If you’re looking for a reliable meetings solution for your virtual workforce, then you’ve got plenty of options to choose from today. As the collaboration market continues to grow in size and value, countless vendors have begun to offer simple and immersive ways for today’s businesses to connect their teams through audio and video conferencing, as well as real-time messaging.
For those searching for a solution designed by one of the leading cloud providers in the marketplace today, it pays to consider Amazon Chime and Google Hangouts. Amazon Chime is the collaborative solution built on top of the AWS cloud, while Hangouts Meet forms a component of the Google G Suite environment.
Here’s what you can expect from both offerings.
Amazon Chime Features
Amazon Chime is a flexible communication solution that allows business users to choose the communications that suit them best. You’ll have the option to choose between chat, meetings, business calling, or using voice connector to direct voice traffic across the internet. Chime also gives you the immersive option of face-to-face video.
With Amazon Chime, there’s no need to switch between tabs or applications to collaborate with team members in multiple environments. Moving from a chat message to a call is as simple as clicking a button. You can also share screens, invite people to join a meeting, and access “call me” features so you never miss a conference.
Features include:
- Schedule calls from your calendar
- Start meetings with Alexa
- Access dial-in numbers across over 80 countries
- Screen and file sharing
- Visual rosters
- Customisable video conferencing tiles
- Meeting recordings
- Video conferencing for up to 16 people
- Chat with colleagues directly or in a group
- Conference room connectivity
- 1:1 voice and video calls
- Smart presence
- Incoming webhooks
- Chatbot integrations
- Universal UI for all your conversations
- Text messaging and phone calls
- Receive inbound calls
- Voicemail support
- Chatbot integrations
Amazon Chime also comes with a pay-as-you-go pricing model which means that you only pay for the features that you use, whether that’s inbound and outbound calling with your contact centre, or just face-to-face collaboration over a video stream. You can access basic and pro features as and when you like and upgrade your strategy however you choose.
Google Hangouts Meet Features
Google Hangouts Meet combines with Google Hangouts Chat to provide a complete collaboration experience. While Hangouts Meet handles your voice and video calling side of things, the Hangouts Chat feature supports instant messaging, file sharing, and other collaborative efforts.
Together, the two solutions are designed to take the friction out of the standard meeting room environment, by ensuring that you can converse with your colleagues in real-time, join a call at work, or just set up a meeting and share a link. There’s no need for anyone to download any plug-ins or extra software to get started. What’s more, Meet is fully integrated with the G Suite experience, which means that you can join conversations directly from a Gmail invite or your Google calendar.
Features include:
- Access to instant messaging and chat features through Hangouts Chat
- Content, file and screen sharing options
- Hangouts Meet hardware options to connect to huddle spaces or meeting rooms
- Integrated with the full G Suite environment on the Google Cloud
- Dial-in phone numbers for any meeting
- Presentations available for broadcasting company announcements
- Live Streaming Sessions
- Dial into US and international numbers
- Record meetings and save them to drive
- Connect with external participants
- Native apps for iOS and Android
If you’re already familiar with the Google G Suite environment, then tuning into your meetings with Google Hangouts should feel like a breeze. Joining conversations can be as simple as clicking on a single link in your email account.
Amazon Chime vs. Google Hangouts Meet: Integrations
Designed to simplify the collaboration and communication experience, both Amazon Chime and Google Hangouts Meet are straightforward and flexible solutions for the modern workplace. With Amazon Chime, you can use incoming webhooks to manage connections with external third-party applications or get involved with the Amazon Connect platform for flexible integrations to your collaboration tools through APIs.
Google, on the other hand, offers of a range of in-built integrations for Google Hangouts, aside from the ones that come as standard with access to the G Suite. Businesses can access integrations to things like Slack, Zendesk, Sprint, and more, within their Google environment. There’s also the option to seamlessly join your Google Hangouts Meetings using Skype for Business through the Pexip Infinity platform.
Amazon Chime vs. Google Hangouts Meet: Security
Both Amazon and Google are well-known throughout the world as two of the most competitive cloud computing solutions on the market. This ensures that you’re going to get a high level of reliability and security from both vendors.
Amazon Chime, for instance, is built on the AWS cloud, which means that you benefit from a rich and reliable data architecture that’s sure to meet the needs of most security-sensitive groups. Amazon Chime also features security capabilities built into the service, like encryption for conversations in transit and at rest. Amazon additionally supports things like single sign-on for enhanced control over your communication and collaboration tools.
Google Hangouts, as part of the G Suite, is also designed to meet with the strictest standards for security and privacy. The solution is compliant with everything from ISO standards to HIPAA and SOC requirements. Additionally, there are plenty of options to upgrade your security strategy with access to things like Google Vault.
Amazon Chime vs. Google Hangouts Meet: Which One Should You Choose?
Both Amazon Chime and Google Hangouts Meet offer simple ways for teams to communicate and collaborate in the digital environment. However, while Hangouts provides a more streamlined solution for people familiar with G Suite, Amazon provides something more in-depth.
Amazon Chime can be adapted and enhanced according to your standards, providing you with everything you need to access inbound and outbound calling alongside video chat, file and screen sharing, and many other features. Google Hangouts Meet can combine with Chat to offer a broader range of collaboration options, but the same depth of features isn’t available.
