater value: GoToMeeting offers full end-to-end encryption for all three pricing tiers, surpassing both Slack and Google Hangouts Meet in that regard. The platform also offers users the ability to pass off keyboard and mouse control to other users on the call — meaning the days of trying to explain Bluetooth activation to Roy from Accounting are officially over. Rejoice.
A fairly intuitive, user-first approach, GoToMeeting offers the most robust videoconferencing experience of the bunch thus far.
Cost
$13.50 a month per user
Security
End-to-end encryption*
Capabilities
Up to 50 participants in each meeting
5 GB cloud storage
Recording transcriptions
Establishing its place in the field many years before GoToMeeting came to be, Webex is also a popular choice for those looking to resolve their videoconferencing woes.
Webex may not have the same quality of video streaming offered by GoToMeeting, but it does offer users the ability to share downloadable files during a meeting (whereas GoToMeeting only allows users to share viewable files during a meeting).
While most teams will likely opt into the Webex’s Starter plan for “smaller teams” at $13.50 a month per host, Webex does offer a free plan that allows you to host up to 100 participants in each meeting – albeit at a 40-minute limit (as if anybody wants to be on a call for more than 40 minutes anyway…).
Webex offers end-to-end encryption, although you’re going to have to go in and enable those settings yourself. That’s where the asterisk comes into play: It won’t take more than a few clicks to get end-to-end encryption going but do keep in mind that it’s not enabled right out of the box.
You’ll notice something is relatively clear here: many of these platforms provide very similar features at similar price points. Choosing one may be difficult, but you’re unlikely to be unhappy with any one of these as long as you can accurately assess your needs beforehand.