Today’s guest author is Frazer Couzens, Director, Sales & Technical Consultation, SMART Technologies. He is responsible for the intersection of Group collaboration & Unified Communications at SMART.
Over his decade at SMART, he has deeply researched meetings, and what knowledge workers try to do when together. He created version 1 products like Meeting Pro, SMART Ink, the SMART Room System, and Cisco Sync.
Recently he developed the groundbreaking product called SMART TeamWorks. He has been a guest speaker for VMware, Enterprise Connect, Cisco Live, and Microsoft ignite/channel9.
Conferencing is Not Collaboration
Have you noticed that the UCC market has become so cluttered, it’s hard to discern what successful collaboration — and the technology that fuels it — means anymore?
Collaboration is not realized when people just participate in a conferencing session. Yes, conferencing is one step of collaboration, but it doesn’t mean the whole group is working together to reach a better idea. As an industry, we mix up the words “participate” and “collaborate.” The reality is collaboration must include both contribution AND interaction. Not just participation.
Take web conferences. Video technology is certainly used in a majority of collaboration rooms today. But alone, video isn’t collaboration; it’s just a richer method of communicating. The AV market pawns off video conferencing as collaboration, using it as a buzzword to sell product.
True collaboration ensures everyone’s ideas are heard without one personality overpowering the other — even in a room mixed with introverts, extroverts, and anyone in between.
Ensuring that collaboration, wherever it takes place, includes contribution and interaction has helped SMART stand out in the modernized space of conferencing and collaboration.
Boost productivity and reduce total cost of ownership
You know SMART Technologies for the original SMART Board® — the AV industry’s first-ever interactive whiteboard. Since this category was created, a lot has changed from its roots in front projection and “side of room” whiteboarding to an ever-confusing market of interactive displays.
But SMART isn’t looking at the past; it’s looking toward the future. It’s been doing so for the last 30 years. In fact, SMART’s new line of SMART Board Pro solutions are already in the future. And it’s helping customers realize true collaboration. How? SMART Technologies is democratizing digital contribution in the age of web-conference meetings.
How SMART drives digital collaboration
SMART’s position, that digital collaboration has to include both contribution and interaction, has driven the design of its new Pro series solutions for business. It is why TeamWorks™ software was created, a next-generation meeting room hub for starting any web conference call with the touch of a button.
Share your device’s content to the meeting without requiring downloads or apps and join a connected digital whiteboard for all attendees to contribute, refine, add, insert, review and save.
How to achieve both contribution and collaboration in all meetings
Instead of just specifying new technology, work with your team to inspire better outcomes in your professional spaces (conference and meeting rooms, huddle spaces, training rooms, open spaces for collaboration, personal offices, and more).
Whether it’s for presentations and conferencing, ideation and innovation, command and control, or project management, SMART’s solution helps businesses realize true collaboration — a huge step forward for the AV industry.
