Brainshark Reviews

“elegant design, limited access

Pros

The platform had an elegant design that worked well for content management and sales enablement.

Cons

Its security setup and access controls were limiting factors.

“Brainshark

Pros

This software is incredibly versatile and user-friendly. I can easily test my learning through the provided quizzes and integrate them into my website.

Cons

At the moment, I haven't encountered any disadvantages. In any case, I haven't found any.

“High-quality capabilities that effectively help develop the strength of sales teams.

Pros

I find Brainshark's intuitive interface to be excellent. It allows me to smoothly navigate and easily access the information I need. The simple procedures allow me to generate various graphs and extract reports that provide an accurate evaluation of my performance during different exercises. This helps me identify areas that need improvement and ensures I gain valuable insights. Our merchandising and sales teams are already benefiting from advanced Brainshark training, as it allows team leaders to plan sequential courses tailored to the needs of their team members.

Cons

Brainshark doesn't have any flaws that hinder its efficient use. All the tools are user-friendly, and accessing necessary features through the dashboard doesn't require extensive training.

“useful feedback, confusing admin portal

Pros

One feature that really helped was the live feedback. That part worked well and I appreciated having it available. When it's used the right way, I can see it being very effective for delivering training across an entire organization.

Cons

The admin portal, however, was not very user-friendly. Because of that, we eventually moved to another software option that did a better job of handling training while also serving as a library for policies and procedures.

“helpful content and note-taking

Pros

There's a lot of information available to review and it works well for taking notes as you go through it.

Cons

One of the most frustrating part is that the tests make you start from the beginning again, even after you've already gone through all the material.

“well-organized training platform

Pros

Everything is very organized and easy to navigate. Due dates and required testing courses are clearly laid out and using video and audio during testing is simple and convenient.

Cons

A few of the question types and their lengths can be confusing. At times, it's not very clear which questions are required or how much weight they carry.

“clean interface and reliable training

Pros

Using Brainshark has been a really positive experience. The platform is simple to navigate, looks polished and has been reliable without the buggy issues you sometimes run into with other systems. Also it is helpful being able to confirm that people actually watched the videos and completed the questions at the end. Checking scores is pretty simple too and sending reminders or messages to people who still need to complete training is very convenient.

Cons

I honestly cannot think of any downsides. My experience with it has been very positive overall and I'd definitely recommend it.

“versatile webinars and learning insights

Pros

Brainshark has been a really versatile and user-friendly tool for me. It lets you create presentations, upload them to the platform, customize the audio and more. One of the best parts is being able to track learning through the quizzes you can add directly into the webinars.

Cons

At the moment, the mobile app only works on iOS devices.

“confusing video player limits learning

Pros

It was fairly easy to follow the tasks that were assigned so getting through the required steps wasn't confusing.

Cons

This felt like a pretty bare-bones video hosting platform. From a student perspective there wasn't much to interact with beyond the content provided and the video player was especially frustrating. Fast-forwarding and rewinding weren't convenient and it never actually went fully full screen. The progress bar stayed visible at the bottom and there were still buttons along the side which felt odd and distracting. On top of that I also heard the admin side wasn't very easy to use.

“Not the best

Pros

One thing that works well is the flexibility with audio input. After you upload a presentation, you can either record your narration right on the site or use the call-in number to add the audio which is a nice option to have.

Cons

The downside is that the web version relies on Flash so it only works properly in browsers that still support it. Because of that, we've had to depend on Internet Explorer and lately we've also run into issues with newer computers not picking up their built-in microphones.

“Good for quiz progress

Pros

Using it at work was fun and I liked being able to return later and finish some of the questions.

Cons

One thing I didn't care for was that if you accidentally exit the session, it still gets counted as an attempt.

“helpful reporting and learning insights

Pros

The reporting on views has been really useful and Brainshark lets me do a lot to make sure my audience is actually learning from the content I build and share.

Cons

If I could change one thing, it would be the recording setup. Instead of having to record full pages all at once, I'd rather have the option to pause during the recording.

“Ideal content creation upgrades

Pros

One of the best things about Brainshark is that it helps you build content quickly and the platform is very easy to use. Over the past few years, they've added many new features and the overall improvement has been genuinely impressive.

Cons

To me it didn't feel powerful enough to support large-scale training events so it came across more as an add-on than a core solution. That made it a tough sell for us especially since we already had other content tools and in the end we chose not to move forward with the purchase.

“good for editing and reporting

Pros

Brainshark was easy to use and putting content together didn't take much effort. The editing tools are strong and efficient and there are plenty of reporting features to work with. Up to this point, the feedback we've received has been entirely positive.

Cons

It is a bit expensive but at this stage I still feel the investment is justified because we've run into very few issues.

“Has the best audio tools

Pros

Getting presentations set up in Brainshark is very easy. One thing I really like is how many different ways it lets you add audio to your decks as you can record by phone, use your laptop mic, plug in a USB mic or even record the narration separately and import it into Brainshark later.

Cons

My only real complaint is with the recording process as there's no pause option while you're recording. If the phone rings, a car goes by or any noise interrupts you in the middle of a long slide, you have to delete the whole thing and record that slide again from the beginning. More capable editing tools beyond just record, preview and save would definitely make it less time-consuming.

“reliable cloud updates and stats

Pros

Being cloud-based is a big advantage and the login-and-go access is the feature I rely on most. I can update a slide or change the narration without affecting the whole presentation and those changes automatically carry over to the same URL so there's no need for extra file handling. The viewing analytics are also very strong.

Cons

The authoring tools feel dated and it takes quite a while to fully fine-tune things like animation timing and video synchronization. Even though it's still better than a lot of other options, there's definitely plenty of room for improvement. The HTML5 mobile player is especially poor and they were very slow to address that after Flash became obsolete and browsers started defaulting to the weaker HTML5 version. They have at least improved slide resolution in the HTML5 player recently and it sounds like more fixes are planned, hopefully in the near future.