BlueJeans Maximizes the WFH Experience with Secure Video Collaboration at Scale

Rhea-AI Summary

BlueJeans by Verizon has enhanced its video conferencing platform with new features to improve security, user engagement, and productivity for remote workers. Key updates include Restricted Meetings for enhanced access control, Waiting Room features for managing meeting entry, and AES-256 GCM Encryption for improved security. Additionally, features like Smart Meetings Transcription and Slack Integration aim to boost collaboration while combatting video fatigue. This comes as utilization of BlueJeans surged by 300% during the pandemic, reflecting growing demand for secure, effective communication tools.

Positive

• 300% increase in utilization over pre-COVID-19 average indicating strong demand.
• Introduction of user-centric security features enhances trust and safety.
• New engagement tools aim to reduce video fatigue and improve collaboration.

Negative

• None.

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., June 16, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BlueJeans by Verizon, a trusted enterprise-grade video conferencing and events platform, today announced a core set of new features for meeting security, engagement, and time management to augment the work from home (WFH) experience. Driven by rising customer demand for more natural collaboration and secure engagements as the world settles into today’s remote work reality, the latest enhancements to BlueJeans Meetings help remote workers stay safe, stay connected, and stay productive. 

“Having BlueJeans in place to facilitate real-time video communication across the company has been mission-critical for ensuring our business continuity during these uncertain times,” said Peo Enea, Global Voice and Multimedia, Electrolux IT. “With the majority of our 55,000 strong workforce working remotely right now, user experience and security have never been more important. With BlueJeans Meetings, we know we’re providing our employees with a trusted platform for internal collaboration and customer support that’s both easy to use and thoughtfully designed to improve upon the overall work from home experience.” 

As organizations quickly looked for ways over the past few months to bolster employee productivity and improve business outcomes, BlueJeans saw a 300% increase in utilization over the pre-COVID-19 average—which required rapid scale out. BlueJeans was able to stay ahead of traffic increases smoothly and seamlessly and remain focused on accelerating product innovation around emergent customer needs that support the way people work today.

Enhancing User-Centric Security
For over 10 years, customers have trusted BlueJeans to deliver the industry’s leading enterprise-grade meeting experience that doesn’t sacrifice security. With the vast majority of meetings now taking place online instead of in-person, there has been no shortage of malicious activity aimed at disrupting online meetings. Layering on to BlueJeans’ existing security and privacy capabilities for keeping customers safe, we released a new suite of features that meeting hosts can use to protect the integrity of their meetings, while giving confidence to all attendees that their safety and security is of the utmost importance.

• Restricted Meetings: This new capability provides additional authentication modes for restricting meeting access to ensure that only invited participants can join a meeting by leveraging a unique one-time passcode that can be authenticated via email confirmation or by logging into a BlueJeans account. Restricted Meetings can work to ensure secure access for both internal employees as well as people external to the organization (e.g. board members, investors, customers, and partners), which is a key differentiator. For internal-only meetings, BlueJeans also offers the ability to restrict meeting access to users from a single organization to prevent external parties from joining meetings.
• Waiting Room: The new Waiting Room experience will provide meeting hosts with better controls for managing who can be admitted into a meeting.
• AES-256 GCM Encryption: All video, audio, and content in transit will be encrypted using AES-256 GCM encryption to deliver improved security and faster performance.
• Screen Share Controls: Administrators can now control who has access to screen share at the enterprise, individual, and per-meeting levels, so that meeting hosts can prevent unwanted screen share takeover.
• Quick Lock: A one-click capability at the top of the screen makes it easy for meeting hosts to secure meetings and prevent unwanted guests from joining in the middle of a confidential discussion.

Combatting the WFH Conundrum
As organizations continue to navigate through uncertainty, effective team coordination and real-time communication is key. As remote workers barrel through their day on a seemingly endless series of video calls, video fatigue can set in and impede productivity. To help users improve engagement, maintain collegiality, and boost collaboration, BlueJeans is launching a series of features meant to simulate more traditional in-person experiences, while saving time.

