Whether it’s fostering seamless collaboration among remote teams, enhancing professional images, or creating compelling client presentations, video meeting services are proving to be an indispensable ally in the quest for business growth. When paired with the right service provider, video meetings offer numerous benefits to small businesses and can help entrepreneurs take their success to the next level. 

The Importance of Modern Communication for Small Businesses

The way businesses communicate has changed dramatically over the past few decades. The rise of the internet and mobile technology has led to a shift not only in how we communicate but also in customer expectations. Today’s consumers expect to be able to reach companies quickly and easily, regardless of the size or nature of the business. 

As tech-savvy and time-conscious consumers, they are looking for businesses that are responsive, accessible, and efficient in their communication. This is where video meeting services come into play. 

When paired with communication features like real-time conferencing, live receptionists, and instant messaging, these services allow businesses to meet and exceed customer expectations. Not only that, but your business can keep up with the complicated demands of a remote workforce.

Advanced Communication Methods: A Business Necessity

In addition to meeting customer expectations, businesses also need to maintain an efficient and cohesive work environment for their staff. With teams often spread across different locations, or even time zones, traditional communication methods can fall short. Video meeting services offer a solution to this challenge, enabling real-time collaboration and communication, regardless of geographical boundaries.

Related: How to Communicate with Customers on Their Terms

The cost-effectiveness of video meeting platforms makes them an even more attractive option for small businesses. Compared to traditional communication methods, video meeting services can significantly reduce travel costs and time spent coordinating. 

This allows businesses to allocate resources more efficiently, leading to increased productivity and growth. The potential of video meeting services is vast and varied. Let’s explore some of the many ways these tools are helping small businesses thrive.  

1. Professional Image Building

A company’s image extends beyond its physical presence. It is shaped by every interaction a business has, whether it’s in person or online. As such, the importance of maintaining a professional image in all forms of communication cannot be overstated. Video meeting services play a crucial role, offering businesses an opportunity to present themselves in a professional, modern, and accessible manner.

When you conduct meetings via video, it sends a clear message to your clients and partners: your business is up-to-date with the latest technology, values effective communication, and respects their time. High-quality video and audio, along with features like screen sharing and virtual backgrounds, can create a polished and professional environment that can impress clients and partners alike.

2. Improved Client Presentations

Client presentations are another area where video meeting services can significantly enhance your business. The ability to share screens allows for seamless presentations, while real-time video interaction enables immediate feedback and discussion. 

This not only makes the presentation more engaging but also demonstrates your business’s commitment to open communication and collaboration. First impressions often make or break business relationships, so the professional image projected by using video meeting services effectively can be a game changer.

3. Effortless Collaboration for Enhanced Productivity

Collaboration among staff is a key aspect of any business. Whether your team is in the same office or spread across the globe, effective collaboration can drive innovation, boost productivity, and ultimately lead to business growth. Video meeting services are a powerful tool in fostering this collaboration, especially when it comes to remote team engagement.

When you have effective real-time communication, you’re able to execute better brainstorming sessions, project planning, and problem-solving. What’s more, with features like screen sharing and document collaboration, team members can work together as if they were in the same room, even when they’re miles apart. This not only enhances the quality of collaboration but also speeds up decision-making processes.

4. Better Engaged Remote Teams

For remote teams, video meeting services are not just a tool for collaboration; they are a lifeline. They provide a platform for regular interaction, helping to build rapport and maintain a sense of team unity. Regular video meetings can help remote employees feel more connected and engaged, reducing feelings of isolation and promoting a positive work culture. 

Moreover, these tools can also be used for non-essential interactions, like virtual coffee breaks or team-building activities, further fostering a sense of community and engagement among remote teams. 

5. Training and Development Resources

Training and development are crucial aspects of any successful business. They ensure that employees are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform their roles effectively. Video meeting services have emerged as a powerful tool for delivering effective training and development. 

When used for training purposes, video meetings offer several unique advantages. For example, they allow for real-time interaction between trainers and trainees, regardless of their geographical location. This means that businesses can provide consistent training to all employees, even if they are working remotely. 

Video meeting services often come with features like screen sharing and recording. Screen sharing allows trainers to demonstrate processes and techniques visually, making the training more engaging and effective. 

In turn, employees can get hands-on experience while trainers monitor to give constructive feedback and instruction. With recording capabilities, trainees can revisit the materials at their convenience, reinforcing learning and ensuring that no important information is missed.

Strategies for Better Video Meeting Training

To make the most of video meeting services for training and development purposes, there are several tactics businesses can adopt. For instance, it’s important to create a structured training agenda and share it with the participants in advance. This helps to keep the training focused and ensures that all important topics are covered.

