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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 combined they represent the full range of Real-time Collaboration-based Learning products. Ambient Insight wrote the profiles and vendors were invited to review the content for errors or oversights.
Ambient Insight analyzed the success of Glance Networks. They make collaboration products easy to use and they serve a market that doesn’t need—or want—to spend money on more elaborate products. They make it easy by design.
Glance Networks is a privately held company that sells hosted Software as a Service (SaaS) collaboration products. The company is six years old, and its services currently support over 2400 companies in 40 countries. Most customers use Glance as a simple sales tool for instantly presenting live Web demos or online presentations to prospective customers, and live online product training. The premise is simple and execution is easy: everything you see on your screen, your "guests" can also see. The latest product release, Glance 2.0, includes 24-bit color.>
As a highly targeted Web demo and screen sharing tool, Glance doesn’t include most of the features offered by other virtual classrooms and collaborative solutions. But that is by design.
"Sales people often get just one shot at demonstrating their product," says Rich Baker, Glance's CEO. "They need a Web demo tool they can count on to connect to any prospect's computer, no matter how secure its environment, whether it be a PC or Mac or Unix box." Baker adds that "Glance uses a combination of Web technologies to minimize the need for guests to download software. Couple that with Glance’s lean design and you get a simple-to-use, customer-branded screen sharing tool that connects quickly and reliably."
It is very simple to use. Guests connect to sessions through a co-branded Glance Web page (yourname.glance.net or yourname.company.glance.net) or a "Glance" button you add to your Web site.
Here's how it would work on your side: Glance installs an icon in your Windows tray that you click a few seconds before you need to show your live PC screen to people on the phone. You use your own phone to talk to your Guests ("because it always works," says Baker) and invite them go to your Glance page (or a Glance button on your Web site) and give them the session's four-digit key. You don't need to reserve a room in advance or send meeting invitations or reminders from the tool. You just click the Glance icon the moment you need it.
Glance targets their hosted SaaS product to the broad market for sales-based live product demonstrations. Their typical customer is an inside salesperson, often in the software or IT services industry, who performs ad hoc, live Web demos, product training, and sales presentations for up to 15 guests at a time.
However, universities are using the tool to reach off-campus students; and many vertical markets (such as insurance, financial services, and real estate) use Glance for live process training and real-time mentoring.
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