Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom - Which Video Conferencing Solution is the Best for Your Organization?

As companies across the globe search for an agile way to keep teams connected in the age of remote and mobile work, team collaboration tools are gaining popularity. These simple and convenient tools provide access to crucial features for employees to work seamlessly together, from instant messaging, to video conferencing. Zoom and Microsoft Teams are two of the biggest competitors on the market, both offering an excellent solution to the demand for collaboration. Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom, which is better? At a high level, both tools offer a very similar range of features, but some key differences may sway you when it comes to making an investment. In this article, we’ll pit the two against each other and help you see the difference.

Microsoft Teams is a collaboration tool designed to improve internal communication. Zoom is a web conferencing software that facilitates high-performance video and audio conferencing both internally and externally. Microsoft Teams is a popular choice for businesses that use Microsoft 365 products. It is packaged in with the Microsoft 365 suite and syncs up well with other Microsoft technologies. Zoom is used by companies that are looking for high-quality video conferencing that is easy to set up for both employees and external users. Some companies make use of both Microsoft Teams and Zoom. These companies use Microsoft Teams for its chat features and its integrations with Office 365 and use Zoom for all of their web conferencing.

At a very high-level, Microsoft Teams and Zoom both overlap and compete in the way that they offer a set of services for video conferencing (including room systems) and UC telephony. Drilling deeper into the more nuanced features, interfaces and ease of use as well as integrations is how you can evaluate trade-offs and make the best decisions as to which platform is the effective fit for your organization.

Features

Microsoft Teams and Zoom both provide web conferencing features (including breakout rooms) but also have unique features that set them apart. Microsoft Teams includes a robust chat service that allows users to communicate quickly without setting up a conference. Syncing with Microsoft 365 also makes collaboration easy by allowing file sharing and calendar support. Microsoft’s feature set is focused around perfecting internal communication. Zoom is focused on video and audio conferencing. Zoom makes for easy conferencing even with users that are not part of the company account. Zoom also provides features such as multiple screen sharing to support web-based presentations. Additionally, Zoom web conferences boast high-quality video and audio. Either solution is now showing up to 49 call participants (7x7 grid), which is especially important in the educational sector with the recent increase in home schooling requirements.

Interface and ease of use

The user interface and experience are truly where Zoom excels in the Microsoft Teams vs. Zoom debate. Zoom users all rave over its simple interface and the ability to get end-users up and running with little to no training or IT support. Microsoft Teams poses a bigger challenge as users need to get up to speed on how to interact in different channels and Teams, incorporate file sharing, and use all the other Microsoft 365 applications baked into Teams. Although the full set of work stream collaboration functionality built into Teams clearly allows it to offer a broader surface area of usage and scenarios (and hence a better value) than Zoom, this precise value is also in some ways its Achilles heel with respect to onboarding.

Room Systems

As parts of the Zoom vs. Teams battleground threaten to become increasingly commoditized, one area of unique differentiation is the “room systems” installed in an organization. A room system can range from a simple huddle room configuration all the way up to a deluxe executive conference room. While both offer device management, touch enhancements, companion experiences with mobile, and dual-screen rooms support, Zoom has the added benefit of people counting, and Teams has proximity detection. Another difference between Zoom vs. Microsoft Teams is that Zoom certifies both integrators and hardware providers while Teams only certifies the hardware solutions.

Integrations

Integrations have rapidly become a crucial concern for all collaboration platforms. The good news is that both Zoom and Microsoft have a lot of integrations to tap into. Microsoft Teams’ biggest win is its close, baked-in integration of Microsoft 365 apps, and beyond that, there are over 70 integrations for Microsoft Teams that include options for ticket management, surveys, weather, news, etc. In Microsoft’s case, integrations are typically to bring app data into its own platform. On the flip side, Zoom is often added as an integration to other platforms. A great example of this is how Zoom and Slack work together. In addition to the Slack integration, Zoom has over 100 integrations, including an integration with Microsoft 365.

Clearly, there’s no obvious winner – the final choice depends on your own organizational needs and requirements. Both Microsoft Teams and Zoom have a lot of value to offer for those in search of simple and effective collaboration tools. You can use each platform to build a comprehensive environment for communication, complete with integrations, and even telephony too.

Microsoft Teams is excellent for internal collaboration thanks to its robust set of integrations with the Microsoft 365 environment. It isn’t purely a video conferencing app as it also offers file sharing and easy chatting and channel solutions which are great for keeping your team on the same page. If you have Microsoft 365 in place, you will be able to integrate your Office apps with Teams. This provides a seamless experience for businesses that are heavily integrated into Microsoft’s ecosystem.

Alternatively, Zoom is more appealing for those who often want to work with external collaborators, like contractors and suppliers, with fantastic one-click meeting join options. While Zoom was initially designed for business use, it works like a charm for everyday interactions as well – the ability to quickly set a meeting up, share screens, live chat, and record is intuitive. Overall, Zoom is a solid option for those looking for a reliable video conference app with little setup.

In many cases, Microsoft Teams and Zoom can actually be combined and work well together, rather than forcing an either-or situation. In the modern digital workplace, multi-platform is becoming increasingly the norm. From our experience, the majority of users tend to use multiple collaboration app platforms today. It’s likely that even if both Zoom and Microsoft Teams aren’t formally deployed within your enterprise that there are still popup uses in different departments. If you feel you need help to bring light into the darkness of options, the SoftwareONE collaboration experts will be happy to support you in finding the best solution for your organization´s needs.