Adobe Connect Blog

Adobe Connect is primarily sold by a network of trusted partners who in addition to delivering the software provide additional services to our customers.  Most of them have been selling and supporting the product for a very long time; some since the Macromedia days.  They have deep expertise to make sure the solution proposed match your needs and ensure your Adobe Connect deployment will be successful.  In a serie of blogposts, we want to give you the opportunity to meet some of them.  This week, we talk with Sophie Lal, CEO and Chairman of MeetingOne and Nicolas Perdrillat, VP Connect Audio Integration at MeetingOne.

Guillaume Privat (Adobe):  Sophie,  as the CEO of MeetingOne, can you give us a quick overview of  your company?

Sophie Lal (MeetingOne): MeetingOne was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with international locations in France and Belgium. MeetingOne sells in North America and Europe.  MeetingOne’s mission is to enable businesses and educational institutions around the world to communicate and collaborate more effectively despite geographic distances, by using a combination of tools and services including Adobe Connect web-conferencing.

GP: MeetingOne has been selling Adobe Connect for a long time, hasn’t it?

SL: Quite a long time indeed. MeetingOne’s partnership with Adobe started in July 2005 and the status of Gold Partner got awarded in 2007 for its sales achievements as a VAR and its advanced integrated Adobe Connect audio conferencing technology.

GP: At the time, what prompted you to choose to resell Adobe Connect?

SL: We chose to sell Adobe Connect exclusively because of the extended functionality the technology provides compared to other web conferencing  providers. Beyond Web Conferencing, Adobe Connect also provides a full on-demand e-Learning Suite that is un-matched and present an ‘All-In-One’ solution. Adobe Connect elevates online training, marketing, sales, and web conferencing to a whole new level, delivering high-impact communications everyone can access. And because Connect is deployed using Flash Player, it is already installed on more than 97% of browsers worldwide, the audience can always join a Connect online meeting and/or on-demand training course instantly.

GP: What would you say is unique about MeetingOne?

SL: MeetingOne offers the most advanced audio integration for Adobe Connect and the best expertise in facilitating high profile integrated audio and Adobe Connect events with our live event facilitation team. In addition MeetingOne has developed Click&Meet, a fully integrated teleconferencing online visual interface that allows you to control your call more efficiently. It revolutionizes the way businesses conduct conference calls by providing users with unparalleled control through a visual and easy-to-use interface.

Nicolas Perdrillat (MeetingOne): Let me add a few details to what Sophie just said.  Because we are reselling Adobe Connect exclusively, we have focused all our web conferencing integration efforts on Adobe Connect.  As a result we offer audio services to Adobe Connect that no other conferencing provider does.  For example, we offer Adobe Connect on-premise customer with a SIP service that connects directly to their Flash Media Gateway interface.   We also support up to 20 break out rooms to match the total number of break out rooms supported by Adobe Connect.  Since 2005 we have built a very strong technical expertise to help customers with any audio integration needs they might have.

Adobe Connect is primarily sold by a network of trusted partners who in addition to delivering the software provide additional services to our customers.  Most of them have been selling and supporting the product for a very long time; some since the Macromedia days.  They have deep expertise to make sure the solution proposed match your needs and ensure your Adobe Connect deployment will be successful.  In a serie of blogposts, we want to give you the opportunity to meet some of them.  This week, we talk with Mark Alexander, President of Arkadin’s North American operations.

Guillaume Privat (Adobe):  Mark,  can you give us a quick overview of Arkadin?

Mark Alexander (Arkadin):  We were founded in Paris in 2001, and today Arkadin is one of the largest and fastest growing collaboration service providers in the world. With a vision rooted in the belief that progress emerges from people’s desire to share, Arkadin offers a complete range of remote audio, web, and video conferencing and unified collaboration solutions. The services are delivered in a cloud model for fast, scalable deployments and a high ROI.

GP: So I take that you have market presence in France and in the US.  Where else?

MA: Our global headquarters is in Paris and our North American operations are based in Atlanta. We have over 1,000 employees worldwide and a global network of 51 operating centers in 31 countries spanning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and North and South America. Dedicated local-language support teams service our 37,000 customers.

GP: Why did you choose to resell Adobe Connect ?

MA: Arkadin has been selling Adobe Connect since February 2012.   Adobe Connect’s full enterprise web conferencing solution gives us a more complete suite of web collaboration services to appeal to large businesses. It offers an unparalleled user experience resulting in rapid adoption throughout the enterprise. Together with our integrated audio platform, our large business customers now have a robust all-in-one unified collaboration solution for all their needs.

GP: What would you say is unique about Arkadin?

