Due to a $432,000 price increase of Zoom’s services, Xavier opts for a change
By Jesse Dolojan, Education and Enrichment Coordinator
At the start of the fall semester, Xavier will be switching from using Zoom to Microsoft Teams as the predominant virtual meeting format due to Zoom’s $432,000 increase in pricing.
Xavier’s administration first heard about the pricing increase in Aug. 2023, prompting discussions regarding switching from Zoom to Microsoft Teams.
Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer of the Xavier IT department Sheri Thomas has been attending meetings with President Hanycz and Provost Rachel Chrastil regarding the shift in virtual meeting format.
Thomas noted the substantial increase in pricing was the main reason Xavier considered making the switch.
“Xavier has what we refer to as a legacy contract. So the contract is up for renewal. We’ve had it for five years, and we have been notified that our current contract scenario is $48,000 a year,” said Thomas. “They’re expecting that when we renew with the exact same licenses, that will be $480,000. So that’s a $432,000 increase, and I don’t know about you, I do not have those types of funds in my budget.”
Xavier’s current contract with Zoom concludes on Aug. 31, 2024. Xavier aims to have the transition complete at the start of Fall 2024 so faculty will be able to use Teams for their classes.
Sophomore English, French and Digital Innovation, Film and Television triple major Tricia Barker is a student tutor at Xavier’s Writing Center. She noted how the transition from Zoom to Teams could help simplify the tutoring process on her end in virtual appointments.
“I think that it’s made it a little more streamlined since at the Writing Center, we already use Microsoft Outlook and the calendar for a lot of our work,” said Barker. “So doing something that’s also related to Microsoft makes it one step easier.”
As a part of this transition, the Zoom kits in conference rooms and classrooms will be replaced by Teams kits for faculty.
Xavier has started the process of changing the Zoom kits to Teams kits in various conference rooms across campus.
Thomas also noted that completing the transition for classrooms will be different due to the fact that they are always being used.
“The classrooms are interesting because they’re actively being used at all times. We are going to convert what we refer to as the Zoom kit, that is the technology in the classroom, we’re gonna now call it a Teams kit,” said Thomas.
Barker noted how the transition was not known by many students.
“I actually haven’t heard a lot. I haven’t heard any reason why. I know that sometimes Zoom has problems, but I assume Teams also has problems. So I guess, I don’t really know,” said Barker.
Thomas stated that Xavier is focused on ensuring that faculty is up to speed first, allowing Xavier to function properly.
“And then we want to approach the students, and if they would like to be trained I think there’s knowledge articles that we’ve written that are out there, and a knowledge base if you’re familiar with the Service Desk offerings,” Thomas said.
Thomas emphasized how important it would be for her to have the transition be as smooth as possible for the Xavier community.
“One thing I’d like to just say is if there is any use, case or a technology need that people, students, faculty, staff that are reading this article feel that Teams will not satisfy, I would love for them to reach out to me,” said Thomas. “I want to hear from them, because we want this to be a success.”