Additionally, businesses should encourage interaction during the training sessions. This can be done by asking questions, conducting polls, or assigning group tasks. Interaction not only makes the training more engaging but also allows trainers to gauge the understanding and progress of the staff.

Lastly, businesses should make use of the recording feature to create a library of training resources. Employees can access these resources at any time, serving as a valuable tool for continuous learning and development.

6. Personalized Customer Support 

Delivering attentive, personalized customer support is very important in today’s business landscape. Video meeting services can help businesses meet the expectation for fast and efficient service while offering a platform for real-time, face-to-face interaction that can significantly enhance the customer experience.

Related: Streamline Your Communications with an Internet Business Phone System

These capabilities are transforming the way businesses handle customer support. Instead of relying solely on phone calls or emails, businesses can now interact with customers in real-time through video calls. This allows for more personalized and efficient service, as support agents can visually demonstrate solutions, understand the problem better by seeing it firsthand, and build a stronger connection with the customer.

7. Face-to-Face Consultations

Client consultation is another area where video meeting services can add immense value. Whether it’s a sales consultation, product demo, or strategy discussion, conducting these sessions via video meetings can make them more interactive, engaging, and effective.

With video meetings, consultants can use visual aids, share screens to present data or documents, and read the clients’ non-verbal cues to adjust their approach in real time. This can lead to more productive sessions, better customer relationships, and increased sales.

Incorporating Video Meeting Services for Business Growth

As we’ve seen, video meeting services offer a wealth of benefits that can significantly enhance various aspects of your business. But to truly harness the power of these tools and foster business growth, it’s essential to incorporate them strategically into your operations. Here’s how you can do just that.

Strategies for Communication Success

The first step to effectively incorporating video services is to identify the areas of your business where they can add the most value. 

• Team meetings
• Employee collaboration
• Client presentations
• Training sessions
• Customer support

Once you’ve identified these areas, you can start to integrate video meetings into your regular operations. The key is to start small and gradually increase your use of video meetings as you and your team become more comfortable with the technology.

Another important aspect is running your video meetings efficiently. This means setting a clear agenda, starting and ending on time, and ensuring that all participants are engaged and contributing. With a bit of planning and discipline, video meetings can become a powerful tool for operational efficiency.

Finally, it’s important to focus on the human element of video meetings. This means encouraging open and honest communication and taking the time to build relationships. After all, business is all about relationships, and video meeting services offer a unique opportunity to strengthen these connections in a digital world.

Embrace the Power of Video Meeting Services

As we’ve navigated the ways video meeting services can revolutionize your business operations, it’s clear that these tools are more than just a means of communication. They are a catalyst for business growth and a strategy for streamlining operations.

Remember that choosing the right service provider is crucial. Phone.com offers a range of video meeting services designed to provide unique solutions that small businesses need at an affordable price. With features like high-quality video and audio, screen sharing, and document collaboration, Phone.com can be your partner in success, helping you leverage the power of video meetings. Sign up today to take your business to new heights with modern communication strategies.

The post 7 Ways to Foster Business Growth with Video Meeting Services appeared first on Phone.com.

A remote workforce requires reliable communication between both the employees and customers of a business. For small businesses, a virtual phone system can make a professional impression and provide a competitive advantage by giving customers reliable, consistent service from anywhere — whether from an office, home, a coworking space, or on the road. 

As more businesses move toward hiring remote employees and working remotely, a virtual phone system provides a seamless, reliable, and versatile communication solution. In this blog, we’ll take a closer look at the kinds of virtual phone solutions your business can benefit from, regardless of your business size or industry.

What Is A Virtual Phone System?

A virtual phone system enables calls over the internet. It is cloud-based, so it doesn’t rely on wiring like traditional phone systems. A virtual phone system is easy and flexible to use, as virtual phone numbers allow calls to be made or received on computers, tablets, or mobile apps. Since they don’t require the hardware or lines of traditional PBX systems, they can be set up quickly. 

Related: Benefits of a VOIP Business Phone Service and Why You Need It

A VoIP phone system can integrate with other business software, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, to enable placing outgoing calls instantly and from anywhere. Incoming calls can be seamlessly routed to one or more phone numbers, whether individual employees or departments, so there are no missed calls to stall progress or frustrate customers. The right system is also:

• Economical. The cost of a VoIP phone system can be one-quarter to one-half of that of a traditional PBX system, making it ideal for smaller businesses. 
• Flexible. Forward calls to employees no matter where they are, designate business hours, and adjust schedules to better inform and serve customers and facilitate remote team collaboration.
• High-quality. No more shouting, “can you hear me?” on calls when you’re in the field. Over today’s internet connections, HD audio delivers clear communication, preventing misunderstandings and allowing your team to resolve issues quickly and efficiently. 
• Fully-featured. You don’t have to have an enterprise phone system to have the features of one. Choose greetings, automated attendants, and hold music for a professional presentation and enhanced customer service.
• Quickly implemented. – Because you aren’t dependent on a lot of hardware or phone line installations, you can implement your virtual phone system after choosing your phone number using your computer, mobile device, or IP desk phone.

