LogMeIn has announced the integration of Jive and GoToMeeting. Named GoToConnect, it is the company’s first integrated UCC solution, and one of two product announcements under a new GoTo brand. An overhaul of its conference and huddle room solutions has resulted in GoToRoom, which features a new hardware partnership with Polycom.
GoToConnect gives the company a foothold in the growing cloud-based UC and collaboration market. Citing a Frost & Sullivan report that shows 68% of UCaaS buyers prefer all-inclusive capabilities, GoToConnect is positioned by LogMeIn VP of Marketing UCC, Jim Somers, as: “the best UCC product in the marketplace, full stop.” It’s a bold claim, and one to be challenged no doubt. However, in terms of a compelling proposition there are some crucial elements that are less about technology, more about user experience, economic value and seamless future enhancements.
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Mike Sharp[/caption]
Jive’s encrypted hosted VoIP technology is highly respected, with the business claiming it’s the best-reviewed product in the markets it’s currently available in. On the web-meeting side, millions of users all around the world have used GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar and GoToTraining for years.
What LogMeIn has achieved in a relatively short period is full integration into GoToConnect. Billed is the “the first ever truly unified video and voice solution”, GoToConnect is a new, unified web, audio and video conferencing, and innovative VoIP telephony solution built on the foundations of “trust, reliability and performance” according to Mike Sharp, Chief Product Officer for UCC at LogMeIn.
Sharp also was keen to stress that product performance and customer experience is part of the DNA of a company that has worked hard to: “combine all of its strengths in conferencing and OVI and pull it all together into a class-leading integrated solution that delivers a great user experience.” The strategy of a unified and seamless experience across all GoTo products will improve the adoption and usage rates of additional products – GoToWebinar, GoToTraining.
How much?
Great experiences though, often come at a price. In a move that will make many CIOs and CFOs, not to mention GoToConnect’s competitors, sit bolt upright and take notice is a highly aggressive pricing strategy.
According to Somers, pricing that’s up to 50% less than their competitors means:
“We’re going to disrupt the market and that’s our intention. We believe in the impact and effect we’re going to have on the market, and we have the capability to do that”
It’s a bold move that will have repercussions.
And it’s not just the low cost that gives the company confidence in its ability to ride the growth curve and rapidly take share. Jive’s simple pricing model is replicated. Everyone gets everything – price is determined by the number of licences. No tiered subscriptions that unlock feature sets. Large, medium or small, everyone gets it all. Simple, competitive and attractive to a lot of organisations.
Jim Somers[/caption]
