What is our primary use case?
My clients are using the solution for training centers, for presenting webinars. I'm using it for webinars and for pre-selling for my clients. In my current company, I have my account and I'm using it for presenting solutions, including, for example, how Acrobat, Photoshop, and Creative Cloud work and some internal training. In the last few years, I use it for training, Adobe training, in universities.
In Brazil, most universities use Adobe Connect for live events and for classes. After COVID and social distancing, I see other solutions in our universities now too as Adobe is so expensive in Brazil.
What is most valuable?
The layout pods are the most important feature of the solution.
It's an easy solution to set up.
The stability is good.
The solution can scale well.
What needs improvement?
The price is a problem. Only international companies can really use Connect. For example, Mercedes can buy Adobe Connect. Other companies deal with Teams. My company buys Teams. In certain moments, my manager asks me about Connect and after seeing the pricing, will say no to Connect as Microsoft Teams is less expensive than Connect.
The licensing model needs improvement. The license model is only for large, large rooms, for large amounts of people in a room. In Brazil, we tend to have smaller class sizes. In Brazil, if I offer one Connect room, it's so expensive as we don't have so many students. They need to create a smaller license for smaller room sizes.
It's important to me to be able to copy a layout as to different rooms. I have many rooms and I need to copy the layout. When I have a good layout it would be ideal to be able to create the other pods with my custom needs. I need more pods and more tools to make new pods. HTML5 is not impressive for me. Before HTML5, we had other tools in AWS for making pods. Now, we have these tools. It's much more difficult.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for maybe 10 years. I am the first, or one of the first, people in Brazil using Adobe Connect. After Adobe bought Macromedia, I started using it. Adobe changed the name for Adobe Connect.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable. There are no bugs or glitches. It doesn't crash or freeze. It's reliable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale well. It's scalable by layout and by the dashboard. It's so easy to scale.
How are customer service and support?
When I buy for my clients, my clients ask about support from Adobe or some other support for the solution. I tend to help if they can't get support elsewhere.
I am a unique person in Brazil in that I know how to provide support to Adobe Connect. No other person in resellers, in consulting marketing, provide support or implementing for Adobe Connect.
If I need support, I can get it, however, that's not true for everyone in Brazil. Getting support is difficult. For clients, support is quite bad.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Other companies also use Teams and Zoom. Our company tends to use Team more as it is far less money.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is simple and straightforward. It's not difficult.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is quite expensive.
In Brazil, Connect is only for obtaining international standards for international companies. If a company sees the price and the features for Zoom, Connect, and other platforms, while Connect is better than other platforms it's five times the price here.
What other advice do I have?
We are an Adobe platinum partner.
If I sell one or 100 Connects, I don't maintain my badge as a platinum reseller. I rely on selling other Adobe solutions. Only if clients ask about Connect will I sell Connect. If clients don't find me or know I'm the only person who understands Connect around here, they won't know to ask about Connect. It's rare to have someone ask for it.
Before working for my current company, I was working as an evangelist for Adobe. I worked in presenting and have consulted for universities for the Adobe training center and others in Adobe Connect. Now, I have two clients who sell Adobe Connect and I provide the support and training and consulting for implementing Adobe Connect.
I'm likely using the latest version of the solution currently. I can't speak to the exact version number.
Overall, I would rat the solution at a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud