We use ReadyTalk across our entire business platform. Our sales team uses it for demos and webinars while our account managers and support team use it for training and screen shares. It is a great tool for when you need to quickly share your screen or if you have multiple people/teams joining the call/screen share from different areas.
Pros
Screen share/conference calling: They make it quick and easy to join a meeting for your guests. They don't need to download anything; all they need to do is click on the link and enter the access code.
Mobile App: The app has been great for our team as they can now easily start a meeting with a click of a button from the app.
Recordings: It is very easy to record a webinar or conference call which you can then download.
Cons
The ReadyTalk system defaults to sending out the toll-free number which ReadyTalk changes extra for using. We have to have multiple calls with ReadyTalk to set it up where it defaults to sending the 303 conference line out.
We use Readytalk with Hubspot (which they have an integration with), but it is a very complicated integration and confusing to use.
Likelihood to Recommend
This is a great solution if you do a lot of conference calls or screen shares and even works well on your mobile device. We primarily went with ReadyTalk opposed to other similar solutions because of the integration with HubSpot which we have not been super pleased with however their system as a whole works great.
We currently use ReadyTalk in a number of capacities including marketing, sales, and product demonstrations. All of which utilize the screen share and call-in conferencing features that ReadyTalk provides for paid customers. This has been a great tool to use for client product demonstrations and sales pitches, especially when the client is unfamiliar with our software.
Pros
ReadyTalk has been great for conference calls.
ReadyTalk's screen share feature allows you to choose specific monitors to share, specific applications to share and even specific portions of your screen.
ReadyTalk allows us to engage with a client directly and efficiently in a very professional manner.
Cons
If ReadyTalk provided an easier way to set up the initial call through a different platform aside from email, it may make things a bit simpler.
ReadyTalk's monitor-specific screensharing process is a bit clunky and could be a bit better in identifying which monitor has been selected for sharing.
ReadyTalk's admin dashboard could use a UI update.
Likelihood to Recommend
ReadyTalk is a great sales and marketing tool, and is even better for product demonstrations. We haven't yet used ReadyTalk for internal uses, but I feel that it would also be effective for employee trainings, etc. We primarily use ReadyTalk when we have a larger prospective client who is interested in a more detailed presentation after an initial call has already been made.
ReadyTalk is used across the entire organization for communication and presentations. Mostly it is used to train our demo team.
Pros
Great share screen ability
Fast and easy log in and dial in
Easy to navigate and use
Low bandwith use
Cons
Easier way to share files
Lower subscription cost
Better quality of recording sessions
Likelihood to Recommend
ReadyTalk is great to do training with people that are working from home and also great to do product demos. We also use it for doing conference calls and discussions. The product is great, and provides all that we need in terms of ease of communication.
VU
Verified User
Account Manager in Customer Service (51-200 employees)
ReadyTalk is used to host "simu-live" webinars from our marketing departments. We primarily use this to scheduled webinars in various timezones or to re-promote previous webinars. We use this as a time-saving tool to better reach our potential customers and broadcast our products in a way to appear a live webinar is taking place to give them an experience nearly identical to a live webinar. We also use the panelist option to have support roles logged in at the time of the simu-live broadcast to monitor Q&A and other comments that come through. We also reference the reports function to view how well our audiences interact with us and also how we can adjust attentiveness in our webinars.
Pros
Ability to broadcast in various timezones
Deep dive reports that give insight to various metrics
Ability to schedule webinars far in advance
Cons
Customer support is less than helpful and incredibly hard to get in touch with and get issues resolved in a timely manner
It is not possible to schedule multiple simu-live broadcasts at the same time without purchasing a second instance
There is not a direct integration to Marketo that works easily
Likelihood to Recommend
ReadyTalk is a versatile platform that offers great services for both simu-live and live webinars, given they are not scheduled at the same time. Once the program flows in Marketo are figured out, it is quite easy to handle, the same goes with pulling attendee and engagement reports. The area ReadyTalk falls short is in their customer support. We have had four different representatives over the course of two years and have not seen any improvements. They always do respond but not in a prompt fashion that allows any issues to be resolved. We have also seen the connector between our ReadyTalk instance and our CRM break on various occasions and been told is is our CRM's fault when in fact is was an issue on their side. Though the customer support is poor, the function still meets our needs.
Currently, ReadyTalk is being used by the entire organization where I work (which is small, <20 FTEs). We use ReadyTalk for internal meetings when one or more of our employees is working offsite and we also use ReadyTalk for external meetings with clients and partners. While most meetings are audio-only, we also use the visual components from time to time for PPT presentations.
Pros
The basic conference line functionality provided by ReadyTalk is useful to convene meetings with folks in different geographical areas. I like that I can provide them with the phone number and code, and anyone can join from various remote corners of the world.