In short, a virtual phone system offers more advanced features, flexibility, and scalability at a lower cost than a traditional phone system, with a much lighter footprint.

Essential Virtual Phone Solutions for Remote Work

Though companies that provide remote work opportunities are at a clear advantage when it comes to gaining today’s talented employees, they must take care to ensure their employees have the support they need. It’s not only vital for collaboration and customer service, but it goes a long way toward employee satisfaction. 

Communication that keeps your operations running smoothly with a hybrid or remote workforce requires solutions that serve a variety of business needs. Whether using voice, text, or video, virtual phone solutions are no longer optional for successful remote work.

Related: 7 Features A Virtual Phone System Must Offer To Your Business

Each company, even if they are in the same industry, can have different needs. A virtual phone platform with numerous features makes the right solution even more valuable, as it facilitates easy customization for each situation. Being able to pick the services that you need means you never have to pay for a preset solution with features you don’t need or want. Next, we’ll illustrate three different phone solutions customized to support remote workers in a variety of business situations.

The Office With an Outdated Phone System

The problem – A small business on a limited budget has a legacy analog phone system and disparate software applications, which completely inhibits remote work.

The solution – Enable the use of existing phones while adding seamless integration of applications to the network so that they are accessible remotely.

The features –

• Analog phones connect to your network with an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) to enable the use of VoIP.
• An Application Integration tool integrates your applications, enabling click-to-dial, screen pops, and call tracking from your browser.
• My.Phone.com lets your workforce handle calls, texts, fax, voicemail, and video meetings from any internet-connected device.
• Video Meeting capabilities let your remote team members collaborate quickly, easily, and effectively.
• Click-to-Call lets your customers request a return call by entering their phone number on your website.

A virtual phone system can modernize your entire business and work environment with minimal effort, giving your business a professional edge and improving productivity and communication.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Virtual Phone Numbers for Business

The Multi-Agent Insurance Brokerage

The problem – Multiple agents in a small but busy office need an economical, scalable, and secure way to service their clients from anywhere, at any time.

The solution – Provide notifications and a visual record of incoming calls and voice messages while maintaining HIPAA compliance.

The features –

• Business Phone Numbers keep your mobile number private while presenting a seamless business presence, even if you are on the road.
• Call Notifications keep you informed so you can follow up immediately.
• HIPAA Compliant phone calling and video conferencing keep everything secure.
• Fax-from-Phone lets you securely transmit sensitive information to and from customers or medical providers.
• Dial-by-Name Directory gives callers the agent extension so they can reach them directly.

Businesses that need solutions for time-sensitive or other sensitive information can benefit from the features offered by the right VoIP system partner, keeping their business running smoothly from any location.

The Retailer Expanding Into International Sales

The problem – A small, national retailer is expanding into a global market for the first time and needs to make and receive international calls in the most reliable, economical way.

The solution – Enable international numbers and provide a mobile app to accommodate multiple time zones and make communication with customers, suppliers, and vendors easy from anywhere.

The features –

• International Calling allows you to reach numbers in the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Israel, and iNUM global numbers at U.S. local rates.
• Number Porting lets you move an existing business number that may be identifiable for your business from your current carrier, whether it is toll-free, international, or local, without a port-in fee.
• Call Logs detail all incoming, outgoing, or missed calls made to your chosen numbers so you never fail to follow up with your customers or vendors.
• Mobile Apps let you handle calls to and from your chosen business phone number using your mobile carrier.
• Schedules enable customer calls to be greeted and routed differently based on the time of day, important when international customers are calling outside of your customer service hours. 

Customize a Cost-Effective Virtual Phone Solution To Support Your Remote Workforce

The great resignation is a wake-up call to businesses slow to recognize that today’s workers are no longer satisfied with business as usual. In the last few years, employees of organizations in a variety of types and sizes have found that they could do more work in less time with fewer interruptions when they didn’t have to commute to a crowded office. 

They realized that they could have more control over their work/life balance by working remotely, and that trend is still on the rise. Now companies everywhere are finding that they must provide the infrastructure that enables remote working so that they can attract, retain, and support their workforce.

The good news is that your small business can update its technology with enterprise features quickly and at an economical price. Even new companies with limited resources can have the professional presentation and flexibility of an enterprise phone system by implementing a virtual phone solution. 

Phone.com lets you provide service to your customers from anywhere at any time, collaborate with your remote team, and transmit documents securely, all while having access to best-in-class support for your system. Get started today so you can have your virtual phone system up and running tomorrow.

