The rate of technological innovation is accelerating, which puts pressure on companies to transform how they run projects. Companies must keep up by releasing more complex products, yet with a shorter design time. Clearly, the old way of working as a team, in the office with a standard whiteboard, must change in order to improve the design cycle. Adding to the challenge is a continuing COVID pandemic, which has forced teams to work in a distributed fashion.
Impacted Activities
Whether companies provide a product or a service, teams must create and innovate faster than ever. These types of activities may require a new Design Concept, Brainstorming, Kanban Board, Spring Planning and more. Whether teams need creative or discipline tools, digital whiteboards provide four key advantages.
1. Digital Content
The old way of working is inefficient. Previously, teams were required to sit in the same room and glare at a whiteboard or projection wall. The new way of working requires stakeholders to work together whether they are physically in the room or working remotely. Adding to the complexity, multiple teams across various time zones need ways to review and improve content.
For that to occur, all meeting room content must become digital. Once teams move away from a physical dry-erase board into an online whiteboard, Brainstorming, Project Tracking and more, content can leave the room digitally. At this point, it can be reviewed and improved by anyone on the team. Interactive displays with online whiteboards are vital tools that enable instant digitization of meeting room content by team members. With these digital capabilities in place, teams are no longer constrained by access to the meeting room.
2. Accessibility Anywhere and Anytime
Digitizing files allows anyone to review and improve the content. However, these files need to be readily accessible, whether it’s a Design Concept or a Workshop session. No one wants to work from an email file. The file size and revision control cannot be managed by email. And, given that email files must be downloaded, file security may be compromised. Having a digital file depository is necessary to separate personal from project files. When running multiple projects, we need a way to organize each workspace in a centralized, secured location.
3. Security
Digitizing the meeting-room content is essential in accelerating how teams work. However, sensitive content is now moved from a physical board to an online channel. Naturally, good security protocols are necessary in protecting our information. Digitization has added advantages:
Access control - Each project can be assigned to a select team while barring access from others. Unlike your physical room, you can control who has access and when.
Track changes - With more control, you can also see who accessed the file and identify edits that have taken place.
4. New Digital Capabilities
Digital online whiteboards are becoming a lot more powerful compared to their dry-erase counterparts. For example:
Real-time team collaboration – Whether in the room or a remote location, everyone can collaborate on the board at the same time. This allows each person to equally annotate and contribute.
Any device – Online whiteboards are now accessible from interactive meeting room displays, laptops or mobile devices. So, whether you are traveling with a mobile device, working on your laptop at home, or in the office meeting room, the hybrid whiteboards give you have full access to the meeting-room content.
Built-in workflows – Online whiteboards are loaded with templates, enabling immediate collaboration between local and remote users. Use the templates for Whiteboarding, Brainstorming, Kanban, Workshop, or anything in between. If you can’t find what you need, simply create your own. Either way, teams can move quickly from a blank whiteboard to a workflow.
More is coming - Digital whiteboards are constantly adapting to the meeting room. Whether they need to support more advanced writing and drawing, new use cases, or some level of customization, digital whiteboards are the most adaptive and flexible solution for working teams.
For companies to remain relevant, they must continuously improve how their teams are solving problems. A vital part of this transformation is equipping teams with proper digital tools such as interactive displays and online whiteboarding, which complement and enhance how we naturally work.
FlatFrog
FlatFrog is a provider of free online whiteboards (app.flatfrog.com).
FlatFrog has also designed patented InGlass™ touch display technology from the ground up, providing the best pen and touch input to mimic the intuitive feeling of a dry-erase board. InGlass™ touch displays are available through our partners, including Dell, Google, Samsung, SMART, Sharp, Ricoh, Avocor, CTOUCH and more (www.flatfrog.com/partners).
