WHY BlueJeans? Well, why NOT?
September 01, 2020

WHY BlueJeans? Well, why NOT?

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with BlueJeans

Ours is a small organization. As such, it is used enterprise wide. We do business coaching, consulting and training (and also some market research). It makes reaching out to clients, fulfilling their requirements much easier as it cuts out travel, allows us to use our time more productively. We are able to get people across disparate geographies together in a single meeting or session, with none of us having to travel.

Our experience using BlueJeans for the past few years came in very handy during this period when the pandemic has devastated the "normal" way of doing things world-wide, for we have continued to function "normally"; pretty much the way we did before the pandemic broke out. Our client and us ourselves have not had to make too many adjustments to keep up with our interactions.
  • I find better moderator controls in BlueJeans; it allows me to decide the sort of layout I want the other participants to view.
  • With WFH, and consequent explosion in use of bandwidth from home, there is a lot of fluctuation in the quality of internet bandwidth; I find BlueJeans reconnecting more seamlessly than most other platforms I have used.
  • The feature of uploading videos to be shared is really great. It saves one's own computer resources, and assures superior quality of playback at the same time.
  • Would love to have a waiting room sort of feature.
  • BlueJeans REALLY needs a polling feature.
  • Presently, anyone with a link (and password) can join a meeting. I would like to see a feature where only invitees could join (there is a feature called "Restricted Meetings" which is under closed preview; that could work if rolled out universally).
  • Lot of money saved on travel.
  • Hell of a lot of enhanced productivity as a result of cutting out travel, due to time saved.
  • Been able to meet AND serve people across far-flung geographies, which otherwise would not have been possible.
  • Our clients have not felt much lacking in their present interactions with us since the outbreak of the pandemic, since we used BlueJeans extensively over the past few years.
Where BlueJeans scores over others:
  • Layout controls. The moderator can define the layout for all participants.
  • Scheduling. This could be a personal opinion, but scheduling on BlueJeans just works and FEELS better than most other platforms, though all other platforms can do the same things just as easily.
  • Bandwidth requirement; it was true that BlueJeans seemed to use less bandwidth and consequently used less data than other platforms did (the gap has narrowed in favour of some other platforms), but it is still easier to have a good quality call more often on BlueJeans as compared to most other platforms.
  • Connecting to hardware based video conference rooms is more seamless, easy. Only Lifesize can compare.
  • Moderator controls are more EFFECTIVE in BlueJeans, giving the moderator more control in managing individual users.
Where BlueJeans is well suited:
  • Seamless connection in a variety of ways (using a browser without being compelled to install the app, easily connecting through mobile devices, PCs as well as room systems).
  • Sharing videos by uploading them.
  • Ability to see a list of active speakers (very handy to mute audio of those who inadvertently disturb a meeting with background noise).
  • Layout control and options is better than most other similar platforms.
Scenarios where it is less appropriate:
  • Where you need a simple feature like polling; have to use a third party platform.
  • Where you require attendees to register OR restrict those who can join a meeting.

BlueJeans Meetings (discontinued) Feature Ratings

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

Using BlueJeans

5 - 
  • Sales and Marketing
  • Consulting
  • Training
  • Coaching
  • Research
5 - The beauty of BlueJeans and its interface is that no special skills are required to support BlueJeans in our organization. Merely logging into the command centre and finding your way around gives enough information that leads to solutions. I have found BlueJeans support (on live chat) pretty responsive, and any issues I have faced have been resolved more than 90% of the time during a single chat session. None of the 5 principal users of BlueJeans in our company are IT professionals, but we manage meetings without any issues.
  • Training individuals spread across geographies. Would be far too expansive and time consuming to get them under the same roof.
  • Connecting participants from cabs, trains, airports (and even from a plane in one instance) using their mobile phone or tab.
  • Not missing gathering together in office each working day, as we meet using BlueJeans.
  • First time someone shared their screen from a mobile was truly surprising, as a live demo of using an app could be demonstrated on the fly, without having to have made a movie file.
  • We feel we can do market research more effectively in future.
I have used many other competing platforms platforms; however, despite the fact that BlueJeans lacks certain features others offer, familiarity, ease of use, and several things BlueJeans does better than others mean that I will stick to BlueJeans. Further, whenever I have faced a problem, I have found BlueJeans support excellent overall; no lengthy wait to understand and resolve an issue. Good product, great support, BOTH TESTED OVER TIME; I do not have an incentive to move to another platform.

BlueJeans Support

My own experience. As explained on more than one occasion, I have support when I need it, and immediately. Further, a very high percentage of issues get resolved almost immediately. Some that cannot be, I do get a follow up/revert. In all honesty, I have not availed of support from other platforms I have been using, so I cannot pass judgment on how BlueJeans support compares to them. That being said, BlueJeans support has worked great for me so far, and I haven't found it lacking. At least not without good reason.
ProsCons
Quick Resolution
Good followup
Knowledgeable team
Problems get solved
No escalation required
Immediate help available
Support understands my problem
Support cares about my success
Slow Initial Response
A bit of a mixed bag, actually, but impressive, nonetheless. A new feature, an expanded 5X5 gallery view, has recently been introduced. I asked for it to be enabled for our enterprise. It was confirmed it was done (some back end provisioning is required on part of BlueJeans). Based on this confirmation, I arranged for a test meeting to see if the feature was indeed enabled. I found that it was not. I contacted BlueJeans support, and the support executive actually asked for and got into our meeting to understand what the problem was. In the end, the matter hasn't yet been sorted out (in the sense that I have had a revert stating it hasn't been enabled yet), but the fact that a support person was willing to get into the meeting to understand what the issue was impressed me.

Using BlueJeans

ProsCons
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.
  • Sharing joining details.
  • Connecting to a BlueJeans meeting.
  • Moderating a meeting.
  • Breakout rooms.
  • Changing name on a mobile device.
  • Preventing non-invitees from joining a meeting.
Yes - Works almost as easily as a PC or even a room system, except for the fact that, due to limited screen size, one cannot have people + content on the same screen. I haven't found the way for a participant to change/edit their name if they forget to enter it while connecting the first time; maybe there is an easy way I am not presently aware of. Else, it works pretty good.