Where we started
This one is about us. Our messages were split between Signal and Microsoft Teams, and we never settled on one. We also wanted AI transcripts of our calls.
Then our Teams subscription came up for renewal. We wanted one place for messages, video, and transcripts, and we wanted to spend less.
The shortlist
Most of us had used Zoom and Teams a lot at past jobs. One of us had used Slack for everything at a past job, with calls on Slack or Zoom, and we already had Slack’s free tier. So we looked at those three first.
Zoom does messages, video, and transcripts in one tool. We already paid for Teams, so we trialed Read AI on top of it for transcripts. That would have been two tools. Slack’s free tier could have handled our messages, but we were leaning toward Teams, since it was our common denominator.
What we already had
Our email, calendar, and documents were already on Google Workspace. It has Google Chat for messages, Google Meet for video, and Gemini for transcripts. They work together, much like the parts of Teams do.
We missed it out of habit. A couple of us hadn’t opened Google Chat since it was called Hangouts, and some of us didn’t know it existed. One of us had only used Meet to join other companies’ calls.
So we moved to Chat, Meet, and Gemini, and we didn’t renew Teams.
The trade-off
In our trial, Read AI gave us better transcripts than Gemini does. We chose Gemini anyway. It comes with Workspace, so we didn’t buy a new tool.
Our transcripts also stay in the same Workspace as our email and documents. One more company doesn’t get a copy of our calls.
How we use it now
Meet works with Google Drive, so our docs and transcripts are in one spot. Gemini can read a transcript and update a document from it.
That’s how we write our how-to docs now. One of us walks a teammate through a task on a call. Then Gemini takes the transcript and fills in our documentation template.
Here is the rule: Before you compare new tools, check what you already pay for. The tool you need may already be on your invoice.
Why we’re telling you
We check this first for clients, too. On the first call, we ask which AI tools you pay for and who uses them. Before we compare anything new, we look at what those tools can already do. If something you have does the job, we’ll tell you, even if that means less work for us.