I like that you can set an automated reminder to go out to invitees in advance of calls.
When the functionality is working, I like the integration with Google calendar.
Cons
Anything above the basic functionality is not super intuitive. For instance, the web meetings are "clunky" and I don't like how the last slides that were uploaded remain in place from one meeting to the next unless you manually remove them.
Their engineering team is also slow to address glitches in my experience. Currently, there is an ongoing issue with ReadyTalk integration with Google calendar. To me, this is a major advantage of ReadyTalk, and missing that functionality decreases usefulness.
There is no way to send a meeting reminder to ALL invitees, it only goes out to registered invitees.
Likelihood to Recommend
Think about your needs as an organization and whether you will be using primarily audio only or audio plus web. If audio only then ReadyTalk will certainly meet your need. If web, then shop around for functionality, support, and price. I am fairly "neutral" on ReadyTalk - neither a huge cheerleader nor a huge detractor.
VU
Verified User
Director in Professional Services (11-50 employees)
We use ReadyTalk to offer a wide range of free webinars addressing key topics that affect businesses. We also use ReadyTalk for internal meetings. ReadyTalk is used regionally for our organization. It is seen as a reliable conference tool that helps use clearly communicate to our stakeholders. Our live and recorded webinars are key in lead generation for our sales team.
Pros
Excellent customer service and support
Clear audio with great features to quickly connect
Easy to use user interface
Cons
More room for customization on the registration templates and screen layout
Expand language support to make it a global solution
Hosted recording notifications
Likelihood to Recommend
Hosting external facing webinars with anywhere from medium to large size audiences. The platform is reliable and we have not experienced a high percentage of drops.
If you needed a global solution and language support for Asian speaking countries - that is something being developed.
We use ReadyTalk company-wide for everything from conference calls to webinars. It facilitates team calls, internal and external webinars with upwards of 1,000 attendees.
Pros
ReadyTalk has fantastic support for it's users. They can even kick off webinars and are always very professional.
Unlike some other services we've used in the past, there's never any audio issues or screen-lagging, even with large groups on webinars.
The ability to run polls and surveys during/after a webinar are great. With the right set of questions in the after-call survey you can get some great information from prospects and customers!
Cons
I have no areas of improvement for ReadyTalk.
Likelihood to Recommend
ReadyTalk is great for group calls, training and webinars.
We use ReadyTalk across our entire organization, which spans across multiple countries. ReadyTalk is our primary means of hosting web and voice conferences. We use its screen sharing, voice conferencing, and recording capabilities along with its instant messaging to run "polls" during some of our meetings. We use ReadyTalk both on our individual computers and phones, including for our remote and work-from-home workers, as well as in our conferencing rooms. We even use it via mobile devices when necessary. We also have ReadyTalk integrated with our email and calendar tools (Outlook).
Pros
Merges multiple collaboration capabilities in one place: screen share, IM, and voice collaboration
Integrates with other products such as Outlook calendar
Provides reliable recording technology to capture communications/meetings
Cons
Buggy behavior especially for screen sharing; sometimes, screen sharing just stops working. We've often found this is because another instance of ReadyTalk is still running in the background and it failed to close entirely when we left the last meeting.
Unreliable softphone - we typically have to dial in from a cell or landline and cannot use the computer itself to connect to audio as it won't work.
Very slow at promoting co-presenters and can be buggy when trying to transition between people for screen sharing.
Likelihood to Recommend
ReadyTalk is best for small to mid-sized conferences (say 15 people or fewer). It combines IM, screen sharing, and voice conferencing and does allow you to record your conferences without the need for separate software. However, I have typically seen more buggy behavior for larger conferences - in particular, it can be difficult to really control noise feedback from people who have failed to mute their lines. That's not to say it is unusable for large conferences (we still use it for our huge all-hands conferences twice a year), but I believe there's also a maximum number of people our licensing allows. I wouldn't use it for, say, a public webinar. But, it's good for internal communications.
We use ReadyTalk every day for conferencing purposes. We are a company that allows all employees to work remotely, which is made possible with the use of ReadyTalk. We also use ReadyTalk with our clients to host webinars.
Pros
The screen sharing process is very intuitive and easy to use. Participants can "raise their hand" to ask the presenter questions.
When using ReadyTalk for webinars, attendees can be placed in "listen only" mode, their microphones are automatically muted, and the webinar is recorded.
Sending invitations for ReadyTalk is very convenient for organizing meetings of all sizes.
Cons
It would be beneficial if it were easier to switch from one presenter to another, when hosting webinars from multiple locations.
Allow multiple screens to be shared at once.
Allow open chat dialogue with all participants.
Likelihood to Recommend
I have nothing negative to say about ReadyTalk. I have been using it for 4 years without any issues. ReadyTalk is great for conference calls and webinars.
