Item: BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued)
Rating: 10
Author: Susana Valencia

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

In my team, we usually use it for our daily conversations. Working with remote teams has made BJ a key tool for communication. The fact that you can easily log from a browser also allows us to avoid technical issues we used to get and have everyone on board quickly.

Pros and Cons

Easy to connect: You don't need to download anything to your computer if you don't want to or type endless passwords only to realize you failed.
It offers the possibility to connect to Polycom, and also provides a landline for most countries in case you don't have a connection available.
It loads meetings from your calendar so you can easily access the correct room without having to look for emails or your Outlook.

Screensharing. I would love for it to have a solution where you can participate and draw, point, or interact with what's being shared.
Camera on videoconferences taken on the call
Further room address personalization (not only the number and the username)

Return on Investment

Faster communication
Less travel and more videoconferencing
Saving time on "set-ups"
Saving costs on calls and connections (we usually had a system where we needed long distance calls or VPN access on a computer)

Alternatives Considered

Slack, Skype for Business (formerly Lync), Skype and Polycom RealPresence Group Series

BlueJeans is easy to connect from wherever you are, office, home or on the road. It offers better quality on the calls than most of the other options I've tried. It does not reveal a personal account and doesn't need VPN access to access the conversation. This allows people from outside the organization to join too.

Usability

From the moment you join the first meeting you can set up the configuration and it keeps your preference so you don't have worry everytime you join, especially when you use it several times a day for different types of meetings. It's also very clear to see who's on the call and who's talking, mute and unmute and even a prompt alert when you try to talk and forget you're still on mute. It also has a very good mode to save data, which I find pretty useful when I'm on the street, which for me happens pretty often as I take meetings outside the usual office hours.

Likelihood to Recommend

BJ is great for when you need team communication or quick coordination between more than two people. It's a life-saver when everybody is having connection issues, and just by sharing a link, it's solved. On the other hand, having to set it up in a conference room is a little trickier and it's best to go with the solution the room offers as you could get delays re-configuring.

BlueJeans as a collaboration tool

Overall Satisfaction with BlueJeans