• Interaction Capabilities: With single-click access for Raise Hand, Hand Clapping, Thumbs Up/Down, and even Drop the Mic, BlueJeans strives to provide all meeting attendees with the tools to engage with each other similar to when attendees were in the office together. BlueJeans has also boosted emoji support in chat so that attendees can easily inject emotion or humor into their conversations. 
• Native Virtual Backgrounds from Shutterstock and Background Blur: Attendees will have the ability to choose their own blur density or upload their own background image to serve as their conferencing background. BlueJeans is also partnering with Shutterstock to provide a preloaded set of high quality background images that attendees can use without having to upload their own.
• Smart Meetings Transcription: Now available as a Meetings add-on, non-meeting participants can quickly search and scan a post-meeting transcript for additional context, without having to sift through unnecessary meeting chit-chat.
• Floating View: Attendees keep track of a meeting conversation even when BlueJeans is not the primary application window on the desktop to make multitasking easy.
• Slack Integration for BlueJeans Smart Meeting Highlights: The enhanced Slack integration automatically populates any private Slack channel with a Smart Meeting summary to share key meeting details—including number of highlights and action items—so those unable to attend a meeting can quickly catch up via Meeting Highlights without having to dig through email. 

“Video conferencing has become fundamental to everyday business success,” said Jim Lundy, CEO, Aragon Research. “As video collaboration tools help the world stay connected during the pandemic, it’s crucial now more than ever that vendors remain diligent in delivering capabilities that proactively mitigate risks while optimizing user experience. BlueJeans’ new security and user experience innovations balance security with ease of use to help organizations work securely and productively.”

Resources

• AES-256 GCM Encryption, Waiting Room, Non-Raise Hand Interactions, and Virtual Backgrounds will be available for customer preview by the end of the summer. To stay up to date on the latest features and availability, visit: www.bluejeans.com/products/meetings
• For additional updates and follow @BlueJeansNet on Twitter

BlueJeans by Verizon is the meetings platform for the modern workplace and the first cloud service to connect desktops, mobile devices and room systems in one video meeting. Thousands of companies from growing businesses to Fortune 500 leaders use BlueJeans every day for video, audio and web conferencing meetings and large interactive events, so people can work productively where and how they want. For more information, visit www.bluejeans.com.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) was formed on June 30, 2000 and is celebrating its 20th year as one of the world’s leading providers of technology, communications, information and entertainment products and services. Headquartered in New York City and with a presence around the world, Verizon generated revenues of $131.9 billion in 2019. The company offers voice, data and video services and solutions on its award winning networks and platforms, delivering on customers’ demand for mobility, reliable network connectivity, security and control. 

VERIZON’S ONLINE MEDIA CENTER: News releases, stories, media contacts and other resources are available at www.verizon.com/about/news/. News releases are also available through an RSS feed. To subscribe, visit www.verizon.com/about/rss-feeds/. 

Contact:
Lauren Schulz
Lauren.schulz@verizon.com

Erin Cheever
echeever@bluejeans.com

FAQ

What new features has Verizon introduced for BlueJeans video conferencing?

Verizon has introduced features like Restricted Meetings, Waiting Room, AES-256 GCM Encryption, and enhanced engagement tools such as Smart Meetings Transcription and Slack Integration.

How has BlueJeans usage changed during the pandemic?

BlueJeans has seen a 300% increase in utilization compared to pre-COVID-19 levels due to the rise in remote work.

How does BlueJeans ensure meeting security for users?

BlueJeans offers features such as Restricted Meetings with unique passcodes, Waiting Rooms, and AES-256 GCM Encryption to secure meetings and protect user data.

Why are the new interactive features important for BlueJeans users?

These features aim to enhance user engagement and reduce video fatigue by simulating in-person interactions, thus improving overall productivity.

What is the importance of video conferencing tools like BlueJeans during the pandemic?

Video conferencing tools are critical for maintaining business continuity and effective communication as organizations adapt to remote work environments.