Ease to use – Users have difficulty Synchronising 8x8 with their calendar. We use Outlook with on premise Exchange server. We have to use Cronofy, effectively you have to login to three locations (the outlook plug in, Cronofy and the main 8x8 app. You have resync every time your password expires or Cronofy loses connection with the server.
Sometimes the password does not synchronize across and you have to change your network password a couple of times to rectify the situation.
These may well out look issues but we don't have to jump through these hoops syncing other products.
You can't schedule a meeting from within the 8x8 app.
Mic issue.
It may well be down to other products. We have users that jump between Starleaf, Teams, Zoom, Webex and 8x8, but It's only when they join 8x8 that the problem manifests itself.
There are too many audio options in 8x8 Meetings. If you use a headset, you see four mic options and four speaker options. Surely, you only see two of each. One for the laptop and one for the headset.
Anything that requires users having to manually change settings is not good.
Security Concerns
The security settings can only be accessed after the meeting has started. You can't prepare the meeting in advance. Settings only relate to that meeting.
Most security settings you mention depend on the user manually turning them on. i.e. Moderator/Lobby/Passcode/ End-to-end encryption, Most users are not going to this.
End-to-end encryption - Some meeting features do not work when encryption turned on.
The option to create a unique meeting link (3 "random" characters) is only available on scheduled meetings and voice call conversion. It does not work on the "start meeting" button or "meet now" button in the Company Directory.
There are no controls a personal meeting space. Anybody can join/use anybody else's space at any time. There is a high risk of somebody hearing or seeing something they were not supposed to. We have had quite a few reports of same.
Expecting users to change their personal meeting space name every meeting is not going to happen in the real world.
As somebody mentioned there is no time limit on any meeting. Once a link is created, it works forever.
It is also possible to join any 8x8 meeting from a browser without registering or having an 8x8 account. You just need to know the link.
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Pat Appleby
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Original Message:
Sent: 11-09-2021 05:10
From: Paul Chase
Subject: What's your experience using 8x8 Meetings?
Can you quantify "easier to use"? If the issue is about the "perceived" need for the plug-in to use, this is NOT necessary. There is currently a discussion about removing/changing that pop-up notification about the plugin.
Your issue with the Mic as discussed is due to another product misbehaving, it should release the mic when not in use. The OS restricts access to the mic to one application at a time, this is something 8x8 cannot resolve as it is out of 8x8s control. Please reach out to the offending application to request this bug be resolved on their side.
I would like to see your question on the "security" of the private space. In general, one can argue that pure numbers are "easier" to "crack" with a good number generator (would take some time for sure) but stringing words together is much harder. As for the "personal" space I use the "use a different meeting for every meeting" option which adds a few additional characters on the end. Again one could argue 3 "random" characters could also be cracked with a good generator, but adding a password to all meetings takes care of that.
One could also implement End to End encryption which 8x8 was the first in the industry to implement.
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Paul Chase
8x8 Network Engineer (Pre-Sales and Deployment)
Original Message:
Sent: 11-05-2021 03:00
From: Pat Appleby
Subject: What's your experience using 8x8 Meetings?
I would like to hear from other customers, about their experience using 8x8 Meetings good or bad. Do many actually use it?
Our experience is that there has been a poor take up by our users, only 5% of our video calls take place on 8x8.
Our users' perceptions are
- Call quality is better on other products.
- Other products are easier to use.
- Concerns around the security of the 8x8 personal meeting space.
- Issues with 8x8 picking up audio and video peripherals, not experienced with other products.
- Lack of an enterprise level room system.
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Pat Appleby
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