Yugma, the new alternative to WebEx
Yugma is the new online conferencing service that kills Webex in terms of quality and pricing (Comment me if you feel different). Someone mentioned the Yugma service over at InsideCRM online magazine and I decided to check it out. These guys are good from what I see. We know that WebEx‘s lowest plan starts $39 a month for only 15 users. GoToMeeting starts at $49 a month and Turbo meeting is a piece of horse manure (personal experience), so don’t use it. Check the chart from Yugam out below. More features, and conference attendees for less. They impress me (not easy to do) and here are their feature sets, tell me what you think.
| Services | Pro-20 | Pro-100 | Pro-500 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attendees you can invite | 20 | 100 | 500 |
| Pricing Monthly | 19.99 | 69.95 | 89.95 |
| Desktop Sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free Teleconferencing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Public and Private Chat | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customizable Widget | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Windows, Mac and Linux | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MS Outlook and Skype compatiblity | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Share Mouse & Keyboard controls with other attendess | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Change Presenter | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Annotations & Whiteboarding Tools | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Schedule Sessions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Web Session Recording, Playback and Hosted Webcast | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Shared File Space (100MB) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Webinar feature (Professional 100 & 500 only) | No | Yes | Yes |
| Priority Customer Support | Email, Phone and WebEmail | ||
Collaboration vs. Sharing
Since Yugma excels in its screen sharing capacity, the real power of Yugma lies in its real time collaboration capabilities.
With Yugma, multiple people can collaborate in any program, sharing mouse and keyboard capability in real time. The whiteboard feature of Yugma allows for virtual brainstorming sessions, either in or outside of meetings. The annotation tool allows for one or multiple people to edit or provide comments on work in progress.
While many of “the other guys” focus on old school meetings like structured collaboration, Yugma focuses on two types of collaboration: spontaneous (this happens often) and structured collaboration. Of course, if you prefer business cards instead of online meetings, neither one is right for you.
Yugma Professional Features
Yugma Professional offers a extreme set of features to meet the needs of any business. Here are the brief highlights of just some of the features you get with Yugma Professional:
Yugma Viewer
Allow meeting participants to quickly connect and view your meetings without having to download or register for Yugma.
Mouse & Keyboard Sharing
Collaborate in any program in real time with one or multiple people, whether they are in the same office or across the globe.
Annotation and Whiteboard tools
With these easy-to-use integrated tools you can brainstorm in real time, edit documents, or just add some flair to your presentations
Session Scheduling
Schedule your meetings and send invites in advance. Keep track of your scheduled sessions on Yugma’s integrated calendar.
Session Recording, Playback, an Hosted Webcast
Record important meetings or demos for later viewing. No codecs or file compatibility issues, your recorded sessions will be hosted by Yugma and playback in any browser.
Shared File Space
Avoid important files getting trapped in virus or spam filters by posting files for clients or colleagues in Yugma’s shared file space.
Yugma Enterprise Features
In addition to all the powerful features you get with Yugma Professional, Yugma Enterprise users also get some key features to help manage Yugma across a larger organization, such as group account administration, consolidated billing, and a branded meeting portal page.
For more information about our Enterprise Service, check out their website at yugma.com.
Yugma’s Satisfaction Guarantee
Yugma is commited to providing our Professional and Enterprise customers the best service and support. We promise 99.9% or better service availability. If you are not satisfied within the first 30 days of your one year contract, we’ll refund your remaining balance.
We also provide live technical support during business hours via phone, email, and live chat. Email and voice mail inquiries made during non-business hours will receive a response as soon as possible the next business day.
Yugma for Business Pricing
Yugma Professional starts at just $19.95 a month for 20 attendees. We have service plans to fit any size business, up to 500 concurrent users.
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That’s a wrap, these are new huys I will be using for my online conference from here on out. I doubt I will go back to Webex or GoToMeeting ever again. It seems the new guys like to push the envelope while the old guys rake in the menoy and don’t really bring anything innovative anymore. Do you agree?
5/27/2010 – Hey, just realized there’s been some argument over which companies offer the best live chat software. I’ve been hearing discussions about Velaro, LivePerson, & BoldChat quite a bit. I’m planning on doing a good review to come up with what I think is a clear winner. Anybody interested? Have any stories from any of these companies for their live chat service and support?
Online Voice Conferences & Meetings 