Item: Adobe Captivate
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Creating projects and training modules in Adobe Captivate is only used by the ITS and training departments, but the actual projects and trainings themselves are used across our entire organization. Captivate addresses the issues of providing interactive, interesting, and distinct trainings that are unique to our company and our brand, and are customizable at any time as we feel the need to update them.

Pros and Cons

Captivate projects can be easy or highly complex, depending on what the creator wants. This is good because all skill levels of Adobe users can use the software.
Captivate offers many types of premade templates and images that really help the project creator do complex training very easily.
Captivate projects can be converted from already made powerpoints which is a huge benefit since many companies already have training material in PowerPoint form.

I often find that the settings to track the completion of the training do not function well when uploaded to our hosting platform, Skillport.
Captivate does not allow much in terms of functionality with screen readers, so visually impaired users will have a tough time with any projects that are not very simple (e.g. text and static images only with descriptions).
The interface can be confusing to use at first, but if you are familiar with Adobe (Such as Photoshop or Lightroom), you will not have any trouble and pick it up quickly.

Return on Investment

It has positively increased the number of unique training courses we are able to offer here.
It has positively allowed us to create training content that has our own branding.
It has positively allowed us to change our training content at any time, which positively effects our overall employee learning.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is clearly better for editing images, but Captivate is better used in a business setting. You can import already edited images into Captivate for use, and there are many editing aspects of Captivate that can be used to create unique images in the training. Captivate was selected since it has much broader use.

Support Rating

I give it this rating since I never had an issue with getting support for problems that I am having when using the software. Adobe prides itself in great support for its products, and the support for Captivate is no different. Adobe will help with any issues that arise, and the premade help index is quite large in itself.

Key Insights

Do you think Adobe Captivate delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Adobe Captivate's feature set?

Yes

Did Adobe Captivate live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Adobe Captivate go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Adobe Captivate again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Skillport, Adobe Acrobat DC, Skype for Business (formerly Lync)

Likelihood to Recommend

Captivate is well suited to interactive, complex training projects with quizzes and lots of videos and variety. The sheer scope of what you can create is enormous, and you can really create interesting and fun projects. It's less appropriate for very simple training content since it does have so many creative options on the interface. I would think it could be slightly intimidating for someone just looking to create very simple text-based training.

A great training content creation tool that fits into the Adobe family of products

Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Captivate