MA: Arkadin provides unique expertise in delivering integrated audio, video and web conferencing services that are supported by our global client-service teams. Arkadin was founded on the principle that no one understands local customer needs better than support teams that live in the same country and speak the language. This global, yet local service expertise is in our DNA. It’s especially advantageous for businesses that need seamless and cost efficient global deployments for Adobe Connect.

Adobe Connect is primarily sold by a network of trusted partners who in addition to delivering the software provide additional services to our customers.  Most of them have been selling and supporting the product for a very long time; some since the Macromedia days.  They have deep expertise to make sure the solution proposed match your needs and ensure your Adobe Connect deployment will be successful.  In a serie of blogposts, we want to give you the opportunity to meet some of them.  This week, we talk with Melanie Flowers, Senior Director of Unified Collaboration Product Management at InterCall.

Guillaume Privat (Adobe):  Melanie,  can you give us a quick overview of InterCall?

Melanie Flowers (InterCall): Sure.  InterCall is a subsidiary of West Corporation and is the largest conference and collaborations service provider in the world with over 4,000 employees globally.  We are a leading provider of global cloud-based unified communications services.  Founded in 1991, InterCall offers telephony, messaging, event services and conferencing and collaboration tools for businesses of all sizes, from large global enterprises to small or regional companies.

GP: Do you have a global presence?

MF: Yes, InterCall has a global footprint.  It is headquartered in Chicago and has a strong U.S. presence, including four call centers and 26 sales offices across North America.  We also have operations and sales offices across the globe in Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan that managed over 130 million conference calls in 2012.

 GP: How long have you been selling web conferencing?

MF: InterCall has been selling web conferencing services since 1997.  We have seen tremendous success with Adobe Connect since adding it to our portfolio in 2009.

GP: Why did you choose to resell Adobe Connect ?

MF: We listened to our customers and prospects and their request was pretty clear.    They required a solution that would allow multiple participants to join from any device.  As the market and technologies expand, adding Adobe to our portfolio made sense – to offer a solution that is not only easy to join but can allow for robust multi-media files to be shared along with the creation of custom content to truly make your meetings unique.   Adobe Connect has a specialization in eLearning and the event space, which fits nicely into our overall portfolio.  Adobe is a strong recognizable brand in the market and coupled with their universally compatible Flash technology, the platform offers a solution that meets our customers’ needs.

GP: When selling Adobe Connect, what would you say is the unique value brought by InterCall?

MF: InterCall knows more about remotely connecting people in business settings than anyone else, and we are making it more seamless and more flexible to the user – without sacrificing security or quality.  This is where our experience provides the most impact and value to businesses of any size.   But when you look at all we offer, what really sets us apart from other Adobe partners is our Reservationless-Plus® audio conferencing service and our first class web conferencing training and support organization.     We have spent the time and technology to integrate our audio conferencing with Adobe Connect to ensure a seamless audio and web meeting experience for our customers and their participants.  Through this integration we are able to leverage our extensive global audio conferencing platform to provide our customers with the best end to end combined audio and web conferencing solution.  In addition, InterCall is able to able to create unique offers in the marketplace, for example WebConnectUS, which bundles Adobe with both audio conferencing and event services to offer customers a premium event service for a flat fee without a long term contract.

The American Council for Technology and Industry Advisory Council (ACT-IAC) recently announced the 25 finalists for its 12th annual 2013 Excellence.gov Awards Program. Established by ACT-IAC in 2001, the Excellence.gov Awards Program recognizes exceptional government programs and projects that fuel government efficiency, interagency collaboration, and the delivery of impactful citizen services through innovative technologies.

Defense Connect Online (DCO) has been chosen as a finalist in the category of Excellence in Intergovernmental Collaboration. DCO is a deployment of Adobe Connect for the Department of Defense managed by DISA. In addition to DCO, other very prominent programs highlighted in this category include:

• North American Day Public Health Alerts Pilot Project 2012 – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) Website – Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), DOD
• Utah OneStop Business Registration (OSBR) – Utah Department of Technology Services, State of Utah
• Veterans Job Bank – U.S Department of Veteran Affairs

The Awards luncheon is being held at the Grand Hyatt in Washington DC on March 5, 2013, where the winners will be announced in each of the five categories and honoring all finalists.

To read more about this outstanding accomplishment, you can find the press release located here: http://www.actgov.org/about/pressroom/Documents/ACT-IAC%20Announces%202013%20Excellence.gov%20Awards%20Finalists.pdf

The use of videoconferencing in business has been on the rise over the last few years, but it wasn’t until recently that the Department of Defense (DOD) started heavily pushing for its use in its day-to-day operations. In the past, the DOD’s enterprise collaboration tool, Defense Connect Online (DCO), which is powered by Adobe Connect, had been used primarily to supplement physical conferences.

