BlueJeans is the future of web conferencing, but it still needs some product maturation
July 22, 2016

BlueJeans is the future of web conferencing, but it still needs some product maturation

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with BlueJeans

We use BlueJeans as a means to mitigate the need for travel, and to increase the engagement in our regularly scheduled meetings that were previously just conference calls. It is being used in a variety of departments, from HR, IT, Product, E-Learning, Academics, Operations, and Admissions. By having a platform that deploys easily on multiple devices, it enables a video component that was previously missing from our former meetings.
  • Easy to launch
  • Multiple access points, desktop app, web app, mobile devices
  • Screen sharing
  • We have had technical issues on the Event platform where the meeting leader could not get their audio to engage and was on mute
  • We would prefer if BlueJeans accounts were not tied to a named participant. Often times, folks travel and are unable to make regularly scheduled calls. If they are the meeting leader, it is difficult because the system is not designed to work like a conference line replacement.
  • Lots of users have technical issues getting their mic selected, we have noted variable experiences on hardware throughout the organization.
  • At the time of writing, we have only been a paid client for less than 6 months and are still working on company adoption of the product.
  • We have noticed a significant increase of engagement with the video component in team meetings, however many participants are hesitant to enable video.
  • We plan to reduce travel and leverage the platform to mitigate smaller meetings.
The biggest reason that we selected BlueJeans is the reliability and accessibility of the platform. Our POTS conference lines are unreliable, frequently down, or have glitchy issues. We do not experience those daily pain points with BlueJeans. The accessibility from multiple devices helps with adoption.
Bluejeans is well suited for internal meetings. I think the software should pivot to be used as a conference line replacement package, as there is more utility in that mannerism with fluid participant availability.

BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued) Feature Ratings

High quality audio
8
High quality video
9
Low bandwidth requirements
7
Mobile support
9
Desktop sharing
10
Calendar integration
8
Meeting initiation
8
Integrates with social media
Not Rated
Record meetings / events
8
Live chat
8
User authentication
10
Participant roles & permissions
5

Using BlueJeans

25 - HR, IT, Product, E-Learning, Academics, Marketing, Operations, Admissions, Finance, Business Development, Executives.
We do not have a primary lead on BlueJeans, we do have a few administrators in a variety of departments and we collaboratively support our organization.
  • Travel reduction.
  • Conferencing reliability
  • Video, face-to-face engagement
  • Interviews with prospective job applicants.
  • Further organizational adoption.
  • We have talked about setting up conference rooms with technology/cameras with tablets to enable 1-click conference connections.
We have had several technical problems on local hardware getting BlueJeans to correctly work. It is new technology for the company, and the ability of our users to install, and operate the platform without difficulty could stand to improve. That being said, it is significantly more reliable than our plain-old-telephone-system conference lines, with respect to uptime and glitches.

Evaluating BlueJeans and Competitors

Yes - Big Blue Button, an open source conferencing solution that we used through our Learning Management System, Canvas. We needed a more flexible and dynamic environment that was accessible outside of the LMS, suited for corporate conferencing.
  • Price
  • Product Features
  • Product Reputation
  • Third-party Reviews
As the platform matures, more technical issues will be resolved. We should have tested the system on a variety of different desktops and laptops before reaching a consensus about the adaptability of the platform.

BlueJeans Implementation

As the product matures, I believe that implementation will become easier.
Change management was minimal
  • End user hardware.
  • Webcam drivers.
  • Default microphones on computers.

Using BlueJeans

The platform is very nice, but the end-user integration and connections can certainly use improvements.
ProsCons
Like to use
Relatively simple
Easy to use
Technical support not required
Well integrated
Convenient
Feel confident using
Familiar
None
  • The platform availability is more reliable that phone conferencing.
  • Multiple application/device support is helpful.
  • Video works well.
  • Installation/deployment for non-technical users has been difficult. Drive issues for webcams, mics, and variable selection of multiple mics or default mics have caused several issues that our end-users have not been able to resolve on their own, that impair their ability to use and likelihood to adopt the system.
Yes - Integration is much better on iOS