What is corporate live streaming?
Corporate live streaming is a technology of transmitting real-time video streaming over a network for business communications. Due to COVID-19 and the introduction of social distancing, many companies have transferred their work to a remote mode. Since then video communication platforms have become an integral part of doing business and are used for web conferences, work meetings, webinars, team coordination, file sharing with colleagues, and more.
To date, there are hundreds of platforms offering video communication services. Below you will find a list of the most popular video conferencing solutions best suited to modern-day business needs.
8 Platforms for Corporate Live Communication
Zoom
Undoubtedly, this is the most famous platform, which, even with the advent and development of new solutions in the field of streaming video, has not lost its relevance. Why is it chosen by housewives and presidents, small businesses, and large corporations?
The Zoom marketplace can be a great help if you want to accelerate your product development and build fully customizable video conference applications. Zoom offers its own SDK for this with support for Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, and Web. With integration, you can create any product that will allow you to make audio and video calls, and conduct video streams.
Main features:
- a cloud-based architecture designed specifically for video;
- optimized for large projects;
- access to HD video and audio;
- customized video composition;
- up to 500 users can join a session (up to 1000 people with the Large Meetings add-on);
- screen demonstration;
- third-party video streams;
- chat;
- video overlay.
The SDKs offer conferencing features and are compatible with multiple languages, platforms, and frameworks.
Tariffs
The price depends on the selected tariff plan:
Basic – free,
Professional – $14.99/month,
Business – $19.99/month,
Enterprise – $19.99/month.
Free version with limited time and number of participants – up to 100 people can be in the conference for 40 minutes. After this time, you will receive a notification about the need to subscribe, you can interrupt the conference and start it again. If there is a one-on-one video meeting, time limits are not applied.
Microsoft Teams
The product is well suited for interaction within the company, and deep integration with Microsoft Office allows you to perform all the necessary actions within a single platform.
Main features:
- live closed captioning and CART subtitles;
- dedicated chats for each meeting;
- group chat for Office 365;
- adding a new member to a group call;
- voice input and command;
- translation of messages into 36 supported languages;
- immersive reader;
- readability checks;
- the document, chat, and app pinning;
- switching Access to iOS and Android.
Pros: The platform is tightly integrated with Microsoft applications such as Skype, Word, SharePoint, OneNote, Power BI, Planner. Therefore, by opting for Microsoft Teams, you automatically benefit from access to the above products.
Tariffs
Users are offered four tariff plans:
A free version of Microsoft Teams;
Microsoft Teams Basic – $4 for a monthly subscription;
Microsoft 365 Business basic – $6 for a monthly subscription;
Microsoft 365 Business Standard – $12.5 for a monthly subscription.
Google Meet
Google Meet is a popular business communication platform. The service is included in G Suite and G Suite for Education. Previously, the tool was called Google Hangout.
There are three ways to create a video meeting:
scheduling via Google Calendar;
creating a conference via Google Mail;
directly in Meet.
Main features:
- screen sharing;
- displaying up to 16 participants in a Zoom-style gallery view;
- real-time subtitles based on Google speech recognition technology;
- a live stream that only people in your company can watch (you can add up to 100,000 viewers, but this feature is only available in a paid package);
- automatic repositioning of windows on the video call screen to focus on more active participants (can also be done in manual mode);
- removing participants, muting the microphone;
- screen sharing and messaging during the event.
Pros: Synchronization with Google services, stable operation, anti-intruder and encryption features are enabled by default. You can start a video meeting in just a few seconds using your calendar or email.
G Suite Enterprise users can generate a dedicated number that can be dialed in to a meeting even on the road when there is no internet access.
Tariffs
The application allows you to organize video meetings for up to 100 participants for free. The corporate version with a limit of up to 100 participants will cost $9.99/month. The Google Workspace Enterprise package allows up to 500 participants, but please contact sales for pricing.
GoToMeeting
This is a platform that is well suited for corporate teams. Among corporate solutions, GoToMeeting is positioned as the most mobile-friendly.
Main features:
- file & screen sharing;
- event recording;
- virtual board;
- built-in Office 365 and Google Calendar plugins;
- integration with Salesforce;
- virtual Spotlight pen for on-screen drawing, keyboard and mouse sharing, and co-hosts (available for Business and Enterprise packages only).
Pros: unlimited meeting time; display up to 25 video participants on the screen.
Cons: there are problems with sound delay, records from the cloud storage are deleted automatically after 1 year.
By the way, the same company has another application – JoinMe, which is simpler and focused on small businesses.
Tariffs
There are three tariff plans:
Professional (up to 150 participants) – $12/month;
Business (up to 250 participants) – $17/month;
Enterprise (up to 3 thousand participants).
You can also use the free 14-day trial.
Cisco Webex Meetings
An enterprise-grade tool from the master of Cisco video conferencing solutions. It is capable of accommodating up to 10,000 participants. For companies, the advantage of the product is that it is docked with hardware video conferencing solutions and specialized devices that could be integrated earlier.
