Software Updates
Zoom Webinar Pricing Changes, Microsoft Teams Live Options, and Skype for Business Retirement
May 28, 2021Zoom
This year’s transition to a new University of Colorado systemwide contract with Zoom has resulted in some changes with services and pricing for various Zoom features. While most of the differences resulted in the enabling of new meeting features such as Zoom cloud recording and meeting / class participant reports, there were some webinar pricing increases for larger audiences. All active faculty, staff and students are still licensed for meetings up to 300 participants at no cost. Pricing information for hosting webinars for 100 to 3,000 participants is available on the OIT Billing and Rates webpage under Zoom Webinar Licensing Costs.
As phased returns to both campuses begin, OIT anticipates that the use of Zoom for meetings in conference rooms will likely include remote and in-room participants. There are equipment considerations that are necessary for successfully hosting these types of Zoom meetings. More information about conference room upgrades on each campus will be shared with faculty and staff as equipment renovations become available. As a reminder, OIT’s Technology Support Services team offers a suite of services for hosting and virtually staffing and supporting Zoom webinars and meetings through the university’s EMS room and resource scheduling system tool.
Microsoft Teams Live
Microsoft Teams live events provide similar functionality to Zoom webinars and do not require any additional cost to use. All staff, faculty and student have access to Microsoft 365 applications – including Microsoft Teams – for no charge on up to five PCs, Macs, or mobile devices. Go to https://office.com and sign-in using your university email address and password to access the available applications.
Skype for Business
As a reminder, Microsoft previously announced that Microsoft Teams will replace Skype for Business as the Microsoft 365 collaboration and meeting platform. In preparation for this change – and because OIT thought Microsoft Teams was pretty cool from the beginning – Teams was rolled out to university staff, faculty and students in 2018. For those of you still using Skype for Business, please note that Microsoft is retiring the application on July 31.
MS Teams has all the features you may have been using with Skype and more! Check out the 2019 Microsoft blog post for a good comparison list of primary features for both. Teams leverages what you do with Skype for Business and includes integrated chat, online meetings, calling, file management and project workspace, all in one interface. Learn more about Microsoft Teams on the OIT Teams webpage and from the Microsoft Teams video training website.