Adobe Connect meets needs, but lacks reliability
January 31, 2014
Adobe Connect meets needs, but lacks reliability
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction
At Foley, we utilize the Adobe Connect Web Conference platform in both our external and internal CLE sessions in the Marketing Department as well as internal training sessions through our Technology Team. The Marketing Department is the primary user of Adobe Connect, with attorneys and outside speakers using it solely for presenting purposes. We hold multiple Web Conferences each month and it is our primary tool for coordinating and executing each session.
- It allows us to present exactly how we want to present; We can share one PowerPoint presentation for all speakers to use during their presentation, allowing them to move their own slides. Allows for a cleaner presentation overall.
- Relatively user-friendly once you're in your Seminar Room for your presentation. Attorneys seem to be able to use the software with ease.
- Various pods in your Seminar Room allow you to set up your room exactly as you want it with the features you use most often or find helpful during your presentation.
- Overall support and communication from Adobe Connect is lacking. When new features come out, we have a lack of knowledge of what changes are actually being made. Mostly we figure out what the changes are based on our own experiences and usually something that goes wrong during a Web Conference. There should be detailed information that is provided to us when changes will be made and how to adapt our current processes with those changes.
- Setting up a Web Conference is not intuitive with Adobe Connect. Even after using the product for over a year, I still refer back to the notes I took during my tutorial session. Making a mistake with one question in either the Seminar Room or the Event Management tab can create major problems the day of the Web Conference. The process needs to be streamlined in order to make the front-end process more user friendly.
- Certain features of the room itself could have been better thought out before implenting across the board. For example, the rule of only 10 people maximum in a room until a certain point can actually cause major problems for users. There have been situations on our team where hosts and speakers have been locked out of the room right before a presentation. I think they need to listen to their users more in order to implement more changes with the software.
- I think Adobe Connect lacks reliability. Many of our attendees and even speakers or hosts are dropped from the Seminar Room during our presentations. This is unacceptable during external client facing programs.
- Unfortunately, some of our marketers have actually stopped doing Web conferences with their attorneys due to our reliability issues with the software. We're losing out on key touchpoints with our clients and prospects because of reliability and complexity issues.
- I think the ability to do Web conferences does help greatly. It's another service we can offer to existing clients to present in-house CLE series for their GCs. It also helps establish our attorneys as thoguht leaders in a given area.
- I think one of our biggest issues is the reliability of the software, which many times can reflect badly on us and in turn may make our contacts not come back for a second web conference. We hope that the content we provide outweighs any technical issues our participants have, but we cannot be sure of this factor.
- Webcast Studio
When evaluating the Adobe Connect Software, we actually wanted to switch to Webcast Studio, but did not have enough time to set up the software before our next web conference. Adobe Connect's pricing was also better and ultimately our evaluation team lead decided that because of timing and pricing we would stick with Adobe Connect for another year. As can be seen, I do think there are many other Web conference platforms that are better which include Webcast Studio and WebEx Meetings.