Redesigning room collaboration with Cisco Board Pro
Work has changed. People are hesitant to go back to the office or have long business trips for short meetings. Most meetings are expected to involve remote participants as people have realized that they can reach the whole world with video collaboration.
To have meaningful collaboration, distributed teams need to capture and share ideas on the fly whenever inspiration hits on whatever tools they like to use. However, a lack of context and integration between tools and workflows are some of the key challenges organizations face and need to resolve to thrive in this new era of work.
For remote participants to feel included in the discussion, they need to see, hear, and actively engage in everything that happens in the room. At the same time, in-person participants in the meeting room need a solution that is easy to use and intuitive, allowing for instant brainstorming, connection, and ideation that extend beyond the physical space. More and more, employees present in the meeting room expect a solution that makes complex, siloed hardware endpoints, and cluttered meeting spaces a thing of the past.
The new Cisco Board Pro, announced at this year’s global WebexOne event, was designed to solve all of that. From the outset, our vision was to create the ultimate room device built from the ground up for hybrid teamwork, bringing everything your teams need to connect and get work done in one beautifully designed solution.
Empower teamwork in hybrid workspaces
Cisco Board Pro was born out of the desire to empower people to do their best work and stay engaged in our new era of collaboration – turning technology into an enabler instead of a barrier to productivity. It is more than just a digital whiteboard, an interactive touch display, a presentation device, or a video conferencing system. Board Pro brings these all together and takes them to the next level in one single unit, so your team can make the most out of the meeting.
Camera intelligence for the best view
It is the next-generation room collaboration device that seamlessly fits into various workspaces, from conference rooms and huddle spaces to open studios and lobby areas. This encompasses unique intelligence in its new dual 4K camera technology: one ultra-wide camera that captures people standing close to the board while presenting or whiteboarding, for instance, and a second camera that captures clear images of people in the back of a large meeting room.
All of this to let remote participants in the meeting have the best experience possible and feel more included, no matter where they are.
Spatial, crystal-clear audio experience
Its AI-powered engine and the built-in microphone array direct the camera to focus on the active speaker in the room, ensure the best framing possible, and filter out noise distractions so remote participants can bring meaningful collaboration to the room. Better still, remote participants can extend this high-quality video and audio experience to any application in your laptop by simply connecting it with the Board Pro via USB-C passthrough.
Wheel upgrade for effortless portability
While designing the Board Pro, one of our core principles was to make the device seamless and flexible to use, no matter the space or location. For this reason, we have made it possible to extend the floor-stand mounting of the Board Pro with wheels – making it effortless to move around the workspace and find the right angle that best fits your presentation style and room parameters.
Design that sparks collaboration
A 4K, capacitive touch screen, combined with a front-facing speaker array and an elegant form factor, enables collaboration touchpoints that feel natural and intuitive – with a clean, inviting design that encourages interaction and augments any meeting space.
Ideate, co-create and capture ideas that matter
In hybrid working models, teams need to work together in the physical workplace and virtually, just as if everyone were in the same room. Long gone are the days where workers only presented slides for in-person attendees, and feedback was scarce. Hybrid teams now require a visual platform to exchange ideas as they flow, without excluding employees who are not present in the office. However, most solutions out there today are cumbersome to use, create friction points in the daily workflow and make it complex for dispersed teams to capture ideas.
Visual collaboration that builds proximity
Cisco Board Pro simplifies all of that. It provides your workforce with the power to connect, co-create and collaborate with a connected collaboration device. Board Pro takes visual collaboration to a new level by letting your teams generate ideas, work on prototypes or solve problems on an intuitive touch screen. Imagine a digital whiteboard that enables you to annotate on any content or draw, write and use digital stickies on an infinite canvas while allowing anyone in the space to build upon it.
Unleash creativity with two active styluses
With two completely redesigned active styluses, users in the room can use different whiteboarding pens simultaneously. Use these or touch-based pinch and zoom for details and precision – the Board Pro can automatically differentiate between the pen or the user’s finger. In addition, we have added a discrete button on the pen that allows you to open a contextual menu to pick a different color instantly, choose pen size, select the eraser or activate the marquee tool for even more seamless collaboration.
Capture and share session output like a pro
Every session is stored in a Webex space, so your team never loses an idea. Work can therefore continue across time zones, and teams can add to it at any time. It’s easier than ever to share ideas and collaborate across distances without the fear of losing your work.
Connected workflows and boundless team collaboration
Unlike other collaboration touch displays, the Board Pro is designed to deliver a face-to-face experience that rivals in-person meetings. With premium-quality video and audio, it turns your sessions into immersive experiences – no matter the meeting solution you may be using – to build connection and boost creativity.
Turn your laptop into an immersive studio
Webex meetings on Webex devices will always provide you with the best collaboration experience. However, we know that sometimes you need to use other applications from your laptop. Connect your computer via USB-C, and you get access to the Cisco Board Pro’s intelligence in any meeting. That means your computer will see the camera, microphones, and screen as external devices that you can operate from any software in your computer. Sounds good enough?
Well, it’s time to say goodbye to unwanted noises, feedback loops, and the ever-present “can you hear me?” of laptop calls. And beyond that, your laptop will be charged through the same cable, ensuring you never run out of power in those important meetings. This makes any meeting on a Cisco Board Pro the best experience out there.
Join any meeting, on any platform
And we have taken this even further. Cisco Board Pro offers robust interoperability to help you seamlessly work together with your most common third-party meeting apps without the need to switch between devices and solutions. Push a button or use voice commands to connect with your Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet meetings securely, while leveraging the same best-of-breed experience.
Powerful web apps for frictionless work
To support connected collaboration workflows in the meeting room, Board Pro is equipped with powerful hardware and a web engine for rich web application integrations. Using the room device, users can easily pull up their go-to productivity and visual collaboration tools, including project management or other web-based whiteboarding applications, with a single push on a web app thumbnail. This can be done directly from the home screen, without switching to another device or disrupting the session in any shape or form.
Hybrid work requires workplace transformation that levels the playing field for all employees and enables teams to become more productive. With Cisco Board Pro, you have the ultimate room device that brings it all together, helping your team make the most out of the meeting, maximize productivity and let the ideas flourish – without disruptions.
To learn more about Cisco Board Pro and why it won one of the most prestigious awards in the design industry, visit our website. Interested in seeing these features in action? Watch our brand new unboxing video.
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