Recently, Federal Computer Week magazine sat down with our Mike Murtha, who manages the DCO program here at Adobe to discuss the DCO program. Mike reiterated the increased demand by the DOD to use videoconferencing to replace physical meetings and conferences. “Over the past three months, we have gotten a lot of inquiries [saying]: ‘We want to run an entire conference virtually,’” Murtha said.

FCW also discussed barriers that were in place that discouraged the use of videoconferencing such as costs, security concerns, and infrastructure requirements. The article noted that an advantage that Adobe Connect offers is that its services also provide videoconferencing capabilities for both desktops and mobile devices. Mike mentioned that the DCO system wasn’t initially built for videoconferencing, but that the customers are pushing it in that direction.

To read more about how federal agencies are promoting the use of videoconferencing, click here.

With the launch of Adobe Connect 9, I have talked with many customers and prospects over the last few month.  They gave me unique insights into their Unified Communications deployments.  One key observation they all made was that the “one stack from one vendor” approach to unified communication does not work.  They gave me three fundamental reasons to explain this.

#1: Single stacks are not so seamless

For the last ten years, the Ciscos and Microsofts of the world went on convincing customers to buy a single stack unified communcations solution from one single vendor. Audio, Video, Web from one single vendor.  The promise was to provide greater ROI and faster deployments from one single unified stack.  But the only thing that is truly unified in their UC offering is the price list.  For the rest deloyments are incredibly complex and difficult to scale.  The different pieces, directory, IM, voice, web conferencing are not at all seamless neither on the server side or client side, creating very poor user experience which slows user adoption.

#2: UC was built for PC era

UC was built on the premise that voice would integrate with web application on the PC. But in the meantime, web application have integrated with voice on mobile devices which are procured in a completely new paradigm that does not fit the traditional UC stack:  Bring Your Own Device.  UC vendors are struggling releasing UC mobile apps across devices that will work the same across all the highly custom UC deployments of their multiple customers.  In the mean time, users are resorting to Skype …

#3: Communication is about culture, not technology

Communication is fundamentally NOT about technology, it is about culture.  Within a same organization, you can expect each group, business unit, department, to have their own collaboration and communication culture influenced by cultural differences of course, but also their different needs: do they collaborate in small group, large group, do they use the tools for training, for webinars, do they prefer to collaborate live or a-synchronously.   The one size fits all of single UC stack solution does not work in these environments, as it struggles to meet all the requirements of these different group.  And in an era of consumerization of IT, no business group is going to wait on IT to deploy a solution that fits their need.  They will go an buy it themselves.  So as a result a lot of UC deployment are actually not used by many group of users.

The Adobe Connect team is excited to announce that a newly updated version of the DCO Connect Mobile app is now available for Android devices! The latest update brings enhanced hosting controls for complete mobile-to-mobile collaboration and training, especially from tablet devices.

Originally launched in 2007, DCO (Defense Connect Online) leverages Adobe Connect web conferencing and instant messaging/presence via an XMPP client, to enable anywhere, anytime collaboration across over 700,000 users at the U.S. Department of Defense. Given the globally dispersed user base, and necessity to collaborate, train, and coordinate time critical efforts, it is not practical to expect users to be at a desk to initiate or drive virtual meetings or training. With this in mind, the updated DCO Connect Mobile app delivers even greater hosting, presenting, and sharing controls to completely drive collaboration and fulfill the many different use cases DoD personnel have for collaboration while operating in a mobile environment.

In addition to the existing features for tablets and smartphones (including hosting/attending meetings, participant management, 2-way video, VoIP, chat, and other interactive features), the updated capabilities include:

• Start, stop, and manage meeting audio and teleconferencing bridge
• Invite others to the meeting
• Start and stop recordings
• Enable web camera rights for all participants at once
• Switch between layouts in the meeting room
• Share content from share history
• Share content from Adobe Connect content library
• Share content from local device photo library or file storage (SD Card)
• Use drawing tools (pencil, highlighter, shapes) on whiteboard and on top of shared files/video
• Use emoticons: Raise Hand (B), Agree / Disagree (B), Speak Louder / Speak Softer, Speed Up / Slow Down, Laughter, Applause
• Stepped away indication appears when multi-tasking away from app
• Device phone number detected and populated when joining audio
• Participate in breakout rooms
(Most new features apply to tablets only; “B” indicates both smartphone and tablet)

Hosts can now whiteboard and annotate with the tip of a finger, change layouts, and foster interaction with a range of emoticons.

In addition to existing hosting controls (begin/end meetings, manage attendance, manage attendee roles – Host, Presenter, or Participant, etc.), hosts can now fully control meeting recordings, audio conferencing, and video.