The post 3 Virtual Phone Solutions to Support Remote Work appeared first on Phone.com.

Related: What Business Communication Services Are Essential for Your Business? 

Almost every company has grown to love video conferencing and meetings for one-on-one and groups. Video meetings provide many benefits to all the participants, and they are as effective as in-person meetings as long as you maintain best practices. 

This guide helps you understand the best practices for effective video meetings and make the most of them. 

Technical Challenges You Might Face During a Video Meeting

The first trick to effective video meetings is overcoming any technological challenges you might face. There’s nothing more frustrating than a frozen picture during a meeting while the audio continues or vice versa. Check out these common technical challenges that you might face:

Video Quality

During a video meeting, each member needs to be able to view the other participants and any visual aids that might be presented. It’s essential for each person to be able to pick up on visual cues and body language like they would at an in-person conference. 

These essential visual clues can help you determine how well the information you’re presenting is being received or whether the other party is ready to place an order for your products. When it comes to communication, 93 percent are non-verbal. You need this information to pivot or continue in the same manner. 

Related: Remote Office Phone System: What to Look for

You need to invest in quality equipment and ensure your internet speed is up to the task. The quality of the video is a product of the equipment and your bandwidth. The software and platform you select also have a bearing on the quality of the video during your meetings. 

Audio Quality Issues

While your video quality is essential, audio quality can also become an issue. It can turn a smooth presentation into a challenging mess if you’re constantly asked to repeat what you said or if you have to continuously ask someone else what they said. 

Sometimes, the audio drops in and out, so it sounds like old cellphones going through a tunnel in the early 2000s. This doesn’t make for a productive or effective video meeting. Each member spends too much time trying to piece together what the others are saying. 

It’s beneficial to have the microphone and speakers you need to make yourself heard and listen to others without missing a word. The software and platform can also play a role in the audio and video quality of each meeting. 

Latency

You might be wondering what latency is. Latency is the time it takes between the image being captured and it being displayed. Low latency is a video with a latency of 100ms or less, although 200ms seems like real-time as well. 

When it comes to a video meeting, you don’t want any noticeable lag time. You want it to seem like everything happens in real-time. Latency is harder to control than you might think. 

As a general rule, the latency is determined by your wifi and router, the speed of your internet, and the available bandwidth. It’s a good idea to check your latency numbers before any video meetings and encourage your team to do the same, so you can up your internet speed ahead of an important event. 

Video Conferencing Etiquette Create More Productive Meetings

The rules for an in-person meeting and a video conference are both similar and dissimilar. When you attend a video meeting, you represent your company and yourself, so you don’t want to make any faux pas. 

Video meetings are new territory for most people, so it’s okay if you need to learn a little more about the etiquette involved. With the following tips, you should be ready to be more effective during video meetings:

Do a Dry Run

Nothing is more frustrating or stressful than when things go wrong on the day of an important video meeting. It could be a challenge logging onto the platform or visual graphics that don’t pop or work properly. 

The best way to handle and minimize the risks is to do a dry run the day before the video meeting. It’s a good idea to log onto the platform and ask friends to use the invite link you sent to invitees to ensure they also work correctly. 

You should run through your presentation and ensure that any visual graphics run smoothly. If there are any issues, you’ll have enough time to make corrections before the video meeting. This dry run can boost your confidence and ensure the meeting is successful. 

Consider Your Background

Do you love sports? Is travel your passion? Is your home office decorated to highlight your taste? While decorating your space can help you focus on tasks when you’re working, it might be a distraction you don’t want in a video meeting. 

Ahead of a video meeting, it’s a good idea to look at your space with a critical eye and remove anything that might distract others. You might consider using your computer or laptop and filming for a few minutes. When you play the video, try to notice any items in the background you might need to remove. 

If your space is decorated or visually busy, you might consider moving to another location for your video meeting. Your background should be as neutral as possible to keep all the participants focused on the meeting. 

Punctuality Counts

Even if you’re new to the business world, you’ve been in an important meeting where someone shows up late. The attendee comes bumbling through the door, making noise and apologies, and the meeting stops while the person gets settled. 

You don’t want to be that person in a video meeting. With video conferencing, a lot of things can go wrong and cause you to arrive late. It’s a good practice to log in a few minutes before the start time to give yourself a buffer against problems with your computer, internet, or login information. 

Most people value punctuality, and you want to appear in the best light possible. While people might not notice you arrived on time, they’ll see if you’re the one arriving late. 

Bar Pets and Children

Everyone has seen at least one video or meme of a child or cat interrupting a meeting and stealing the show. While this makes for excellent internet fodder, it doesn’t make for an effective video meeting. 

