Amazon Chime vs Polycom RealPresence Group Series

Amazon Chime

Amazon Chime is a superior alternative to other free video conference/conference call programs. The call and video quality are great, and you can have multiple participants on both video and call. It's well suited for an organization that wants an affordable option for video and conference calls, but may not be appropriate for organizations with limited budgets or those who do very little conferencing.

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Emma McCarthy

Enrollment and Eligibility Program Manager

MetrixIQInformation Technology and Services, 11-50 employees

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Polycom RealPresence Group Series

Polycom RealPresence Group Series has been the best system I've worked with thus far. I would highly recommend it for colleges/universities, hospital or wellness administrative areas, executive/corporate companies, and businesses that employ more than 25 people. I would recommend it if a group uses the phone frequently, and plans meetings and conferences on a regular basis. It would be less ideal in a work setting with few staff or one in which a staff does not interact frequently.

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Verified User

Professional in Professional Services

Higher Education Company, 1001-5000 employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Amazon Chime

7.9

Polycom RealPresence Group Series

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High quality audio

8.7

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High quality video

8.5

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Low bandwidth requirements

6.8

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Mobile support

7.6

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Amazon Chime

7.6

Polycom RealPresence Group Series

—

Desktop sharing

7.6

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Whiteboards

7.5

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Amazon Chime

7.6

Polycom RealPresence Group Series

—

Calendar integration

6.8

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Meeting initiation

7.8

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Integrates with social media

7.5

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Record meetings / events

8.0

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Slideshows

7.7

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Amazon Chime

7.2

Polycom RealPresence Group Series

—

Live chat

8.0

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Audience polling

6.5

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Q&A

7.0

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Amazon Chime

7.2

Polycom RealPresence Group Series

—

User authentication

7.5

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Participant roles & permissions

7.7

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Confidential attendee list

6.5

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Pros

One of the few things that Amazon Chime does well is scheduling calls with Gmail. It's pretty easy to do.
Another thing Amazon Chime does will is basic functions like muting and unmuting the mic and screensharing.

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Shane Finnegan

Account Manager

Jinfonet SoftwareComputer Software, 51-200 employees

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Video quality is good.
Switching the video across several users seem to work well

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David George

Senior Vice President - Enterprise Services Services Excellence & Performance

Zurich Insurance Company LtdInsurance, 10,001+ employees

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Cons

Amazon Chime is not user friendly. People who we have meetings with who have never used Amazon Chime regularly have difficulty connecting to the call, especially if the call is international.
You have to download Amazon Chime to share your screen. When we need our prospects to share their screen for a product training, asking them to download a meeting software is awkward and not smooth.

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Shane Finnegan

Account Manager

Jinfonet SoftwareComputer Software, 51-200 employees

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It is hard to use/set up. One has to be fairly tech savvy and it still sometimes doesn't work right. Should work more like FaceTime in Apple - which is intuitive and easy to use.
Ability to select on your screen where the video boxes go within the container would be useful.
Haven't tried it but sharing a screen doesn't seem as intuitive as say WebEx.

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David George

Senior Vice President - Enterprise Services Services Excellence & Performance

Zurich Insurance Company LtdInsurance, 10,001+ employees

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Likelihood to Renew

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Polycom RealPresence Group Series7.3

Based on 1 answer

We love the product and is totally integrated in our company.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Retail Company, 10,001+ employees

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Support

No score

No answers yet

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Polycom RealPresence Group Series8.2

Based on 1 answer

They are responsive and very knowledgeable.

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Verified User

Engineer in Information Technology

Retail Company, 10,001+ employees

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Alternatives Considered

I have used GoToMeeting, which is a major competitor to Amazon Chime, and I can confidently say that GoToMeeting is literally ten times better. We rarely have any of the issues with GoToMeeting that we do with Amazon Chime. I highly recommend GoToMeeting over Amazon Chime because your meetings and demos will go much smoother and the user interface is much cleaner.

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Shane Finnegan

Account Manager

Jinfonet SoftwareComputer Software, 51-200 employees

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Polycom provided the best overall package.

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Alfred Brock

Communications Specialist

Yazaki North AmericaAutomotive, 10,001+ employees

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Return on Investment

Amazon Chime has negatively impacted our ability to perform demos and calls. Some prospects are late to calls because Chime isn't working, or they give up and don't join the call at all.
Amazon Chime also makes us look unprofessional when we have to ask them to download a conferencing software for screenshare meeting, when many other alternatives are web-based.

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Shane Finnegan

Account Manager

Jinfonet SoftwareComputer Software, 51-200 employees

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Not much in terms of ROI, but we have replaced aging lifesize solutions
Works great with BlueJeans
Has a wide variety of options to standardize on a single set of hardware for all types of video rooms

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Verified User

Director in Information Technology

Real Estate Company, 501-1000 employees

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