As for video conferencing software... More likely than not your employer has standardized on one or a few of these tools, and you should use those. If you've got room to pick and aren't sure which to choose, consider my experiences:

• Zoom: Best overall. Professional quality, scalable, reliable, and feature-rich.
• GoToMeeting: Runner-up. Professional, scalable, reliable, and feature-rich. Some of my colleagues ding it for having a "confusing" UI. I think their mistake is trying to use the web UI instead of downloading the desktop client or app.
• Webex: the UI is primitive and lacks sharing features present in many other tools.
• Skype: Second-class features, performance, and reliability.
• Google Hangouts: Limited feature set but very easy to use, especially if you're on GSuite. Great for small groups, scales poorly beyond that.
• Slack: an excellent chat tool with terrible video conferencing. Slow performance, frequent drops, hangs the app. Stick to typing for now!

I agree 100 percent that it isn't rocket science. My concern is that it isn't universal either. An explosion of home workers will greatly expand the number of people who don't have security factored into their connections. We don't have to solve the problem here, but FTers should make sure that their own work connections are secure - and, ideally, that their organizations make sure their coworkers' are as well.

A Cisco Meraki VPN device broadcasts my firm's wireless network and provides a VPN tunnel back. I need to grab my extra monitors from the office and set myself up for a few weeks of working from home.

We utilize Zoom and Skype. I love Skype's simplicity, especially for adding in a mobile caller to a meeting in progress. (Who knows, maybe Zoom has that and we have it turned off.)

What do you do for the background if you are video calling from home ?

Is there a simple DIY "Green screen" so you can put a "business -like" background behind you ?

Maybe a large bookshelf like a lawyers office :)

My tools for working from home
- a good wifi connection, I personally use Ubiquiti Unifi APs which has made wifi coverage throughout the home a non-issue
- a good chair! Can't afford the Aeron they used at the office but the cheaper alternatives isn't bad
- I'll second the recommendations for a comfortable headset, I still fall back to my trusty Bose QC20 which works reasonably well

The company I'm working with is based in Hong Kong and had to deal with thousands of employees working from home since February and during a few weeks in 2019, I'm happy that the VPN infrastructure survived...

For calls i find the apple airpods works best for me for a Bluetooth connections to my cell.
When i have my computer for Webex sessions, i'm using a AKG K553 paired with a ModMic attachment.

If your company makes you work from home for a period of time because of coronavirus, then take them home and bring them back when you return to the office.

It's a nice idea but my little home office won't take 2× 21inch monitors. They're also about 12 years old and might not make the journey to my house :p

Regarding headsets... when at home I don't need to use one. As long as the computer has a good microphone and speakers, there's no real need for a headset.

One thing I've noticed is that my iMac and Macbooks are fantastic in this regard - perfect sound and reception. I had the misfortune of using an HP Windows 10 laptop for a while for a client, and the microphone was dreadful - unless my mouth was within about 10 inches, nobody could hear me. It was the same with colleagues who also used the same type of laptop.

i've often thought that there is an opportunity there to come up with background pop-up screens. Perhaps they exist, I haven't looked. :)

You forgot Teams! Microsoft is discontinuing Skype for Business this year and replacing it with Teams. Teams is great.

Microsoft Teams has a blur background feature.

This is why they invented VPNs over a decade ago.

I have been teaching, coaching individuals and groups, and conducting meetings online using zoom for the last three years.

I use a chroma-green screen and depending on the meeting type I use a different background.

There is no simple/low-cost DIY green screen solution. I have a zoom room with a pleasant decorated background and a roll down professional green screen. There is also proper lighting for you and the green screen or background. If you don't do a proper setup it looks more amateurish than just your ordinary home office as background.

When I'm not traveling, I work from home. At home, I use Zoom for teleconferencing as well as MS Teams (if I have to).

I have my MacBook Pro 15 inch plugged into a USB hub which connects it do dual monitors and via ethernet to Gigabit ethernet (well 1gig down 50mb up) from spectrum. As a backup, my Pixel 4XL can provide my Google FI tethering (T-Mobile,Sprint, US Cellular) and I have T-mobile hotspot I can use.

Home network is Ubiquiti with an Access point in each room as well as ethernet switches where hardwire connections are called for.

Pretty used to and already set up for working from home.