Premiere Global Services
Company: Premiere Global Services, Atlanta, GA
Company Description: PGi is the meetings expert. For nearly 20 years, PGi has developed technologies that help companies and individuals meet and collaborate in more enjoyable and productive ways. Each month, PGi connects more than 15 million people in nearly 4 million virtual meetings. PGi has a presence in 24 countries, is listed on the NYSE and in 2011, launched two new meeting products: iMeet and GlobalMeet.
Nomination Category: New Product Awards & Product Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: New Product or Service of the Year - Computer Services
Nomination Title: Premiere Global Services' iMeet®
Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 500 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and sales to date. You may include hyperlinks to product photos and data sheets. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
Meetings are notoriously known as time- and productivity-killers. And, when
those meetings include remote participants the level of productivity is even
more drastically reduced. This common business phenomenon provided the genesis
for PGi’s new meeting solution, iMeet®.
iMeet is a simple and intuitive online meeting solution that brings to market
the benefits of video conferencing, social networking, and media and file
sharing – all in one place. With a few clicks, anyone can create their own
meeting “room” in the cloud – that’s right, iMeet is a cloud-based service that
has no downloads or software installations.
Launched to the general public January 31, 2011, iMeet was developed for the
sole purpose of connecting people and ideas while increasing meeting efficiency
and productivity. Some of iMeet’s key features that set it apart from existing
conferencing services include:
• Business-grade quality—iMeet has the bandwidth to accommodate 15
meeting participants without compromising audio or video quality.
• iMeet calls you—there is no more dialing conference ID’s or listening
to boring hold music. The technology also allows a meeting host to dial
colleagues directly from the application.
• More meaningful and personal ways to connect—social media sharing
capabilities allow users to access one another’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter
and Flickr accounts from iMeet.
• Easy webcam access—users need only plug in a webcam and select the
video icon from the room to gain access to live, streaming video (as many as
six users at once can use webcams).
• File sharing directly to the room—upload photos, videos or
presentations with the click of a mouse so everyone is up to date on the latest
project iteration or highlights from the previous weekend.
• Always know who is talking—a participant’s cube is illuminated when
they speak so users can more quickly connect the dots.
• Sidebar conversations—meeting participants can instant message one-on-
one or with the entire group during the meeting.
Although iMeet is a natural fit for business applications, its use extends
beyond the board room and into unexpected places. In fact, in February 2011,
iMeet hosted a meeting spanning all seven continents – the first such meeting
of its kind. A healing temple uses iMeet to host weekly purification circles
and energy healing seminars – all conducted online.
Even though iMeet was only officially launched January 31, 2011, it now has
built a community of nearly 20,000 meeting hosts and guests. iMeet has powered
more than 12,000 meetings totaling in the first 30 days and each day about 100
new accounts are being established.
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, product reviews, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:
iMeet Supporting Documents:
Video Tutorial—This is iMeet
http://www.youtube.com/user/iMeet#p/u/0/kOReLlxdTmY
iMeet television commercial http://www.youtube.com/user/iMeet?v=0CPESuW6q_g&feature=pyv&ad=9080834395&kw=imeet
iMeet launch Release on WSJ.com http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20110131-905875.html
iMeet in Seven Continents https://blog.imeet.com/one-world-%E2%80%93-one-room/
About iMeet http://www.imeet.com/
iMeet Press Coverage:
CNBC http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000017424#eyJ2aWQiOiIzMDAwMDE3NDI0IiwiZW5jVmlkIjoiVVdWUE13
UlpXM05kMHVNTEQwZ3hoZz09IiwidlRhYiI6InRyYW5zY3JpcHQiLCJ2UGFnZSI6MSwiZ05hdiI6WyJcdTAwY
TBMYXRlc3QgVmlkZW8iXSwiZ1NlY3QiOiJBTEwiLCJnUGFnZSI6IjEiLCJzeW0iOiIiLCJzZWFyY2giOiIifQ
New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2011/03/03/03gigaom-imeet-offers-easy-elegant-
collaboration-29987.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
New York Times “You’re the Boss” blog
http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/how-much-technology-is-too-much/?scp=1&sq=imeet&st=cse
Fast Company 30 Second MBA http://www.30secondmba.com/user/boland-jones
Information Week
GigaOm http://gigaom.com/collaboration/imeet-offers-easy-elegant-collaboration-for-virtual-teams/
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/10/imeet_making_we.html
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:
In 1991, Boland Jones founded PGi, now an award-winning global provider of on-
demand meeting and collaboration technologies. Known as a visionary in the
field, he not only successfully navigated PGi through the recent recession that
saw decreased demand for global conferencing technology, he also oversaw the
development and launch of iMeet.
iMeet is a testament to Boland’s entrepreneurial spirit, demand for creativity
from his employees and understanding of people’s need for collaboration
technologies to stay productive. With that in mind, Boland shifted the
strategic direction of PGi from that of a conference call provider to focused
virtual meetings expert.