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By Jill Burger, Principal Research Analyst
During our rigorous research on the US market for Real-time Collaboration-based Learning products, fourteen vendors were selected by Ambient Insight for inclusion in this series. They were selected because they represent the full range of functionality and market positioning of Real-time Collaboration-based Learning products. Ambient Insight wrote the profiles and vendors were invited to review the content for errors or oversights, but each feature set was independently verified.
Convenos is the company formerly known as smartVR. SmartVR's product smartMeeting was the industry's first attempt to recreate in 3-D virtual space the characteristics, traits, and facilities available in normal physical working places. However, their sales record and research suggested that the market just wasn’t ready for an ultra-rich collaboration space.
So Convenos put its virtual reality past on ice and has reengineered the virtual meeting offering to target the corporate meeting space. Different from screen sharing products like Glance, Convenos Meeting Center is less for sales people and more for users within corporations seeking a way to collaborate virtually. This product is well suited for small Collaboration-based Learning sessions, small planning meetings, and online team work. They have priced their product based on extensive customer usage research. Their research suggests that 85% of collaborative sessions are with 10 people or less, with most corporate collaborators keeping the number around 4-5 participants.
Flat-rate pricing covers up to 10 people for an unlimited number of meetings per month; an annual subscription rate offers additional cost savings. Convenos is “Skype certified” and uses integrated voice conferencing via Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Consequently they can promise customers "no additional telephony charges" among key benefits. This alternative pricing model--charging monthly per host organizer seat and eliminating per minute charges and charges for guests--represents a nice, lower cost alternative to the more elaborate collaboration products.
While they no longer offer 3-D space or avatars, the product includes most of the standard Collaboration-based Learning features such as:
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
- Document sharing
- Application sharing
- Remote desktop control
- Web touring
- Whiteboarding
- Streaming media
- Video conferencing
- Recording
- Polling
The new product was released in the Fall of 2005. Early rollout began with their smartMeeting customers.
"I joined the company after recognizing the potential to take and advance a product within an established and growing industry," commented Convenos CEO Thomas Torf. "Sharing information, ideas, and collaborative workspaces within departments, across teams, and around the globe is to the utmost advantage of any business. Convenos is committed to making online collaboration both convenient and compelling."
Convenos abandoned their first product line which relied on virtual reality concepts and imagery to support the collaboration experience. Many users thought the product had a high “cool factor” but buyers were less impressed. Convenos is now well aware of what users and buyers really want in Collaboration-based Learning. Convenos strikes a nice balance between features and cost and is a viable alternative to some of the more expensive Real-time Collaboration-based Learning tools on the market.
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