This past fall, Information and Technology Services announced that U-M will retire BlueJeans effective May 1, 2021 due to a significant drop in usage that began with the launch of Zoom last March. For example, in November there were just under 3,000 BlueJeans users across all campuses compared to 16,000 during peak usage in April.
“ITS is committed to making this transition as smooth as possible and to minimizing any disruptions to campus,” said Andy Palms, executive director of infrastructure for ITS. “The project team leading the retirement effort has developed a comprehensive communications and engagement plan to help faculty, staff, and students prepare.”
ITS is reaching out directly to active users of BlueJeans and is working closely with key stakeholders, unit staff, and IT leadership across all campuses to identify areas of concern and provide direct support where needed. Since ITS began campus outreach in September, the number of meetings held via BlueJeans has dropped 58% with total meeting minutes down by 42%. (See the latest project update for detailed usage data.)
As part of the retirement process, recordings hosted in BlueJeans will no longer be accessible as of May 1. In addition, technical staff are exploring ways to replace BlueJeans with Zoom in applications where integrations exist:
- As previously announced, access to BlueJeans in Canvas will end January 12, 2021.
- Zoom will replace BlueJeans as the videoconferencing option in Remote Office Hours Queue by the start of winter term.
- Work to transition campus videoconferencing systems to support Zoom is in progress.
In addition to Zoom, Google Meet remains available at no additional cost for general videoconferencing needs. “To ensure a smooth transition, we encourage everyone to move to an alternate service and to download any videos hosted in BlueJeans that they want to keep well before the May 1 retirement date,” said Palms.
