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Handles communications tools effectively (i.e. Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp) - Resource file
There are many instant messaging and video communication tools. Teams, Zoom, WhatsApp are among the well known, but a lot of people are also using Signal or even Threema.
We must make sure to provide our users with good communication tools support.
Teams requires a Microsoft account. Those who do not have such an account can’t use it. The interesting thing with Teams is that you can credit your account and use it for phone calls (on the landline or cellular network, not the IP network) at a very interesting price.
WhatsApp also provides you with a Windows app, to help you write your messages more quickly with your physical keyboard. Your users must know that to contact someone using WhatsApp their phone number must be added as contacts. WhatsApp allows you to create groups for group conversation. You can even create a survey? Click Attach
If you want to organize a one to one video call, you can use any of them. But when it comes to a group call you are likely to discard private apps (such as Skype or Whatsapp) and rather use either Zoom or Google Meet. How to choose ? There are a few aspects to consider.
SIL/WGA non-profit Google Workspace subscriptions give us access to Meet.
But this is a basic plan. It offers free conferencing for up to 100 participants for meetings up to 24 hours (attendees don't have to own a Google account). "Digital white-boarding", "Polling, and Q&A". "Hand raising" and "Breakout rooms" are coming soon but are not yet available in Meet.
This basic plan will not allow you to record meetings, use moderation controls, use noise cancellation, and the other advanced features a Zoom Pro account provides.
If the basic plan limitations are not a problem for you, you can use Meet instead of Zoom.
Many of us are using Meet and it works very well.
For Zoom, it’s good to either create a free account or, if in SIL, to log in using your SIL account. This won’t allow you to exceed the 40 minutes limitation, but you can choose an image or avatar and set your display name. One helpful feature in Zoom is the Annotate feature. When someone is sharing their screen, one can draw on it to indicate the area that one wants to discuss with them. Don’t forget to update your Zoom client programs to ensure that you can take advantage of the latest features.
We often face the situation of someone’s microphone not working in Zoom or Meet calls, even for ITs. It is a good practice to check the microphone and video are working fine prior to every meeting. You can select in the app a different device than the one Windows is using. Is the right one selected from there?
Among the most common issues are video problems. One reason is that, in Windows, only one app at a time can access the webcam. So, if the user has Skype opened, it can be that they won’t be able to use video on Zoom. This is something to check first. You can then check if video drivers are properly loaded. Just type Cam on the Windows search and select the Webcam app. Make sure the webcam works fine at the Windows level. If so, and no other app is open, conflicting with the one you want to use, then you should check your privacy settings and make sure the app is authorized to use the webcam.
WhatsApp updated their Terms and Privacy policy which led some organizations to stop using it for privacy and security reasons. While using WhatsApp to communicate with friends as well as for all private stuff is not a problem, using WhatsApp to share sensitive information is no longer a safe choice because of the interconnection with Facebook.
Those working in sensitive areas are strongly recommended to use Signal or Threema. Signal is probably best for most members. It has one important disadvantage though. Currently the registration process requires a phone number, which is a problem in sensitive areas. Signal is planning to offer the option to register without a phone number soon. As an alternative, Threema (a $4 one-time purchase fee) is a good choice for those who don’t want a phone number associated with their App. Notice that Session and Telegram are not recommended either for security reasons.
For those who live in sensitive locations, using a secure chat app is not enough. It is especially important to use your VPN all the time. A VPN will hide the fact that you are using a secure chat app.
Speaking about security, we used to discourage sending text messages because they are not encrypted. Things are changing now. Google is rolling out RCS (Rich Communication Services). RCS offers similar security functionality to third-party services like Whatsapp, such as message encryption and verifying messages before they're delivered. SMS does not support these security features. The key difference between RCS and SMS is that SMS sends messages over the cellular network, while RCS content requires data connectivity before it can be transmitted.