With so many people working from home, these incidents seem to happen more frequently. You don’t want to be trending because your labrador, Molly, appeared on screen with her favorite squeaky toy. 

If you have the ability, you need to close and lock the door to the room where you’re going to be during the meeting. You might need to lock pets in another room if you don’t. You might also consider asking your significant other or a friend to take your children out for a treat during your meeting. 

Professional Attire

It’s okay that you’ve gotten into the habit of working in your pajamas or favorite sweats, but wearing them for your video meeting is not okay. You must treat the video meeting like you would an in-person encounter. 

You want to put your best foot forward and make a great impression. When choosing what to wear for the video meeting, imagine that you’re going into the office and dressing accordingly. 

You might consider wearing your professional clothes only from the waist up, but this is a bad idea. Sometimes, during meetings, you might need to get up to grab something or take a break, and everyone will see your jeans or sweat pants. Also, dressing less casually can distract from your message and the topic of the meeting. 

Avoid Multitasking

In the modern world, multitasking is a skill everyone has become an expert at. However, during your video meeting, you want to avoid multitasking. You don’t want to open any other windows on your computer or check your cellphone for texts. 

Turning off the ringer on your phone and notifications from other programs on your computer or tablet is beneficial. You want as few opportunities to multitask available as possible. If you become too distracted, other people in the meeting will notice, which sets a bad example. During an effective video meeting, you need to concentrate on the presented information to make thoughtful contributions.

Use Your Mute Button

One facet of meetings you can change with a video call is people talking over each other. Someone gets a good idea and starts blurting out their thoughts. When you’re in a video meeting, and you aren’t the person speaking, mute yourself. 

If an idea pops into your head and out of your mouth, no one will hear you. Using your mute button ensures you’re heard only when you want to be. It can minimize the chaos and confusion that occurs in some meetings. 

This is especially true if you’re trying to make a good impression or the topic of the meeting creates a heated situation. The mute button can help you avoid making statements before thinking them through and enables you to present a thoughtful response. 

Make Eye Contact

It’s hard to know where to look when you’re using your computer to meet with other people. It’s also easy to allow your gaze to drift to other things in your space, but it’s essential that you make eye contact, especially when it’s your turn to speak or make a presentation. 

Most computers, laptops, and tablets have a light that illuminates when you’re on camera. While speaking, you should look there because that’s what others are seeing. 

If you find it hard to look at the light, you can look slightly lower, but be careful not to look too far down. You might consider recording a video on the device you plan to use for the meeting to see if you’re making eye contact or not. 

Be Patient With Others

In any video meeting, there will always be someone with less tech knowledge than you have and another person with more. During a video conference call or meeting, you must always display patience with others. 

You want to show you’re a caring and compassionate person. If you have the opportunity, it’s a good idea to help someone else who’s struggling to center their camera or log into the meeting. 

The person you help might be a decision-maker or someone who can return the favor someday. Even if you’re frustrated with someone talking over others, you don’t want to let it show and leave others with a negative impression of you. 

A Successful Video Meeting Begins With the Right Platform

All effective video meetings start with the right software and platform for the meeting.  There are so many options out there that it can be overwhelming to choose the right one. 

You need to ensure the platform you choose is web-based so that everyone you want to attend can access the software. You also need to make sure it accommodates the number of people attending. 

Phone.com is ready to help you take your video meetings to the next level. We offer several plans to accommodate the needs of your business. Reach out to us today to learn more. 

The post Best Practices for Effective Video Meetings appeared first on Phone.com.

HIPAA Compliant Video Calls

Video conferencing has become ubiquitous in the post-COVID-19 era and is an important enabler for telehealth services. However, to use video calls for healthcare, you must ensure your video conferencing service is compliant with relevant regulations. In this article, we’ll explain compliance requirements for video calls in the USA, essential features of HIPAA-compliant services, and how to select a service to suit your needs. 

What is HIPAA Compliance?

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 was created for the purpose of protecting personal health information (PHI) and the personally identifiable information (PII) of patients.

HIPAA requirements apply to any entity handling sensitive patient information, as well as business associates handling PHI on behalf of a covered entity. For example, software vendors operating in the healthcare industry are often considered business associates and must comply with HIPAA requirements.

HIPAA regulations are designed to protect PHI in any medium or form. While PHI may include information like names, drivers’ licenses, and social security numbers, it also represents a broader category of information including photographs, fingerprints, and voiceprints.

What is Required for HIPAA Compliant Video Chat?

