WorkCast Present+ vs. Riverside.fm vs. Webinato

We will be using Present+ when we have training sessions, show and tells and new product launches.

Riverside.fm is well suited for video content that you are recording ahead of time in order to edit and release where you are inviting people to participate that are not part of your organization. You can send them a link and they just have to go to the website and be in the conversation. There is no software to download and they do not have to worry about handling their video files after they are done.

Incentivized

Low-bandwidth environments seemed to prefer Google Hangout.

• Embedded webinars - embed your webinars directly into your landing pages!
• Useful features - it's packed full of useful features, focusing on the ones that are going to genuinely be of use (i.e., there's no bloat).
• Well supported - there's a full team at the end of a phone or email if you have any questions at all.

• Great looking platform with a handsome layout.
• Makes it easy to invite interviewees into your "studio"
• Provides livestream capabilities

Incentivized

• Registration page
• On-site technical help

• The Presenter 'Pods' could do with tips to explain that these can be repositioned.
• The questions/polls have room for improvement.

• I have had some times where there are video glitches, and I have been told that it could be because of other software running. It would be good if the software were more robust and able to more consistently get smooth video.
• I have had a couple instances of people being kicked off and their video files were not recoverable.

Incentivized

• Aesthetics - in short, there are many competiting softwares and web platforms that have sharper visual qualities and more intuitive design. As the digital divide shrinks, users desire simple, easy-to-learn interfaces. More tech-savvy and higher production quality users will dig deeper for the more granular elements that omNovia supports so well. Also even more customizable webinar environments; perhaps more detailed themes.
• Hand in hand with the UI renovaton, I'd suggest a company rebranding. Instead of appealing to the corporate environments, I think the technology and applications omNovia represent can have a much wider use case.
• Mobile - going more mobile than omNovia already is. Products like Bambuser and Adobe Connect have a more integrated and intuitive mobile apps that simply out perform OmNovia.

Even though OmNovia offers great products, our recent account rep has been difficult to deal with. We are being charged for services we've never been charged for before. She is responsive and helpful but we were not aware of these additional charges when making our deal with our previous rep.

When you get to the platform, it's unclear where to start. You're driven to join your "studio" and invite someone to interview...but if that's not the kind of show you're creating, it's not easy to figure out the next steps.

Incentivized

I have not needed to use the Riverside.fm support that much, which in itself is a good sign of how good their product is, but when I have had to use their support it was prompt, and helpful, and the people were very kind. I am glad to know there is someone there to help quickly if I am having a problem.

Incentivized

Products such as GoToWebinar are great, but they never truly met our expectations or requirements. We used them for years, but the lack of audience engagement was poor, both in terms of when actually in the webinar and when promoting it. The most annoying feature was the fact the process was disjointed - to watch the webinar, you had to leave the landing page, which was massively frustrating.

StreamYard may have fewer capabilities than Riverside.fm, but it knows exactly what it is: a place to record/stream video conversations. Riverside.fm, in trying to be all things to all users, may need to improve its UI to serve all constituents.

Incentivized

Having an assortment of licenses at my disposal with different web platform products was key given the clients included embassies, consulates, universities, etc. all over the world in different bandwidth environments, with different media equipment available, etc. omNovia performed well for the users with moderate to high bandwidth and higher quality equipment. Low-bandwith users did use the audio chat function but preferred less intense platforms that allowed for video. Other products: Watchitoo, Adobe Connect, Google Hangout, WebEx, GoTo Meeting.

• It's difficult to quantify the ROI financial return but we feel it's had a positive impact on our brand perception.

• Since I need their platform, which again is actually pretty good, I had to waste money to sign up again, so that I had a workable password.
• from experience, wasted weeks of going back and forth with their support team - throwing off my podcast schedule.

• in person networking since OmNovia allows for live events to be streamed. Without this ability we would only have regular webinars and would miss out on the networking opportunity.