Seems like I have used BlueJeans for as long as I have worn blue jeans!
August 21, 2020
Seems like I have used BlueJeans for as long as I have worn blue jeans!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with BlueJeans Meetings
We use BlueJeans across our organization. Whether it is for routine meetings, reviews, meetings with clients, or training, we use it extensively to cut travel (thereby saving an enormous amount of time, productivity, and also money), as we are small teams spread across India. It does help that BlueJeans isn't dependent on only a restricted number of devices, for we can connect from mobile phones, PCs, and even VC Rooms, and, more importantly, the attendees need not necessarily be subscribers. Keeping an ecosystem for communications closed defeats the very purpose of its existence, in my opinion.
- Multiple options to connect (mobile devices, PCs using browser OR app, VC Room systems)
- Ease of connection (once you are used to it)
- Relatively low bandwidth works well as compared to most other competing platforms
- I have found customer service to be particularly responsive, and rare occasions when they fail to come up with an answer/solution.
- Options for layouts (for participant videos); beats most other competing platforms, though it could still be improved
- Live streaming to Facebook Live/Workplace
- Almost unlimited recording (soft limit of 50GB)
- Polls (it is unbelievable that such a basic and useful feature it STILL missing)
- Waiting room (anyone with the link or meeting details can join in)
- Lack of "registration option" for joining meetings (this would be a nifty feature to have)
- Breakout rooms aren't easy at all; for meetings of 30-50 people, some get left behind. Each participant needs to be allotted to a group individually, rather than have multiple participants selected for each breakout room). Also, once a breakout session is over, one has to start the allotment to groups all over again, from scratch, which is a hell of a lot for the meeting organizer or even a moderator to do
- A limit of 100 (or 150) participants still is low as compared to most other competing platforms
- More controls over layouts (for instance, ability to pin more than one participant, or have more than 9 participants visible at a time)
- Background blurring
- Background noise cancellation
- Verbal cues for mic on and mic off would be nice
- A feature for a parallel audio stream (for translation) would be fantastic. India speaks in many, many languages (at least 30 different languages which are widely used); this would set BlueJeans apart from all others
- Cut dependencies on our VC room systems
- Cut travel significantly, leading to greater productivity and expenditure control
- Team members able to connect on the move
- Massive effectiveness in training
- A big help during the current pandemic, particularly during the prolonged lockdowns
To be truthful, at the time I started using BlueJeans, I evaluated it against Lifesize and Webex; I chose BlueJeans more for the possibility of connecting 100 participants, though I liked the feature that I could dial out to IP Addresses, room systems, and Webex Meetings from Lifesize; the downer was that the moderator could not mute the video of other participants (which is true even today). Zoom came in a little later, but I found limited layout controls, and I did not like the fact that those with their video off still had an equal-sized window. So, while there are still some key features BlueJeans lacks, I find that amongst all the options available, it suits my needs better.
BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued) Feature Ratings
Using BlueJeans Meetings
15 - Although there are 15 primary users, literally every single person in our organization has used BlueJeans at some point or another as a participant. Be it for sales, customer service, IT support, national and regional leadership, everyone has used BlueJeans. Frankly, I cannot think of any department that hasn't used BlueJeans, or at least video conferencing.
5 - I am not an IT person, just a frequent user. The only "skill" needed to support BlueJeans within my organization is to WANT to use it, and figure out how it can best work for you. I like to explore every feature, and use it. That's all the skill that is required. Ease of use is what is key.
- Training
- Sales
- Meetings (internal as well as client)
- e-Learning
- Market research with respondents in their homes
- Guiding usage of mobile apps using screen sharing from a mobile
- Using the feature of streaming directly to Facebook live for Facebook sponsored Village Level Entrepreneurs for training them
- Extended market research
- Board meetings
Evaluating BlueJeans Meetings and Competitors
- Product Features
- Product Usability
We have 70+ VC Rooms across the country. However, I did not want my teams to be tied down to these for meetings. I wanted them to be able to connect from anywhere, using any device, but also to be able to connect through rooms. I did evaluate BlueJeans against Lifesize and Webex but chose BlueJeans because of some features (no. of participants, ease of connecting through VC rooms, moderator controls, layouts).
Things are different now as compared to 5 years ago. Security is key; and this starts with the process of a participant joining a meeting. I think BlueJeans lack a little here. The havoc and disruption caused the world over by the Coronavirus pandemic means that features like polling, EASY breakout rooms, Q&A (moderated), background blurring, and virtual backgrounds, a larger number of participants becomes even more essential. BlueJeans seems to be rather lax, or casual, over such features, at present.
BlueJeans Meetings Implementation
- Implemented in-house
Change management was minimal - It wasn't an issue at all. We have 70+ VC rooms and were using Polycom RealPresence Desktop for PCs and mobile devices, but that wasn't a great experience at all. BlueJeans made things easy for us. Our organization has a little over 100 people; so, the only "change" was that "management" itself became easier.
- None, frankly
BlueJeans Meetings Support
| 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 |
Not Available
Yes - It was eventually resolved. This had to do with content sharing using the BlueJeans app on Windows computers. Anything that covered the content being shared resulted in a "grey" box, obscuring the content (not supposed to happen when you use the app). Further, the people widget on the presenter's screen was also visible to all participants (again, not supposed to happen). This would happen a few minutes AFTER everything started off normally. The problem, despite several follow-ups on my part, persisted for over a month. There was denial that this could happen despite screenshots and meeting IDs being shared, then silence. Eventually, the problem disappeared. This WAS indeed a bug; a major one. There have been a few others, relatively minor, but I haven't reported them, as I did not need to (they got sorted out).
There have been a few instances, though I cannot, at this point in time, remember the specifics. One of the rather more trivial ones was when I asked for the "hand Raising" feature to be enabled for us, and this was done within hours. I also had the instance when, all of a sudden, a lot of people got dropped from an ongoing meeting, and then they reconnected, they joined into a second group, with those not disconnected continuing in another. I was able to reach out to BlueJeans support immediately, and they told me that the shortest way to get everyone together was to disconnect the entire conference and get everyone to join again. Speed is of the essence, at times.
Using BlueJeans Meetings
| 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 |
- Scheduling a meeting
- Joining a meeting
- Using available moderator controls
- Breakout rooms. This is TEDIOUS to begin with (can configure only after all have joined), and if I want a second breakout session with the SAME participants in each group, I have to configure all over again. Also, someone who drops momentarily and reconnects has to be manually sent to his/her group.
- Restricted meetings. Though this is a preview feature, I had it enabled, but it didn't work well at all.
Yes - Pretty well, including screen sharing. However, when using an iPad, it would be handy to be able to view people AND content together, given the screen size is large enough. Some people have commented that they found the chat button difficult to locate on mobile devices (in the sense it wasn't easily noticed).