Your organization’s health data management practices must also extend to video conferencing services. Here are several security requirements video chat solutions must implement to meet HIPAA requirements:

• Encryption—prevents unauthorized access to PHI as data can only be read with a decryption key. Although not strictly required by HIPAA, encryption is the most secure way to protect sensitive data. HIPAA treats encryption as an “addressable” security measure—meaning that if it is not reasonably appropriate in your scenario, you must use another equivalent security measure.
• Access control—ensures that authorized individuals use video chats to get access only to the PHI they need to do their job. Access control assigns different levels of access to PHI depending on the employee’s job.
• Audit control—tracks access to PHI to prevent unauthorized usage. Maintaining an audit log of PHI access allows organizations to monitor regular employee access patterns and quickly detect unauthorized access.

However, even if the SaaS tool has all the necessary security measures, it cannot be used with PHI without a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA). This agreement requires all parties to take proactive steps to adequately safeguard protected health information. 

The requirement for a BAA with solution vendors was recently overlooked by the regulator, to enable the use of “telehealth in good faith” during public health emergencies such as the COVID-19 crisis.

Software compliance depends on individual use. To use video chat tools in a HIPAA-compliant manner, it is essential to train staff in proper usage practices.

HIPAA-Compliant Video Calls: Essential Features

Vendor Access and Auditing

Another important consideration for HIPAA compliance is who has access to sensitive personal data. Video conferencing providers can protect patient data from the outside world, but they should also prevent their own employees from gaining access to PHI. In addition, it is important to audit the vendor’s use of video APIs or other external services to process or store video content. Any such third-party API provider must also sign a BAA and demonstrate HIPAA compliance.

Providers must take administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to prevent unauthorized users from accessing information classified as ePHI. For example, only a small percentage of selected approved individuals should have sign-in credentials. All employee devices, including smartphones and tablets, must be password protected (ideally with multi-factor authentication) and the video solution must leverage user authentication and password protection.

Ideally, vendors should be able to implement robust auditing tools and generate reports that include logs of when each file was accessed and by whom. This is useful for protecting healthcare professionals in cases where intentional violations are discovered, or for identifying and resolving vulnerabilities. 

End-to-End Encryption

As mentioned, encryption is not strictly required by HIPAA but is extremely effective in preventing threat actors or unauthorized third parties from accessing a video call, or data generated during the call. Encryption can help prevent unauthorized access because only authorized devices and users (ideally) have access to encryption keys.

Accidental Violations 

Some tools, like Zoom, may be technically considered HIPAA compliant. However, if a user sends meeting invitations to patients or inadvertently stores patient data in a Zoom account, they may violate HIPAA regulations. This is why it is important to work with vendors who understand HIPAA regulations internally and externally and can prevent unintended violations. The solution must restrict activities that can result in HIPAA violations.

How to Evaluate HIPAA-compliant Video Calls Systems

Video calls solutions that are compliant with HIPAA put patient privacy and confidentiality first. The best systems go beyond minimum safety standards and provide a layer of security for both providers and patients. In addition to providing video conferencing functionality that is easy to use and affordable, these solutions must set up privacy standards that protect users.

To determine the right HIPAA compliant video conferencing system for your use case, consider the following criteria:

• Pricing—evaluate per-user pricing and pay special attention to storage costs for recorded video sessions, and retention capabilities.
• Features—evaluate video chat functionality, to ensure that your staff can practice effective telehealth using the tool.
• Ease of use—ensure easy setup and use for both patients and providers. Keep in mind that many patients are elderly or non-technical, and the solution must cater to them.
• Accessibility—ensure that all your users can access video conferencing through their preferred device, browser, and operating system. Take into account that some patients may be using outdated computing systems.
• Security—evaluate solutions according to the layers of security they provide, the robustness of security measures, and the ease at which they can be administered by IT staff. Ensure the tool provides security by default and prevents unintentional violations.

Conclusion

HIPAA-compliant video calls require three essential elements: end-to-end encryption, robust access control, and auditing capabilities, allowing you to monitor and prevent unauthorized usage. 

When evaluating a video conferencing service for use in the healthcare industry, ensure it:

1. Provides secure connections
2. Limits and audit access by the video conferencing provider’s employee
3. Has secure default configuration to prevent accidental compliance violations

These points will help you provide convenient video chat services to medical practitioners and patients, without violating privacy or risking compliance penalties.

The post HIPAA Compliant Video Calls: What you Should Know appeared first on Phone.com.

Since the pandemic started, small and medium-sized business owners everywhere began looking for ways to enhance communications. Keeping staff, clients, and other contacts efficiently connected became critical for operational sustainability. Therefore, online video meetings rose as a primary form of communication.

COVID-19 boosted demand for video conferencing software and video chat applications in 2020, which saw a record 62 million downloads in March last year. Zoom quickly took the lead among other competitors such as Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. In fact, it was the most downloaded video conferencing app globally in February and March 2020.

But, as companies start to return to a “new normal” and Zoom continues to solve its widely known security concerns, business owners begin to realize video calls alone are not enough to cover all of their communications and collaboration needs. 

