South African businesses have taken a massive hit with this #Lockdown scenario. Many businesses have managed to keep staff on who are working online from home, and then there are those looking at starting micro, small or medium businesses. So now, more than ever, its paramount for entrepreneurs to begin businesses and perhaps look at doing it a “new” way.

Having access to online tools that can support these startups, or save costs is now an imperative. Video calling is now no longer just for family and friends, it can be used for conferences, staff calls, meetings with clients, etc.

Here are 3 Top Video Chat apps:

1. WhatsApp: This will generally be easier, as most people nowadays are using WhatsApp for messaging. Just call someone to start a video meeting and then add additional participants by tapping the +phone icon in the top right corner. Should you have a problem, first check that your phone’s OS (operating system) is up to date.
   
   
2. Skype: Use the ‘Chat Now’ on Skype to begin or join a video call, then generate a link and share it with the rest of the individuals. It also has a privacy option to blur out your background.

3. Zoom: Although Zoom does have free membership for up to 100 individuals to join a 40 minute video meeting, it has been known to have security issues. This report was in Jun 2020, so please investigate further if your meetings contain highly confidential company or personal information.

●       Timing: Definitely do your best to schedule a suitable time for your meeting or conference call. This gives everyone a chance to diarise it and ensure that there devices and themselves are ready ahead of time.

●       Best signal: Participants can see where their reception is most favourable, and when setting up ahead of time can easily manually block out, or blue out if the app allows for it, to ensure their privacy.

●       PC, laptop or tablet: Phones are not ideal for a meeting especially if more than 3 people are in a meeting. Sometimes, it is inevitable that someone may need to use one. The participants can be requested to ensure that their mobile devices have incoming calls and sounds muted.

●       Take turns to talk: There may be a delay between participants using fibre, and those using mobile wifi devices, so talking in turns helps everyone have their say, whilst accommodating for delays in transmission.

●       Shorter meetings: Where possible try and keep the meeting to a reasonable time limit and re-schedule a follow-up where required.

●       Create an agenda: The person calling the meeting should have a short agenda that they can send out to all the participants ahead of time. When the meeting is in progress, items that are not on the agenda can be tabled for a follow-up meeting.

●       Security: Meeting participants should always be responsible for their device’s online security, whether their operating system is Windows, Android or iPhone. If not, it may be prudent to consider an Antivirus package that delivers proactive protection.