A remote meeting, also known as a virtual meeting, occurs when a group of people, who are dispersed across different locations, use video and audio to connect online.
More and more teams are starting to include remote workers, which can put a strain on communication without the right video conferencing software and other communication tools.
According to the Owl Labs State of Video Conferencing 2019 report, video conference meetings are the preferred method of communication when in-person meet-ups are not possible.
That means that video conferencing is now the favored method of communication over email, instant messaging, and phone calls.
Monitoring your Network connections is now probably the most important task you need to manage and watch over on a daily basis – Especially if you are utilizing in-house PPTP or IPSEC Microsoft based VPN tunnels.
Telecommuting is here to stay, whether we like it or not.
“As a network engineer, utilizing Bandwidth Monitoring alongside your NetworkMonitoring software is the most crucial piece of the puzzle to ensure remote VPN connections to your file shares have 100% uptime”, says Jeff Davies from WebServerTalk.com.
“We’ve compiled a list of our Favorite tools for network Monitoring here to help Administrators choose which one works from them – and some of which have Bandwidth monitoring built into them”.
Before COVID, a research study was one by Buffer, and they found that 98% of workers said they would prefer to work remotely while only 2% said they would rather commute.
With COVID changing the way companies operate in 2020, the 98% got their wish because the majority of organizations are now working remotely in some capacity.
With that in mind, the question is no longer “is remote work here to stay?” It seems like remote work might even be the new normal.
Most Remote Conferencing apps allow you to do the following:
- Presentations or webinars
- Conference calls
- Video meetings with multiple participants
- Run product demos and training
- 1-on-1 meetings with remote employees
- Face-to-face customer support
Some more advanced features include:
- Slideshow presentations
- Meeting scheduling and recording
- Live chatting
- Audience interaction features
- File sharing
Top Remote Meeting Software
To get your organization started with remote meetings and virtual conferencing, here are some of the top rated remote meeting softwares:
Zoom – Affordable video conferencing software. Not only does it provide HD video and audio, but it can support up to 1,000 participants at the same time, and up to 49 videos on a single screen, though such large gatherings are probably best suited to big-screen monitors.
GoToMeetings – Mobile friendly audio and video-conferencing as well as screen-sharing.
RingCentral Video – Video call scheduling and recording, screen sharing and annotation, and in-built chat functionalities.
Microsoft Teams – Enables users to schedule video or audio meetings with a single person or a teamWebinars and large meetings with up to 10,000 participants.
Google Meet – Developed specifically for business needs, it can cater for a large number of users at once, and also uses smart participation and a fast interface to reduce the need to wait.
Click Meeting – Share your screen, play slideshows and videos, and even let attendees take over your mouse to explore an interactive display. ClickMeeting supports question-and-answer sessions and live polls, so you can get your audience participating and collect valuable data about attendees.
Ensuring Network Uptime
Now you have some options for a great remote meeting software, but simply having the software isn’t enough.
You want to make sure your network is not going to have any interruptions, causing your meeting to freeze up, slow down or be completely stopped.
There is nothing worse than being in the middle of a meeting and having it freeze up or deliver poor quality.
Here are a list of uptime monitoring tools that can help you ensure that your meetings go on smoothly, without any interruptions.
Uptime Monitoring Tools
SolarWinds Engineer Toolset – comes with more than 60 tools to help you moniotor and manager your netowrk
Pingdom – This is an online system that pays attention to website perfomance. It check’s your networks availability to make sure there isn’t any downtime.
Datadog Synthetic Monitoring – Datadog gives you the option to use it as an API-driven or browser-based uptime monitoring solution and offers monitoring for multiple locations.
Paessler PRTG Network Monitor – Paessler is an integrated server, network, and application monitoring system that performs constant uptime-checks. This one runs on a Windows Server.
Sematext Synthetics – A testing system that runs performs regular browser-based and HTTP checks on the availability and performance of websites.
Site24x7 Website Monitoring – If you need a cloud-based uptime monitor, this one monitors website performance, IT infrasturcture, and application activities.
Server Density – Another cloud-based solution that monitors both onsite and off-site network, servers and application.
Nagios XL – Nagios is a Lunux-based uptime monitor that offers a free version called Nagios Core.
Zabbix – Zabbix is free and open-source that can run on Linux – it is known for its appealing interface and ease of use.
ManageEngine OpManager – ManageEngine is an SDNMP-based network monitoring system that has great visual data features.
OP5Monitor – This uptime monitor uses SNMP to check on device statuses.
Icinga 2 – Free network monitoring tool that runs on Linux.
Some of these uptime monitoring tools offer free versions or free trials.
By investing in a network uptime monitoring tool, you can keep your website, network, and business online – especially during those important virtual meetings!
In these unprecedented times for business, forecasting may be challenging but investing in the right video conferencing and uptime monitoring solutions for your needs will reap operational and communication benefits for years to come.