Share presentations, videos, images and other content stored in your library in the cloud; in the image library; or on the device drive itself.

DCO Connect Mobile (version 2.0) is now available for free download on the Google Play Store.

The app supports the following devices and operating systems on Android:
- Devices: Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1), Nexus 7, Samsung Galaxy Tab (10.1), ASUS Transformer, Samsung Galaxy Tab (7”) , Motorola Xoom, Motorola Xoom 2
- Supported OS versions: 2.2 and higher
- AIR Runtime required: 3.2 or higher

For more information, please see these resources below:
Adobe Connect Mobile webpage
Getting Started Guide – Hosts and Presenters (Tablets)
Getting Started Guide – Hosts and Presenters (Smartphones)
Getting Started Guide – Participants (Tablets)
Getting Started Guide – Participants (Smartphones)

A terrific case study on Adobe Connect’s widespread use across the U.S. Department of Defense was recently published by the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), a nonprofit organization working to address challenges in energy and climate change. The U.S. government has come under pressure in recent years to achieve substantial cost savings and productivity improvements, due to severe budget constraints, as well as mandates to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases. Jason Ye and Stephen Seidel from C2ES have published a full report on how the U.S. federal government is using information and communications technologies to address these challenges. The report includes a series of eight case studies around topics including shifting to cloud computing and redesigning workspaces, but most interesting to me was how the U.S. Department of Defense is leveraging Defense Connect Online (DCO), a service delivering web conferencing powered by Adobe Connect and instant messaging/presence via an XMPP client, enabling anywhere, anytime collaboration across over 700,000 users.

Leveraging DCO, the Department of Defense has been able to achieve benefits including a stronger system supporting continuity of operations (COOP), increases in telework, progress toward environmental and sustainability goals/mandates, and substantial cost savings with reductions in travel.

The report describes examples of some of the key use cases that DCO enables, such as command-and-control for military personnel to coordinate tactical battle planning, sharing information in real-time across ground, satellite, and air; and disaster relief scenarios, namely coordination of efforts during the 2010 Haiti earthquake across military units, non-profit organizations and multilateral organizations, to save lives and maximize relief an rescue efforts.

The complete report can be viewed here, with the case study of DCO available in pdf format here.

It is exciting to see such a powerful example of how Adobe Connect is helping to enable these types of achievements across the world. We look forward to working hard and enabling our customers to achieve greater and greater success.

We’re thrilled to announce that Arkadin, one of the world’s largest collaboration service providers, has joined the Adobe Connect partner community as a global reseller.  Arkadin delivers a wide range of collaboration solutions, including remote audio, web, video conferencing and Unified Communications solutions in a SaaS based model for fast, scalable deployment and greater ROI.

Earlier this year, Arkadin announced Arkadin Oneplace, an all-in-one collaboration offering that integrates Arkadin’s comprehensive audio services with the Adobe Connect technology platform to deliver a unified audio, video and web conferencing solution.  The new global reseller agreement expands our relationship with Arkadin, enabling them to sell the complete Adobe Connect product line.

With Arkadin’s global footprint, including 50 operating centers and local-language teams in 29 countries, and unique expertise in delivering integrated audio, video and web conferencing services, we are excited to better enable customers to deploy global collaboration, e-learning and webinar solutions based on Adobe Connect through this new relationship.  To read more on this announcement, check out Arkadin’s press release here.

- Guillaume Privat | Director, Adobe Connect

Last week, more than 69,000 people pledged to telework as a part of “Telework Week 2012”. The result: More than $5.5 million saved and 3,358 tons of pollutants removed from the air. It’s no argument the positive impact that teleworking has on the environment, but what about the impact on individuals and companies?

Studies show that employees who work remotely feel a better sense of personal freedom, flexibility and work-life balance. The option to work from home is also a big draw for job seekers. For companies, telecommuting expands the talent pool, reduces the spread of illness, reduces costs, and increases productivity.

With the right tools and technologies, the benefits of teleworking seem limitless. Advancements in Web conferencing solutions like Adobe Connect have made it easier for globally dispersed teams to communicate effectively. Trainings, workshops and classes can easily be given and taken online, and organizations can effortlessly deliver presentations to employees, customers and partners – no matter where they are in the world. In addition to Web conferencing; social networking, IM and traditional e-mail continue to be the preferred forms of communication for teleworkers.

Bottom line: remote employees can just as easily, if not better, collaborate, complete work faster, and drive better results.

Next week, we’ll be examining specific tips and tricks on how to make the most out of working remotely. Are you a teleworker? If so, what benefits and drawbacks do you experience? If you do not work remotely, would you consider participating in Telework Week next year?