The Polycom RealPresence Group Series is a video conferencing codec that connects to a standards-based video conferencing infrastructure to allow users to make video conference calls. There are three products in the series – RealPresence Group 300, RealPresence Group 500, and RealPresence Group 700. It is certified to use with Office 365 and Skype for Business.
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Slack
Score 9.1 out of 10
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Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020.
The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls.
The…
$0
per month per user
Pricing
Polycom RealPresence Group Series
Slack
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Polycom RealPresence Group Series
Slack
Free Trial
No
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
No
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
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*Per active user, per month, when paying once a year.
Pro is $8.75 USD per active user when paying month to month. Business+ is $15.00 USD per active user when paying month to month.
If you're always working in the Polycom ecosystem then the Group Series codecs are reliable and the quality of the camera and microphones are extremely good. However, the system relies heavily on either having onsite server technology and/or cloud based bridging capability. In addition, the peripherals like cameras and microphones are quite expensive. Maintenance and support costs also make the ongoing investment a costly one
Slack is well suited as another tool in our toolbelt to find answers to common questions and to find resources. it is less appropriate to be used to collaborate on a project in terms of being a project management tool
The only issue that we have experienced with Polycom RealPresence Group Series is the speed dial functionality. When attempting to use the speed dial buttons, the system occasionally sends a call through the computer system, not the phone. While the computer call option is valuable, not everyone can answer calls that way and we have had to do a manual lookup of an extension and call back when that happens.
Undoubtedly Slack’s search function is powerful but sometimes it is difficult to find specific messages or files in very active channels with high message volumes. This needs an improvement.
I have experienced notification issues on my phone. I am not receiving notifications and have missed important updates as a result. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the app, but the problem still persists.
The Business Plus plan does not include support for data loss prevention or offline backup providers.
Slack is wonderful, it is a tool that changed our perspective and our way to work. We used to use another one, which was purely and sorely designed to messages. Slack provides us that possibility and more, all the other functions that we daily use in our work routine, not to mention the fact that Slack has a wonderful design and it's really easy to use and adapt.
The directory is slightly dated and unless you have a Skype for Business integration license, dialing users into a call is difficult. The Group Series Remote whilst minimalistic is actually more difficult to use than the previous HDX remote. Having to recharge the battery on the group series remote is both annoying and difficult as if you do not keep on top of it, you will be faced with a situation where the remote is not working and then have to try and find another one. Not ideal if you need to start a video call (assuming auto join has not been enabled in the admin portal).
Applications can cause slowdown when onboarding because of the learning curve. Slack is user friendly and very easy to teach new users how to navigate the app. Installation is fairly quick, which also saves a lot of time when setting up new computers and users
Yes, the app works 24/7. I don't even recall having any period that we could not use since the implementation. Even the maintenance periods are barely noticeable and our work is not impacted by it when it happens.
Slack is a soft app, we don't have many issues with it. I recall one or two people complaining about something during our usage period, but I didn't have a bad experience. When the app is slow, usually the problem is with my computer or my internet. The app works just fine.
I can't say I've needed support more than a handful of times. One was for trying to connect a Polycom Conference phone and a Real Presence together. After a few months, we came to the conclusion it wasn't possible, that was the only frustrating occurance with support. Any other time if we needed to RMA a device, it was very smooth.
I've never had to contact support for Slack which is a great testament to its ease and use. Adding people outside of the organization takes a little getting used to, but ultimately allows for greater collaboration between FTE and contractors. There is no clear alternative to this software, so it's the best we can do for now.
It always helps if you communicate to everyone in the organization how important it is to drop whatever other chat tools they are using and jump quickly to Slack. They will all fall in love with it.
The Polycom RealPresence Group Series was top of the line. It had a lot more features as well as the ability to integrate with Microsoft Teams. With Highfive, you had to pay to keep the device running and it was more like renting it. Although we pay maintenance with Polycom we will own the devices. The Highfive camera also didn't move. Lifesize was comparable but it did not integrate with Microsoft Teams at the time. It may as of now, I am not sure.
Slack is vastly easier to use than Teams and far less convoluted. It also handles Trello and GitLab integrations in a way that is easy to read and digest (whereas Teams handles them in the most useless way possible). Every time I use Teams, something is broken or I can't find things. But Slack is on the ball. Always easy to use and to search. Plus better emoji syntax (um, Microsoft, people put stuff in parenthesis all the time; that doesn't mean they want it to be emojis). Anyway, I'd choose Slack over Teams any day, if given the option.
Once pexip integrates Polycom/skype this will be a big win for us due to the RPTouch integrating the "one - touch join". This will increase adoption of video greatly.
Before the Group series with peripherals was implemented the cost of a video room was twice what it is today. Massive win.
Due to provisioning and automated firmware the IT involvement has been greatly reduced. No longer is there a need for manual changes to individual endpoints.
I don't have hard numbers, but I can't imagine the level of mistakes that would go uncaught without the easy ability of multiple people being alerted to look at something in real time.
Efficiency of communicating this way takes a lot of slog out of email, more focus on more important conversations and tasks
It is on managers to define expectations on how long it should take someone to respond on Slack; it can feel immediate, which can be distracting to deeper work
