Item: BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued)
Rating: 9
Author: Marcus Manderson

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

BlueJeans is used for more high profile meetings in our more technologically advanced conference rooms. It is also available to the entire organization as an option for specific needs. The main need is if presenters would like to share videos.

The teams the currently uses BlueJeans the most are our Pristine Seas team and the Education team. For both, it provides that video sharing functionality that other services do not currently have.

Pros and Cons

Customer service is great! A company may have a great product but if customer service is terrible, that company may lost customers. On the other hand, a company may have an ok product but the customer service is so exceptional, that it might not even matter what the product is. With BlueJeans, both the product and customer service are top quality!
Our major selling point is that BlueJeans provides a way to seamlessly share videos remotely. No other platform we have tried has a way of doing this as well as BlueJeans.
BlueJeans is also very flexible on the amount of people that may join a call. Customer service may provide options for even higher counts (150+) if needed.
The BlueJeans analytics for each meeting are an important part for any company looking to have a transparent eco friendly approach. We often share how many miles, gas, etc. funds have been saved because the meeting was virtual instead of in person.

Video sharing could be made better by allowing people to simply go through their presentation (Keynot/PowerPoint, etc.) without having to upload the video ahead of time (I believe BlueJeans is working on this).
Providing an option to choose what join information to share with remote participants would also be great. Currently, every option is sent (joining from phone, mobile, and a videoconference unit). Most of the time, we are sending to participants who do not and will not be using a videoconference unit. I usually just delete that information from the message, but it would be easier (and one less step) if that could be an option.

Return on Investment

Money saved on travel expenses for remote participants. (Food, transportation, hotels, etc.)
Time savings on important matters; instead of waiting a day or 2 to coordinate travel to get a remote participant in town to discuss, we can set up a BlueJeans meeting within minutes.
Better remote experience for our teams that have a large catalog of video content that must be share with remote participants.

Alternatives Considered

Google Hangouts, Skype for Business (formerly Lync), Zoom, WebEx Event Center and GoToMeeting

We've used a number of different platforms over the years. BlueJeans is probably among the top, if not for anything more than the video sharing component.

Usability

8

Joining a meeting is easy. The options and instructions provided are pretty straightforward. The only issues we have had is people not knowing if they are muted on their mics or not.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited for applications where you want to have a high quality video conference experience and incorporate screen sharing and video sharing. May not be necessary for lower profile meetings with just a handful of remote participants that do not require screen sharing (or require very minimal screen sharing).

Users and Roles

5 - Education, Senior/Admin team, Pristine Seas (save the oceans, etc.) team

Support Headcount Required

5 - Knowledge of the BlueJeans command center. However anyone with a basic to moderate understanding of computers and website navigation along with videoconference support experience should be able to support BlueJeans.

Business Processes Supported

Using it so share videos
International phone dialing options
Recording meetings

Innovative Uses

As a way to document meetings (recording) without necessarily having someone on the other end
As a way to interface with non BlueJeans videoconference products

Future Planned Uses

As better features are added, BlueJeans becomes more valuable
Hoping to take advantage of some new features in the works

Likelihood to Renew

5

We are heavily invested in another platform. However the features are not quite the same as BlueJeans. If they do become more like BlueJeans (especially the video sharing), then our need for BlueJeans would significantly decrease. An even better option would be if they bought BlueJeans...

Other Software Used

Google Hangouts, WebEx Event Center, GoToMeeting, Zoom

Products Replaced

Yes - We were using a number of platforms (GoToMeeting, WebEx) and settled on BlueJeans and Google Hangouts as the main 2 supported platforms.

Key Differentiators

Product Features
Product Usability
Prior Experience with the Product

The video sharing remains to be the most important factor in why we are keeping BlueJeans...

Evaluation Lessons Learned

I'm not sure if it would change too much or at all.

Implementation Rating

8

It was not as hard as initially thought

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

No

Change Management Lessons

Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled - How important it is to have change management involved at every step of the process

Implementation Issues

User testing
User adoption

Training Types Used

Online training
Self-taught

In-Person Training

Online Training

8

It is straight forward and easy to understand

Ease of BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued) Training

Yes. There may be a slight learning curve for those with admin rights...

Product Configurability

8

Just right for this type of product...

Configuration Lessons

Perhaps provide a way to have global settings for different groups. For example, an admin team may want to have remote participants muted on entry, but other meetings may not want that option. Although this setting may be set on a per meeting (or recurring meeting) basis, maybe it could also be tied to a group or team...

UI Customization

No - there is no facility to customize the interface

Extensibility and Customization

No - the product does not support adding custom code

Additional Customization Considerations

No configuration has been made

Support Rating

7

Support is pretty good and reliable. The confusing part on our end is that we seem to meet a new support person every 2-3 months...

BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued) Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Bug Resolution

Yes - Not, but it was addressed very well. We think it is a but beyond the control of BlueJeans.

Exceptional Examples of BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued) Support

Yes...We have been dealing with an issue for most of the year where audio would drop out for one of our remote participants from only one of our conference rooms. We tried everything, including switching out systems, rewiring the rooms, upgrading firmware, etc. The BlueJeans team sat in on a couple of calls and provided more details regarding what could possibly be happening. Some of these calls lasted 4 hours!

They did not have to do that, but they did. Although the issue was not resolved (we think it's just a bad room, although it is one of our more technically advanced rooms), we appreciate the support team going above and beyond....

Usability Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Like to use Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Well integrated Consistent Quick to learn Convenient Feel confident using Familiar	None