Blue Jeans introduces online forum for industry collaboration, customer advocacy

'Customer community' platform offers direct information exchange.

Blue Jeans Network, a video collaboration service provider, has introduced an online platform that gives people direct access to one another as well as to engineers, product developers, and company executives. The community is designed to give customers and the larger industry a forum to propose new product ideas, share feedback, and request support.

In addition to customers and prospective customers, channel partners and analysts are also invited to participate in the online discussions. Feedback can be delivered both as text and as video content. Discussions are also expected to cover topics such as best practices, deployment strategies and methods, custom room system set ups, and more.

Commenting in a statement on the forum, Stu Aaron, CCO of Blue Jeans Network, said,  "Plenty of forums put people in touch with troubleshooting customer-service reps, but very few place an emphasis on peer to peer interactions and direct access to experts deep within the company and communit."

"We respect our customers as industry luminaries who have a lot to contribute to shaping the future of video conferencing technology," he added.

When we sat down at the Blue Jeans facility that provides support for this community along with other tech support, Brett Smith (who manages the Community support team) said the new service is not intended to replace existing conversations and customer support; rather it is intended to enhance the existing processes.

The platform has already been through trials with selected customers, and out of the initial trials, 83% of conversations focused on new ideas, industry insights, and knowledge sharing discussions, and 78% of ideas for new features are being considered or planned for future releases.

Later this month, the community will add monthly live round tables, including a hosted video call with the company's CEO Krish Ramakrishnan. The first "Couch Chat" session is scheduled for July 9 focused on "Shifting Your Company to a Video Culture From Traditional Web Conferencing."

Our observation: Feedback using social media and chat forums is nothing new, nor are formal user groups unusual. However, we find these customer-to-customer links and the links between customers and executives to be very valuable in quickly bringing to market what customers really need.

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Tags unified communicationsNetworkingvoiptelecommunicationvideoconferencingBlue Jeans Network

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