Corporate users and independent professionals are in the middle of Zoom’s declining reputation. While Zoom manages its highly publicized mistakes and works with its compliance officer to build in better controls, some consumers are left to wait in the hope that the platform will rise to the challenge. In contrast, some others opt for alternatives that may be less popular but far more reliable.

Managers who think ahead are now starting to research the market for more comprehensive Zoom alternatives that go beyond online video meeting features, capable of seamlessly integrating remote staff, in-house personnel, and multiple locations. 

Related: Create a Polished Image with Address, Conference Room & Phone Services

Other Features to  Look for in a Zoom Alternative

Top unified business communications systems offer a myriad of features, besides powerful online video meetings. For an affordable monthly fee, you could completely replace Zoom with enterprise-class communication services to make your business as efficient as any large company.

Here is a comprehensive list of features a leading communications partner could offer, on top of first-class audio, video, and video conferencing:

• SMS text messaging
• Voicemail to email
• Call routing
• Call queuing
• Self-service account management
• Auto-attendant
• Fax to email
• Call routing
• Dial-by-name directory
• Address book
• Hold music
• Audio Conferencing

If your business requires even more solutions, a superior Zoom alternative service could allow you to add a live receptionist, IP phone connection, more global phone numbers, international dialing, and call recording capabilities.

As you can see, there’s so much more beyond online video meeting tools. You can easily integrate these features to take your business communications to the next level.

How to find an Online Video Meeting Provider 

If you’re looking to integrate more communications solutions into your business, it is not only about replacing Zoom with just another web conferencing platform. You want a provider that can give you a solid online video meeting platform plus all of the features explored above. 

It is essential to consider specific criteria to partner with the best supplier to make your web conferences better.

Customer service support

A top-notch provider will offer 24/7 customer service support from qualified staff should any issues arise.

Suppose you choose a unified communications leader in the market. In that case, you will likely receive not only straightforward implementation instructions but a user-friendly control panel to manage your account, even if you don’t have any IT or telecommunications background.

However, there are times when you just need an extra hand or even personalized advice to implement your product in the best way possible. Sometimes you just need to have peace of mind and ensure communications continuity with the help of an expert.

This is where customer service reps come to save the day, not only as a standard benefit for your fee but as an intelligent approach to get the best out of your online video meetings and additional services.  

Guaranteed security

What are the best ways to switch video meeting platforms while ensuring your company’s information and staff are protected? As mentioned above, companies frequently search for Zoom alternatives due to security concerns. Trustworthiness in video meeting solutions has received a lot of attention lately, so this is an important question.

Make sure you verify this virtual security items checklist while doing your research:

• End-to-end encryption starting at AES 256 bit. Your video and audio conferences should be protected using enterprise-grade code.
• Granular privacy 
• Privacy policies to comprehensively explain how and where they use your personal information, ensuring no data ends up on Facebook or any other social media platforms
• Detailed explanations about how your meetings are protected and locked, making sure only you and your invited participants are in the session, without the fear of intrusion or “hijacking” of video cameras (following the laws and regulations of your country).
• Some premium online video meeting solutions may add an extra layer of security to your sessions with HIPAA compliance. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) required the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop regulations protecting the privacy and security of certain health information.”  This security standard is beneficial not only for healthcare-related business owners but to every company overall.

Ease of use

Before switching to any other online video meeting platform, consider if the suppliers you have on your list offer the following:

• Browser-based web conferencing, which doesn’t require any downloads or setups from you or any other called participants
• Collaborating capabilities through features like screen sharing and document sharing to make meetings much more productive and efficient 
• Customizing meeting URLs and session branding
• Compatibility with multiple devices, including microphones, speakers, and cameras
• Inviting participants in just one step

Your preferred provider should ideally give you options to scale as you grow by adding more online video meeting features as your business requires them. For instance, you could include live video streaming, HiFi video transcription, audio and video recording, and an online whiteboard.

More than Video Meetings: Seamless Collaboration 

After reviewing this guide to finding Zoom alternatives and improving your online video meeting experience, you are probably aware you need a complete service to guarantee seamless collaboration in the post-pandemic world.

You need platform adaptability and flexibility to guarantee it’s available on every device, anywhere in the world you and your teammates may be. Integrating on-the-go secure video conferences, instant messaging, shared screens, email, text, fax, voice, and shared documents may seem impossible right now if you are only relying on Zoom. 

Today’s work-from-anywhere companies and independent professionals demand easy-to-use cloud-based services to enable remote meetings and video communications in just one click. This solution ideally would save them from the Zoom hassles they already know, among them: endless text meeting invitations, complex URLs, password requirements, and potential security issues.

Phone.com develops mobile-first communications solutions to help businesses become agile. You can remain both productive and connected, regardless of your location or preferred device, with enterprise-grade omnichannel solutions. Get premium service in video conferencing and all other unified communications areas without complex deployments, the hassle of long-term contracts, or excessively high pricing. Sign up now.

The post Zoom Alternatives for Online Video Meetings appeared first on Phone.com.

It’s 2020 and Zoom-bombing is a Thing

When the history of the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 is written, there will be at least a chapter about Zoom. The video conferencing app is now how hundreds of millions of people connect. Co-workers, teachers and students, family and friends, worshipers and clergy, and – well, just about everyone have turned to the solution when in-person contact isn’t possible.

Unfortunately, no company can quadruple its revenue year over year because of an unexpected turn of events and not experience some hiccups. In June 2019, Medium reported on a vulnerability that allowed malicious websites to take over Mac users’ cameras without permission, even if they deleted the Zoom app. “The flaw potentially exposes up to 75,000 companies around the world that use Zoom to conduct day-to-day business.” To make things worse, Zoom failed to completely resolve the flaw for some time.

Later, in January 2020, Check Point Research revealed a technique they used to identify and join active meetings due to the omission of meeting passwords or an enabled Waiting Room, which would have allowed meeting hosts to manually admit authorized participants. According to Vox, this security flaw resulting in the embarrassing and risky phenomenon dubbed “‘Zoombombing,’ where public Zoom meetings are joined by malicious actors who broadcast things like porn and other objectionable content to the rest of the room.” 

Vox explains, “There are ways to mitigate this, such as passwords protecting meetings or limiting the screen sharing setting to the meeting host. But the fact that it is so easy for anyone to join and then disrupt a public Zoom meeting at all indicates that Zoom’s developers didn’t anticipate the ways those meetings could be disrupted in the first place – something that anyone who has used the Internet before really should have foreseen.”

Other security issues involve users saving recorded files to the open web, calls being routed through data centers in China, and shoddy encryption protocols, resulting in lawsuits for data sharing practices. While every technology company faces security issues, it appears Zoom has a long way to go before it can ensure users it has done enough to reduce risk and establish urgent mitigation processes.

Is This Thing On?

Beyond major security challenges, the Zoom platform recently had a global platform access issue that affected millions of users at the worst time possible. On August 25, 2020, Zoom suffered from a complete system breakdown, just as millions of students returned to Zoom-enabled distance learning. Zoom issued a statement, “We have received reports of users being unable to visit the Zoom website (zoom.us) and unable to start and join Zoom Meetings and Webinars. We are currently investigating and will provide updates as we have them.” The outage lasted more than three hours and there was little users could do in the meantime. CNN reported users in the United Kingdom also experienced the issue.

The outage wasn’t just annoying. It was devastating for school systems and universities that rely on Zoom as its primary form of connection with students. Schools weren’t the only ones affected. The New York Times said city and county governments, courthouses, and businesses were all scrambling to reschedule meetings, causing chaos and frustration, lost productivity, and delayed decision making. 

Zoom will likely remain quite popular, but the company is suffering the growing pains of its rapid rise in usage. As Zoom navigates its highly-publicized mistakes and builds in better controls, users are caught in the middle. They can wait it out in hopes that Zoom will step up to the task or look for alternatives that might be less familiar, but more reliable.

The Road Less Traveled

Video Meetings by Phone.com is a Zoom alternative or backup that is attractive to businesses for a variety of reasons. Most notably:

• Security: Your meetings are locked and held between you and your invited participants only without the fear of Zoombombing. Your video and audio conferences are protected using enterprise-grade code, rigorously tested before going to market. No data is ever shared with Facebook or any other third-party outside the service. The Plus and Pro versions of our solution are HIPAA compliant.

• Stability: Unlike Zoom, our video meetings platform is growing at a sustainable rate. We can monitor and adjust our systems as needed to accommodate a slowly growing base of users. For users, this means a reliable solution that is available when you need it. 

• Affordability: Our base plans start at less than $5 per month for each meeting host in addition to your Phone.com calling plan. This low price makes Video Meetings by Phone.com an excellent alternative to Zoom. Even if you want to keep Zoom as your primary platform, you can afford to have a Phone.com account as a backup for those times when Zoom’s servers are overwhelmed. There’s no contract, and you can cancel anytime.

As we all continue to adjust to this new world of working and living, we need tools we can depend on to keep us connected. Phone.com’s video solution will never be as popular as Zoom and we’re fine with that. We prefer to keep our focus on the small and growing businesses that count on us to empower their communications. In this case, there’s a big advantage for folks who don’t follow the crowd. 

The post To Zoom Or Not to Zoom? appeared first on Phone.com.