Item: Google Hangouts (Classic)
Rating: 9
Author: Verified User

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Hangouts is a great tool that is used across the whole organization, internally and externally. It solves most of our communication needs as we can use it for IM as well as calls and video calls with clients and remote offices. The product is free and it integrates perfectly with the rest of Google's suite which makes it extremely convenient.

Pros and Cons

Audio and video quality very good, best in the market
It's free
Works on any device, seamlessly

You can't edit sent messages.
Could be better integrated with a project management tool.
It would be great if the product allowed you to somehow get a stored record of past calls.

Return on Investment

It's free, so a very positive impact on ROI.
It has allowed people to work remotely and thus reduced fixed costs.

Alternatives Considered

Slack and Skype

I have used Slack and Skype but both products seem more complex and less user intuitive than Hangouts. They tend to crash a lot and video calling is worse on both systems. Slack is more customizable and has more functionalities but Hangouts is simple and elegant and also it feels faster for day to day communication.

Support Rating

I never had any issues on Hangouts. However, like the rest of Google's suite of products, most of the help you will need you can find online and on online tutorials. As hangouts is fairly straight forward, there is not really a need for support but you can Google functionalities that you may not know existed.

Key Insights

Do you think Google Hangouts (Classic) delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Google Hangouts (Classic)'s feature set?

Yes

Did Google Hangouts (Classic) live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Google Hangouts (Classic) go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Google Hangouts (Classic) again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Skype

Likelihood to Recommend

Hangouts is an excellent product. Not only is it free, but it also integrates perfectly with the rest of Google's suite of products. I recommend it for all use cases, big and small firms, and even for your personal life. I really like the fact that it works across all devices because it gives the users a lot of flexibility.

Works like a charm

Overall Satisfaction with Google Hangouts