LogMeIn revamps GoToMeeting platform

LogMeIn is rolling out a revamped version of its GoToMeeting platform, promising a sleeker, video-first meeting experience for users, as well as better management and security features for IT administrators. 

The new platform comes as IT leaders are replacing legacy communications tools with unified platforms. According to recent research from Ovum, seven out of 10 IT leaders plan to invest in new collaboration technologies in 2020. They're looking for tools that can provide the sort of consumer-like experience that will keep end users happy, LogMeIn's Mark Strassman said. 

"It used to be you're either a consumer company focusing on a great end user experience, or you're an enterprise company focusing on it experience,"  Strassman, SVP and GM of UCC at LogMeIn, said to ZDNet. Now, Strassman said, "there really is sort of a new paradigm doing both well. You have to please the end user, you have to please IT. And you have to recognize that you can't compromise down the middle."

LogMeIn redesigned its popular GoToMeeting platform based largely on user feedback. The platform has more than 25 million users a month, with its main competition coming from Cisco. However, the unified communications and collaboration (UCC) market has a number of innovative players, like Zoom, BlueJeans and Highfive. 

Collaboration companies have been steadily updating their applications to incorporate AI and more features. BlueJeans for instance, is introducing BlueJeans Smart Meetings, which uses machine learning to deliver features like crowd-sourced meeting notes, real-time transcription and a video highlight reel.

Meanwhile, the new GoToMeeting features are designed to improve the pre-meeting experience, the meeting experience and the post-meeting experience. 

For the pre-meeting experience, that includes:

• The Hub: Users can find helpful information and tools in this space, including information about upcoming meetings, diagnostics and chat capabilities. 
• Improved Scheduling: Choosing between one-time or any-time meeting is simpler, while hosts can now create multiple personal meeting rooms with custom branding. New calendar plugins and integrations tie in Office 365 and Outlook, GSuite Calendar, Salesforce and more. 
• Faster Join Time: Starting a session is now 65 percent faster than before. Attendees can also choose between a download-free web meeting, or joining via the new GoToMeeting desktop or mobile apps. 

The new meeting experience includes: 

• A video-first design: Key controls, such as leaving the meeting and the ability to see exactly what you are sharing, are now front and center. Meeting hosts can choose multiple camera views, take screen shots, or zoom in and out to focus on a particular area of a shared screen. 
• "Best in class" audio: Wide-band VoIP capabilities are now available via PSTN along with additional audio enhancements to provide quality audio, even in extreme low-bandwidth situations.  
• Real-time note taking: Hosts and attendees can take notes within a GoToMeeting session. Upon recording a session, organizers can launch the feature, where notes will be time-stamped and available for review and editing. GoToMeeting's proprietary AI technology will auto-generate recommendations alongside the notes.
• Cross-device consistency: The GoToRoom, GoToMeeting mobile and GoToMeeting web browser experiences all offer a consistent workflow and feature set.

The post-meeting experience includes: 

• AI-powered transcription 
• New sharing features: Users can automatically capture presentation slides during meetings and share as a downloadable PDF. They can view, download and share transcripts, video and notes with meeting attendees.

For IT administrators, the new GoToMeeting offers: 

• Meeting Diagnostics Report: IT admins can monitor audio and video quality, to identify and troubleshoot root causes for meeting quality issues. 
• GoToRoom: LogMeIn has partnered with Poly and Dolby to create turnkey video room solutions that install in minutes.  
• InRoom Link: Join GoToMeeting sessions with your existing SIP and H.323 video room systems, such as Cisco or Poly.