Did you know: there are substantial differences between Microsoft Teams and Zoom?
Other than video conferencing, the two products really are not the same. Zoom is all about video meeting, but Microsoft Teams is 100% focused on enterprise collaboration and Office/Windows integration.
For enterprise use, Microsoft Teams is the clear winner for these reasons:
• Native application integration
o Office (including Office online apps)
o SharePoint Online (Teams *is* SharePoint after all)
o Microsoft Planner
• Active Directory integration
o Fully native; no additional settings needed
o Applies to both on-prem and Azure AD
o Automatic SSO between other Office apps
• Administration
o PowerShell commands specific to Teams
o Admin portal is integrated with Office admin portal (single pane of glass for administration)
• Security
o Since Teams is really SPO, all the backend conditional access for SPO apply to Teams
o Native support for the Azure Authenticator app (MFA)
o (not confirmed, but probably) …. Teams IM history can been audited via the same tools used by O365
• Backend Scalability
o Teams runs on the Microsoft cloud fabric like other O365 apps
o Reliability is exceptional(ish)
• Presence Detection
o Like Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams will work with your Outlook calendar and change your “availability” automatically
o Granular peer access (specific users can interrupt even when in Do Not Disturb)
Where Zoom does it better:
• Video
o Zoom allows up to 50 people to be visible at once in a meeting
o Zoom allows custom backgrounds
o Zoom supports the most advanced codecs to provide enhanced quality on demand
• Ease of Use
o The Zoom app is very small compared to Teams
o Zoom uses less resources than Teams by far (CPU and network usages are often lower for Zoom)
o Zoom will not interfere with any existing O365 authenticated session
Privacy Concerns and Consumer Protection Failures
Microsoft Cloud App Security (MCAS) is a Shadow IT discovery tool that ranks over 20,000 companies across more than 70 risk factors. Zoom averages a 6/10 rating in MCAS and in the screenshot below, you can see its failure to adhere to common compliance frameworks and consumer privacy laws. If you work in education, Zoom is not FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) compliant and you should discontinue use as soon as possible. Update 4/6: The MCAS product team is reviewing Zoom’s recently revised K12 Privacy statement to validate FERPA, COPPA, and CCPA compliance. This post will be updated if Zoom completes any new compliance frameworks.
How do I Protect a Zoom Meeting?
If you do find yourself on Zoom for whatever reason, take precautions:
– Use a password instead of the Waiting Room feature.
– Keep your meeting IDs private.
– Be aware of your host’s capabilities.
– Treat the meeting and any data being shared as if the entire world is watching.
– Offer to host the meeting yourself on another platform.
If your looking to improve and increase your adoption of Microsoft Teams, please check out our Microsoft Teams solution
If you’d like to schedule a free one hour consultation with someone from our Microsoft Teams services team please contact us
