We've used REAL for Management Training and Culture Transformation programs.

We were better able to meet our customers' needs.

Pros

It is really easy to use - both from an admin's and from end-user's point of view. Easy to customize to fit the customer's brand. Features are very social media-like and familiar enough for participants, so there's not much learning to get started with the interface. Work spaces are easy to modify if the program requires it. A little planning ahead is recommended, though! REAL is best suitable for dialogue and collaboration between participants. Keep in mind, that facilitation is needed every once in a while and this is a lesson we've had to learn as we've progressed with the programs. Another point to remember is simplicity. Don't overwhelm your participants with too much clutter in the beginning.

Cons

We are still waiting for some features, such as emoticons in the chat widgets :) Other than that, I have nothing much negative to say. Pays to know a bit of CSS code though, or at least the principles behind it (I've learned to embed maps and surveys from external sources in text boxes on my own).