To compete with online video conferencing systems, Cisco Webex began to instill intelligent features into its software. For example, now platform conference participants have a personal virtual assistant who works as a full-fledged meeting participant that is ready to do the job: adjust the sound, add a note, turn on the recording, etc.
In 2021, Cisco acquired Socio Labs, Inc., which is a video conferencing software giant. One can only imagine how the Webex video conferencing platform will evolve with Socio Labs developments.
Main features:
- meeting recording and playback;
- multimedia content exchange;
- interactive whiteboard;
- scheduling meetings through Outlook;
- screen sharing;
- chat, notes, handshake and voting;
- speech-to-text conversion;
- auto-captions;
- real-time translation into 10 languages;
- virtual Webex Assistant;
- integration with MS Office, Google Cloud, Salesforce, Slack, Appspace, OneDrive.
Pros: end-to-end encryption, numerous integrations, noise reduction technology.
Tariffs
There are 5 pricing plans:
Webex Suite – Basic (Free Plan);
Webex Suite – Business ($25/mo);
Webex Suite – Enterprise (Customized Premium Plan);
Meet Plan ($15/mo);
Call Plan ($17/mo).
Dacast
A full-featured web conferencing platform with high image quality and a high data transfer rate. Unlike many other consumer-facing platforms, Dacast is a 100% B-2-B product. Dacast provides complete solutions for live-streaming and online video hosting. Users can embed videos on their own websites while maintaining 100% control over their content. Streaming solutions from Dacast are considered very secure. No wonder brands like Nokia, Lenovo, eBay, and Canon trust them.
Main features:
- high-quality streaming;
- video encryption;
- real-time analytics;
- user-friendly video content management;
- integrated payment system.
Pros: 24/7 technical support, multiple-bitrate streaming, no ads.
Tariffs
50 GB storage will cost $39/month while paying $188/month will get you 1,000 GB of storage. Customized tariff plans are also available upon request.
Brightcove
Brightcove is another brainchild of Video Streaming technology. Brightcove is a range of streaming tools and options, including cloud video hosting, server-side ad insertion, the lift video player, live video streaming, OTT streaming for internet TV, cloud transcoding encoder, and more.
Main features:
- detailed analytics;
- a wide range of video marketing tools;
- live streaming;
- video-on-demand hosting;
- monetization tools.
Cons: no ads, CRM integration, user-friendly.
Tariffs
Brightcove no longer publishes prices on its website. However, you can check out the required packages: Starter, Professional and Enterprise. The cost of the packages is available in the pricing department.
Kaltura
The Kaltura video streaming platform provider targets large agencies. Educational institutions, media companies, and enterprises use Kaltura experience and video services. This means that the products offered by the platform are applicable in the corporate, event, and educational activities.
Main features:
- analytical dashboard;
- FullHD video with adaptive bitrate technology;
- subtitles and automatic translation;
- video API, SDK, and developer tools;
- design customization with a brand demonstration: logos, watermarks, features, templates, and plugins.
Pros: flexible delivery networks, advanced real-time analytics, high scalability, and robust security.
Tariffs
Kaltura offers 9 plans for a variety of use cases, most of which are available in trials. Pricing information is not publicly available, but you can get it by contacting the sales department.
Custom Corporate Video Streaming Solution
Do not rush to get upset if none of the presented video streaming platforms is suitable for your business tasks. In this case, your option is to create a custom video streaming solution.
To understand what solutions need to be integrated into the business to solve specific streaming problems, the first step in creating a product is R&D. Our experts research the industry in which the streaming solution will be applied, competitors, and, of course, the target audience. A technical specification is written based on the obtained data during the investigation.
It is very important that the future platform has all the necessary features and functions that would be fully consistent with the intended purpose and satisfy the needs of users.
Experienced UI/UX designers can create an exclusive style for your future platform. It will cost you more than using a template, but your own corporate identity will distinguish you from competitors.
The cost of a video streaming platform is actually influenced by several factors, such as the number of built-in features and functions, scalability, UI/UX design complexity, the location of the developers you hire, and more.
The most basic version costs $20,000 and takes 4-6 months to develop. It will take more than 9 months to develop a mid-to-advanced application fully loaded with modern features and high-quality standards, and the cost will be $25,000 – $45,000.
Technologies are constantly evolving and the quality of end products and services is improving. Our experts keep abreast of the trends in the video streaming industry, so you can be sure to get the latest innovative product that will not quickly lose its relevance.
Conclusion
The development of video streaming technologies has led to the fact that we do not lack the choice of platforms that can be used in completely different industries.
All video streaming platforms have their advantages, but the main issue is always the price and integration with your product.
Fortunately, off-the-shelf video streaming platforms are not the ultimate choice and you can always create your customized solution that fully meets your expectations and the needs of your business.
And, luckily, there are people whose expertise and experience can bring your ideas and desires to life.
