The concept of working from home and/or remotely is not new to many working professionals and especially entrepreneurs but the fast change to an all virtual world since mid-March has definitely left room for many heads to spin. Not to mention educational institutions being forced to adapt to online learning capabilities when this has not been done before on such a large scale.
For many years, there have been ways to have virtual meetings with your clients or coworkers that are in a different location usually through enterprise level software (and some great free ones are mentioned in a previous article here like WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc.)
Zoom seems to be the one getting the most press lately and even received credit for offering videoconferencing tools for Educators of grades K-12. But you know how the length of a CVS receipt has become a well-known joke about such a waste of paper? If you then think about how we don’t want to waste paper but we also don’t bother reading the full lengths of term & conditions on technology that many of us are (cough, cough) guilty of scrolling, scrolling, scrolling and finding the accept button just so that we can move on with our lives.
This is worth taking a moment to pause and really understand what you are agreeing to and if you are fine with the terms and conditions – especially as it comes to the use of your private data. The creator of Ruby on Rails and CTO at Basecamp (David Heinemeier Hansson aka DHH) gives a great overview of why this is not something to ignore and ultimately what Zoom was doing claiming their privacy policy is still a trash fire.
Zoom is actually really user-friendly, easy to set up calls/meetings where you are able to share your screen and can be a great solution for team calls via your computer or phone. If their rapid growth and organization does give you pause, be sure to check out the Twitter thread from David Heinemeier Hansson or this story for some free alternatives. Zoom did respond to criticism by removing code that sent data to Facebook but technology experts say that they still need to be more transparent about their uses of data.
Zoom may be getting a lot of attention recently (and we are guessing that many people are wishing they had bought its stock when they went public in April of 2019) but they actually have been around since 2013 and have almost 2,000 employees and already had 10 million users by 2014.
Regardless of your preferred video conferencing software (and feel free to research or check out many to see what works best for you), the hackers are not slow on the uptick. There’s now something to be aware of if you are using Zoom: Zoom-bombing where they are able to get in to your meeting and possible takeover controls. Zoom has responded by putting together this blog with tips to avoid this happening to you. Basically, be very aware if you are posting public events and/or ever using your personal ID number in a link to hold a meeting or even virtual happy hour. Technology can be great at connecting us, but it’s never a dull data wary moment.
Erin Wike is a Career Coach & Lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin and owner of Cafe Con Resume. Erin is fueled by dark roast coffee with cream AND sugar, her loving husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs. She is the Co-Founder of Small Business Friends ATX to help fellow entrepreneurs + hosts events for people to live a Life of Yes with Mac & Cheese Productions.
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