Item: Adobe Connect
Rating: 9
Author: Sean McCarty

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We have used Adobe Connect for years to supplement conference calls and project meetings. In the past year, we have started leveraging Adobe Connect as an enterprise-wide delivery method for virtual instructor-led training. Recently, we needed to train over 1800 employees all across the country on a new approach to sales and customer service. The project would have likely taken us 6-12 months using traditional instructor-led classrooms and would have required extensive travel for most participants and trainers. With Adobe Connect we were able to deploy 20 hours of training to all employees in under two months with little to no travel required.

Pros and Cons

Shared Templates in Adobe Connect help package content for convenient and consistent delivery of project and training materials.
Chat pods, poll pods, whiteboards and other features encourage interactivity beyond traditional lecture format.
Adobe Connect supports many file types, which enables you to pre-load several forms of multimedia for presentations, such as slides, images and video.
Breakout Rooms enable a project lead or trainer to engage with participants on an individual or small group basis.

Slides and images can be pre-loaded and deployed easily, but we have noticed some buffering issues when attempting to show video as a pre-loaded file.
Shared Templates offer a great way to set up and save multiple pods and layouts, however, we have encountered some issues when attempting to set up and save Breakout Rooms in a Shared Template.
When demonstrating screen-share tutorials for software, some parts of the application do not always render correctly for the viewer. In our experience, this problem typically occurs with more complex, multi-window applications.

Return on Investment

Rapid deployment of enterprise-wide training
Scalable classrooms to accommodate large audiences
Less travel for training participants and less time required away from work to attend training

Alternatives Considered

WebEx Meetings,Blackboard

I have used other products similar to Adobe Connect, but most had limitations that prevented it from being a good solution for our needs. Other virtual solutions, such as WebEx Meetings, are intended to facilitate meetings and do not have the number of sophisticated features that encourage engagement for a large audience. Blackboard and Wimba Classroom is intended for an educational setting, but does not cater as well to rapid deployment for a business environment.

Usability

As sophisticated a product as Adobe Connect, the ease of use is outstanding. In my experience, even a user with very little knowledge of Adobe Connect can begin using and even leading sessions with very little training to get started with the basic features. Additional training is needed to become comfortable with the number of available features, but learning curve even for those is no steeper than would normally be expected from similar software.

Likelihood to Recommend

Adobe Connect is excellent for enterprise-wide solutions. We frequently use it for team meetings and project planning sessions, however, we have found that it's many features are best leveraged when training large audiences where interactivity and engagement would otherwise be a challenge using traditional training methods. Key questions when considering Adobe Connect would be: Do we need a scalable solution for employees or clients in different markets/areas/countries? Do we need a tool that simply enables us to push content to an audience or is interactivity and engagement a main priority?

Users and Roles

Several hundred employees use Adobe Connect in my company on a daily basis for meetings and trainings in all areas. Human resources, marketing, operations and strategy represent the most regular users of Adobe Connect. Team and project meetings occur daily within all areas and Human Resources schedules multiple training sessions, with at least one running almost every week.

Business Processes Supported

Team/Divisional meetings
Project meetings
Training sessions (New-hire and current employees)

Innovative Uses

Enterprise-wide training solutions
Train the trainer sessions for new courses
Software and billing system tutorials
Recorded webinars for employees and vendors

Future Planned Uses

Global training sessions
Recorded webinars for assessment of training
Assistance with software questions and issues

Likelihood to Renew

Given our recent success with Adobe Connect in deploying enterprise-wide training solutions and our subsequent investment in on-boarding designers and facilitators to deploy additional projects using it, I can see no reason we would not renew or change to another provider at this time. While Adobe Connect is a sophisticated solution, the learning curve is not nearly as steep comparable to other products, which has helped us quickly expand our use of it across the company.

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using	None

Easy Tasks

Screen and file sharing
Various pods, such as Chat, Poll, Notes and Files
Creating and switching between several layouts in one room

Difficult Tasks

Breakout Rooms require more attention and preparation than other features
Some time delay when participants share screen
Larger multimedia files such as videos take longer to load and display

Mobile Interface Availability and Impressions

Yes - I have used the Adobe Connect mobile app to join several meetings and classes as a participant. While the mobile interface allows you to join and follow along, it does not enable all the features of the browser interface. I would only recommend using the app to follow along with a meeting or shorter training session. I would not recommend the mobile interface for longer sessions or to lead a meeting or class.

Using Adobe Connect for Enterprise-Wide Training